NIST-PSIAP-iAxis NOFO.pdf

NIST Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program – i-Axis

Notice of Funding Opportunity August 21, 2018

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY (NOFO)

NIST Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program (PSIAP) – i-Axis

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Federal Agency Name: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), United States Department of Commerce (DoC)

• Funding Opportunity Title: NIST Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program

– i-Axis

• Announcement Type: Initial

• Funding Opportunity Number: 2018-NIST-PSIAP-I-AXIS

• Assistance Listing (CFDA Number): 11.609, Measurement and Engineering Research and Standards

• Dates: Applications must be received at Grants.gov no later than 11:59 p.m.

Eastern Time, Friday, October 19, 2018. Applications received after this deadline will not be reviewed or considered. Paper applications will not be accepted.

Applicants should be aware, and factor in their application submission planning, that the Grants.gov system is expected to be closed for routine maintenance from 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time, Saturday, September 15, 2018 until 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time Monday, September 17, 2018.

Applications cannot be submitted when Grants.gov is closed. NIST expects to complete its review, selection of successful applicants, and award processing by February 2019. NIST expects the earliest start date for awards under this NOFO to be March 2019.

Applicants are strongly urged to read Section IV.2.b., Attachment of Required Application Documents, of this NOFO with great attention. Applicants should carefully follow the instructions and recommendations regarding attachments and use the Download Submitted Forms and Applications feature on www.grants.gov to check that all required attachments were contained in their submission.

Applications submitted without the required documents will not pass the Initial Administrative Review, described in Section V.3.a. of this NOFO.

When developing the submission timeline, please keep in mind that: (1) all applicants are required to have a current registration in both the electronic https://www.grants.gov/

System for Award Management (SAM.gov) and Grants.gov; (2) the free annual registration process in the SAM.gov (see Section IV.3. and Section IV.7.a.(2). of this NOFO) often takes between three and five business days and may take as long as two weeks; and (3) applicants will receive e-mail notifications over a period of up to two business days as the application moves through intermediate systems before the applicant learns via a validation or rejection notification whether NIST has received the application. (See Grants.gov for full information on application and notification through Grants.gov). Please note that a federal assistance award cannot be issued if the designated recipient’s registration in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) is not current at the time of the award.

• Application Submission Address: Applications must be submitted using Grants.gov.

• Funding Opportunity Description: The NIST Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program is seeking applications from organizations with significant geospatial expertise and experience working with public safety to conduct activities that will allow first responders to rapidly and successfully incorporate new and emerging indoor mapping, tracking, navigation, and location-based services capabilities into their day-to-day operations.

• Anticipated Amounts: In FY2019, NIST anticipates up to $600,000 may be available to fund a single award with project performance period of up to three (3) years.

• Funding Instrument: Grant or cooperative agreement, as appropriate.

• Eligibility: This NOFO is open to all non-Federal entities. Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, for-profit organizations, state and local governments, Indian tribes, hospitals, foreign public entities, and foreign governments. Please note that individuals and unincorporated sole proprietors are not considered “non-Federal entities” and are not eligible to apply under this NOFO. Although Federal entities are not eligible to receive funding under this NOFO, they may participate as unfunded collaborators.

NIST will only consider one application per applicant; however, an applicant entity may be proposed as a sub-recipient, contractor, or unfunded collaborator within applications submitted by other entities.

• Cost Sharing Requirements: Matching funds are not required, however, voluntary committed cost-share (e.g., in-kind contributions from partners) may be http://grants.gov/ included in project budgets and will be considered as part of the selection factors in Section V.2. of this NOFO.

• Public Website and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): NIST has a public website (pscr.gov) that provides information pertaining to this Funding Opportunity1. NIST anticipates that a “Frequently Asked Questions” section or other resource materials will be maintained and updated on the website as needed to provide additional guidance and clarifying information that may arise related to this Funding Opportunity. Any amendments to this NOFO will be announced through Grants.gov.

Applicants must submit all questions pertaining to this funding opportunity via e-mail to pscr@nist.gov with ‘iAxis’ in the subject line. Questions submitted to NIST may be posted on pscr.gov.

Table of Contents

I. Program Description II. Federal Award Information III. Eligibility Information IV. Application and Submission Information V. Application Review Information VI. Federal Award Administration Information VII. Federal Awarding Agency Contacts VIII. Other Information

FULL ANNOUNCEMENT TEXT

I. Program Description

The statutory authority for the NIST Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program is 15 U.S.C. § 3706 and 47 U.S.C. § 1443.

The NIST PSIAP is seeking applications from eligible organizations to conduct activities that will allow first responders to rapidly and successfully incorporate new and emerging indoor mapping, tracking, navigation, and location-based services capabilities into their day-to-day operations.

A. Background

1 Refer to Section VII. of this NOFO, Federal Awarding Agency Contacts, Programmatic and Technical Questions, if this link is no longer working or more information is needed.

http://www.nist.gov/ctl/pscr mailto:pscr@nist.gov http://www.nist.gov/ctl/pscr

The Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) division, aligned under the NIST Communications Technology Laboratory, conducts research for the first responder community. The PSIAP – i-Axis opportunity is one of several current opportunities within the NIST PSCR program. More information about PSCR can be found at pscr.gov.

Location-based services (LBS) can be loosely defined as the provisioning of customized information, features, or services based on a user’s current or projected location. PSCR initiated a strategic planning effort in 2014 with the involvement of first responders, government officials, industry leaders, and academia, at which LBS was identified as one of three key portfolios for research and development (R&D) investment. As a result, PSCR formed an LBS working group.

The working group’s inputs, along with industry forecasts, were utilized to create a 20-year technology roadmap for the benefit of the entire public safety community2. As a follow-up, an LBS R&D Summit3 was held to further discuss and prioritize the scope of work identified in the technology roadmap. Attendees were instructed to identify the most pressing technology gaps currently limiting the use of LBS in the public safety arena, and then to prioritize these challenges based on five investment criteria – leverage, feasibility, impact on public safety processes, rewards/results, and uniqueness to public safety – that were developed in close collaboration with FirstNet and the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC). The summit identified six problem statements around the areas of: indoor 3D geolocation, mapping, interoperability, standardization, power consumption, and wearable devices.

As the LBS portfolio evolved, it became clear through continuous stakeholder engagement, technology landscape assessments, and industry roadmaps that the goals of the LBS portfolio should be further refined to focus exclusively on how to map, track, and navigate indoors. In addition to funding internal research, in 2017 and 2018 PSCR has invested approximately $10M in external research through grants and contracts to address aspects related to the portfolio goals.

B. Research Opportunity

The ability to locate, track, and inform first responders while indoors under difficult conditions remains a ‘Holy Grail’ sought by the public safety community. Law enforcement officers enter buildings every day, often alone and in potential peril, without the benefits of indoor tracking. Firefighters continue to die or become seriously injured each year because they become lost, disoriented, or difficult to locate in emergency situations.

2 Location-Based Services R&D Roadmap; NIST Technical Note 1883;

http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/TechnicalNotes/NIST.TN.1883.pdf 3 2015 Location-Based Services R&D Summit;

http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/TechnicalNotes/NIST.TN.1914.pdf http://www.nist.gov/ctl/pscr http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/TechnicalNotes/NIST.TN.1883.pdf http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/TechnicalNotes/NIST.TN.1914.pdf

The intricately related fields of indoor mapping, localization, and navigation are all experiencing rapid growth as technology companies, network operators, and the manufacturing, service, and retail industries seek to understand where people and inventory are at any moment to deliver optimized location-based services, entertainment, or asset-tracking. Despite this growth, a solution that meets the challenging requirements of first responders has yet to emerge.

Recognizing the challenges inherent to LBS, PSCR’s strategic investments to this point have largely focused on R&D needed to bridge the technology gaps that exist in bringing a solution for indoor mapping and tracking of first responders within reach.

Simultaneously, industry is investing billions of dollars on creating an ‘internet of things’ that will enable the operation of ‘smart homes’, and ‘smart cities’, which will generate an unprecedented amount of data and information that could be useful for public safety purposes. Conceptually, this data could be thought of as a fourth dimension, or an information axis (i-axis), potentially adding an additional layer of complexity to the challenges first responders face in understanding the physical indoor environments in which they are operating. As these technologies mature, however, there is an essential question that must be addressed: How will public safety organizations utilize all of these new indoor technologies (i.e. mapping, localization, and navigation) and data sources to effectively improve their operations?

Successful public safety operations are built on a foundation of carefully constructed policies, detailed standard operating procedures, and extensive training. Thus, regardless of the pace of innovation and technology advancement, the integration of new capabilities and information is an inherently protracted process. In many cases, the most basic questions related to operational and information needs, use cases, standard operating procedures and policies, and best practices are not addressed or even asked until a technology emerges. PSIAP i-Axis therefore seeks to initiate a multi-year outreach effort that will work with public safety practitioners to answer these questions and accelerate the adoption of potentially transformational location-based technologies, information, and services into their decision-support systems.

Interested and qualified applicants should propose a cohesive, comprehensive, and innovative plan to conduct interactive workshops, summits, exercises, training, and any other activities required to understand how the public safety community can best utilize emerging technologies related to indoor mapping, tracking, and navigation, as well as the wealth of data generated by smart buildings and smart homes. The proposed activities should result in technical outputs like standard operating procedures, best practices guides, implementation templates and toolkits, education and training materials, capability assessment tools, and/or qualifications and credentialing programs.

As much as possible, the proposed activities should be driven by state, local, and tribal practitioners representing all disciplines (law enforcement, fire, and EMS), demographics (urban, suburban, and rural), and regions of the U.S, and the technical outputs should be made broadly available to the entire public safety stakeholder community. Further, applicants must describe the methods and metrics they will use to assess the project’s impact both during and after the period of performance; these metrics will be used by the PSIAP to assess the program’s impact on public safety stakeholders.

Applicants must possess significant subject matter expertise related to geographic information systems and location-based services and be able to demonstrate a substantial track record of working with public safety organizations to gather and turn requirements related to geospatial data into the types of technical outputs discussed above.

The PSIAP recognizes that operational demands and limited budgets typically preclude public safety entities from dedicating resources to participate in R&D activities.

Therefore, if necessary, applicants may include funding in their proposed budget for non-federal first responders and public safety personnel to actively participate within their project. Please note that Federal entities are not eligible to receive funding under this NOFO, though they may participate as unfunded collaborators.

Applicants should plan to disseminate the results of their project to public safety and relevant R&D communities through other activities, including conference presentations, publications, training, and/or data sets. Applicants may include funding in their proposed budget that would support the dissemination of the results and lessons of their PSIAP – i-Axis efforts to the public safety stakeholder community. In addition, recipients will be required to attend the PSCR Public Safety Broadband Stakeholder Meetings each June during the term of the award to meet with stakeholders and present key plans and findings of their work to date.

II. Federal Award Information

1. Funding Instrument

The funding instrument used in this program will be a grant or cooperative agreement, as appropriate. If a cooperative agreement is used, the nature of NIST’s “substantial involvement” will generally include collaboration with the recipient in implementing the approved scope of work.

2. Multi-Year Funding Policy

When an application for a multi-year award is approved, funding will usually be provided for only the first year of the project. If a project is selected for funding, NIST has no obligation to provide any additional funding in connection with that award. Continuation of an award to increase funding or extend the period of performance is at the sole discretion of NIST. Continued funding will be contingent upon satisfactory performance, continued relevance to the mission and priorities of the PSIAP – i-Axis, and the availability of funds. Under this NOFO, NIST may elect to fully fund an award or to fund an award in accordance with the multi-year funding policy.

3. Funding Availability

In FY2019, NIST anticipates up to $600,000 may be available to fund a single award with project performance period of up to three (3) years.

III. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants

This NOFO is open to all non-Federal entities. Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, for-profit organizations, state and local governments, Indian tribes, hospitals, foreign public entities, and foreign governments.

Please note that individuals and unincorporated sole proprietors are not considered “non-Federal entities” and are not eligible to apply under this NOFO. Although Federal entities are not eligible to receive funding under this NOFO, they may participate as unfunded collaborators.

NIST will only consider one application per applicant; however, an applicant entity may be proposed as a subrecipient, contractor, or unfunded collaborator within applications submitted by other entities.

2. Cost Sharing or Matching

Matching funds are not required, however, voluntary committed cost-share (e.g., in-kind contributions from partners) may be included in project budgets and will be considered as part of the selection factors in Section V.2. of this NOFO.

IV. Application and Submission Information

1. Address to Request Application Package

The application package is available at Grants.gov under Funding Opportunity Number

2018-NIST-PSIAP-I-AXIS.

2. Content and Form of Application Submission

a. Required Forms and Documents. The Application must contain the following:

(1) SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance. The SF-424 must be signed by an authorized representative of the applicant organization.

• SF-424, Item 8.d Zip/Postal Code field should reflect the zip code + 4 (#####

- ####) format.

http://www.grants.gov/

• Item 12, should list the NOFO number 2018-NIST-PSIAP-I-AXIS.

• SF-424, Item 18, field a., should list the total Federal budget amount requested for the entire project.

• If the applicant includes voluntary committed cost share, SF-424, Item 18, field b., should list the applicant’s anticipated voluntary committed cost share for the entire project.

• For SF-424, Item 21, the list of certifications and assurances is contained in the SF-424B.

(2) SF-424A, Budget Information - Non-Construction Programs. The budget should reflect anticipated expenses for the project, considering all potential cost increases, including cost of living adjustments.

The Grant Program Function or Activity on Section A, Line 1, Column (a) should be entered as “Public Safety Communications Research Grant Program”. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number on Line 1, Column (b) should be entered as “11.609”. Line 1, Column (e) should reflect the anticipated federal expenses for the full term of the project. If the applicant intends to include voluntary committed cost share, that voluntary committed cost share for the full term of the project should be reflected on Section A, Line 1, Column (f).

Use Section B – Budget Categories to reflect the budget breakdown by year.

Column (1) should be used for the first year. Column (2) should be used for the second year. Column (3) should be used for the third year.

Section C, line 8., column (b) of the SF-424A should reflect the applicant’s anticipated voluntary committed cost share for the full term of the project.

Enter a quarterly breakdown of the first year’s budget of federal funds in Section D, line 13.

Section E, line 16, column (b) should reflect the second year’s budget of federal funds. Enter the third year’s budget of federal funds in column (c).

(3) SF-424B, Assurances - Non-Construction Programs

(4) CD-511, Certification Regarding Lobbying. Enter “2018-NIST-PSIAP-I-AXIS” in the Award Number field. Enter the title of the application used in field 15 of the SF-424, or an abbreviation of that title, in the Project Name field.

(5) SF-LLL, Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (if applicable)

(6) Project Summary. The project summary must be a quad chart consisting of the following four sections, clockwise from top-left: 1) a problem statement; 2) the concept of the proposed project; 3) the potential impact of the project; 4) key milestones and/or deliverables. The project summary must not exceed one (1) page. Any material provided beyond the one (1) page limit will be redacted and not provided to the reviewers.

(7) Technical Proposal. The Technical Proposal is a document that is responsive to the program description (see Section I. of this NOFO) and the evaluation criteria (see Section V.1. of this NOFO). Any material provided beyond the specified page limits (see Section IV.2.c.(4) of this NOFO) will be redacted and not provided to the reviewers. The Technical Proposal must contain the following information:

(a) Project Description. This is a detailed description of the proposed project and potential impacts. This section should include a:

(i) Detailed description of the approach to address the goals and requirements of this NOFO and how the proposed activities will impact and benefit public safety.

(ii) Proposed list of technical outputs, details on how these outputs will be made available to the broader public safety and R&D communities, and how their adoption and impact will be tracked.

This section will be evaluated in accordance with the Technical Merit evaluation criteria: (see Section V.1.a. of this NOFO).

(b) Project Execution. This section should provide clear and quantifiable goals, milestones, timelines, and methods to assess progress and performance towards achieving the objectives in the Technical Proposal. In addition, this section should describe the cost effectiveness and value of the proposed project in terms of meeting the stated objectives.

This section will be evaluated in accordance with the Project Execution evaluation criterion (see Section V.1.b. of this NOFO).

(c) Qualifications. This section should provide detailed examples demonstrating:

(i) Qualifications of the individuals, teams, and organizations that will be executing or supporting the proposed project relative to the program goals.

(ii) Demonstrated success executing projects similar in scope and magnitude to the proposed project, including any examples of working with a broad cross-section of public safety practitioners.

(iii) Access to the necessary staff, equipment, facilities, support, and resources to accomplish the proposed objectives.

This section will be evaluated in accordance with the Qualifications evaluation criterion (see Section V.1.c. of this NOFO).

(8) Resume(s). Resumes are required for all key personnel, including the principal investigator/project lead. Awardees are advised that any changes to individuals deemed ‘key personnel’, including disengagement from the project for more than three months or a 25% reduction of effort, will require prior approval, in writing, by the NIST Grants Officer.

This section will be evaluated in accordance with the Qualifications evaluation criterion (see Section V.1.c. of this NOFO). There are no page limits for resumes.

However, any material considered inappropriate for inclusion in a resume (e.g.

supplementary text for another section) will be redacted and not provided to the reviewers.

(9) Budget Narrative. The Budget Narrative must provide a detailed breakdown of each of the object class categories as reflected on the SF-424A. The budget justification should address all the budget categories (personnel, fringe benefits, equipment, travel, supplies, other direct costs and indirect costs) for which Federal funds are requested. The written justification should include the necessity and the basis for the cost. Proposed funding levels must be consistent with the project scope, and only allowable costs should be included in the budget. Information on cost allowability is available in the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards at 2 C.F.R. Part 200 (http://go.usa.gov/SBYh), which apply to awards in this program.

Voluntary committed cost share must be included in the appropriate categories.

Information needed for each category is as follows:

(a) Personnel. At a minimum, the budget justification for all personnel should include the following: name, job title, commitment of effort on the proposed project in terms of average number of hours per week or percentage of time, salary rate, total direct charges on the proposed project, description of the role of the individual on the proposed project and the work to be performed.

(b) Fringe Benefits. Fringe benefits should be identified separately from salaries and wages and based on rates determined by organizational policy. The items included in the fringe benefit rate (e.g. health insurance, parking, etc.)

should not be charged under another cost category.

(c) Travel. For travel costs required by the recipient to complete the project, including attendance at any relevant conferences, the budget justification for travel should include the following: destination; names and number of people traveling; dates and/or duration; mode of transportation, lodging and subsistence rates; and description of how the travel is directly related to the proposed project. For travel that is yet to be determined, please provide best http://go.usa.gov/SBYh estimates based on prior experience. If a destination is not known, an approximate amount may be used with the assumptions given for the location of the meeting.

As described in the Program Description (see Section I. of this NOFO), recipients will be required to attend the PSCR Public Safety Broadband Stakeholder Meetings (PSBSM) to meet with stakeholders and present key plans and findings of their work to date. Recipients must send a minimum of one team member to each event during the term of the grant. The PSCR PSBSMs are held each June in the continental United States and are typically four days in length. The dates and locations of the PSBSM for 2019 – 2022 have not been determined at this time. Applicants should factor in the cost for attending this event in their budget narrative and SF-424A form.

(d) Equipment. Equipment is defined as an item of property that has an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more (unless the organization has established lower levels) and an expected service life of more than one year. Any items that do not meet the threshold for equipment can be included under the supplies line item. The budget justification should list each piece of equipment, the cost, and a description of how it will be used and why it is necessary to the successful completion of the proposed project. Please note that any general use equipment (computers, etc.) charged directly to the award should be allocated to the award according to expected usage on the project. Applicants should provide at least two (2) quotes, if available, for equipment costing $25,000 or more. If two (2) quotes are not available, please provide a statement as to why two (2) quotes are not available.

(e) Supplies. Supplies are defined as all tangible personal property other than those described in equipment (see Section IV.2.a.(9)(d) of this NOFO).

Provide a list of each supply necessary for the project, and the breakdown of the total costs by quantity or unit of cost. Include the necessity of the cost for the completion of the proposed project.

(f) Contracts/Subawards. Each contract or subaward should be treated as a separate item. Describe the services to be provided and the necessity of the subaward or contract to the successful performance of the proposed project.

Contracts are for obtaining goods and services. Subawardees perform part of the project scope of work. For each subaward, applicants must provide budget detail justifying the cost of the work performed on the project.

(g) Construction. Applications to PSIAP – i-Axis may not include construction costs as part of their budget.

(h) Other Direct Costs. For costs that do not easily fit into the other cost categories, e.g. publishing fees or software distribution expenses, please list the cost and the breakdown of the total costs by quantity or unit of cost.

Include the necessity of the cost for the completion of the proposed project.

Only allowable costs can be charged to the award.

This section will be evaluated in accordance with the Project Execution evaluation criteria (see Section V.1.b. of this NOFO). It will also be reviewed to determine if all costs are reasonable, allocable, and allowable under 2 C.F.R.

Part 200 Subpart E, Cost Principles.

(10) Indirect Cost Rate Agreement If indirect costs are included in the proposed budget, provide a copy of the approved negotiated agreement if this rate was negotiated with a cognizant Federal audit agency. If the rate was not established by a cognizant Federal audit agency, provide a statement to this effect. If the successful applicant includes indirect costs in the budget and has not established an indirect cost rate with a cognizant Federal audit agency, the applicant will be required to obtain such a rate in accordance with the Department of Commerce Financial Assistance Standard Terms and Conditions (http://go.usa.gov/xXRxK).

Alternatively, in accordance with 2 C.F.R. § 200.414(f), applicants that have never received a negotiated indirect cost rate may elect to charge indirect costs to an award pursuant to a de minimis rate of 10 percent of modified total direct costs (MTDC), in which case a negotiated indirect cost rate agreement is not required. Applicants proposing a 10 percent de minimis rate pursuant to 2 C.F.R.

§ 200.414(f) should note this election as part of the budget and budget narrative portion of the application.

(11) Letters of Commitment. Letters of Commitment must be submitted by all funded and unfunded entities that will have an active role in executing the activities outlined in the Technical Proposal. Letters of Commitment must address the level of participation, qualifications of the personnel who will be actively involved, and how successful completion of this project would positively impact their profession or community. Letters of Commitment must also specify any voluntary committed cost-share, including the specific services and/or products to be used in the project. Letters of Commitment must be signed by an individual with sufficient authority to legally bind the organization to its commitment.

Letters of Commitment will be evaluated in accordance with the Qualifications evaluation criteria (see Section V.1.c.) of this NOFO).

(12) Data Management Plan. Consistent with NIST Policy 5700.004, Managing Public Access to Results of Federally Funded Research, and NIST Order

4http://www.nist.gov/data/upload/Final-P-5700.pdf http://go.usa.gov/xXRxK http://www.nist.gov/data/upload/Final-P-5700.pdf

5701.005, Managing Public Access to Results of Federally Funded Research, applicants must include a Data Management Plan (DMP).

The DMP is a supplementary document of not more than two pages that must include, at a minimum, a summary of proposed activities that are expected to generate data, a summary of the types of data expected to be generated by the identified activities, a plan for storage and maintenance of the data expected to be generated by the identified activities, and a plan describing whether and how data generated by the identified activities will be reviewed and made available to the public. As long as the DMP meets these NIST requirements, it may take the form specified by the applicant’s institution or some other entity (e.g., the National Science Foundation6 or the National Institutes of Health7).

All applications for activities that will generate scientific data using NIST funding are required to adhere to a DMP or explain why data sharing and preservation are not within the scope of the project.

For the purposes of the DMP, NIST adopted the definition of “research data” at 2 C.F.R. § 200.315(e)(3) (available at http://go.usa.gov/3sZvQ).

Reasonable costs for data preservation and access may be included in the application.

The sufficiency of the DMP will be considered as part of the administrative review (see Section V.3.a. of this NOFO); however, the DMP will not be evaluated against any evaluation criteria.

b. Attachment of Required Documents

Items IV.2.a.(1) through IV.2.a.(5) above are part of the standard application package in Grants.gov and can be completed through the download application process.

Items IV.2.a.(6) through IV.2.a.(12) must be completed and attached by clicking on “Add Attachments” found in item 15 of the SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance. This will create a zip file that allows for transmittal of the documents electronically via Grants.gov.

Applicants should carefully follow specific Grants.gov instructions at www.grants.gov to ensure the attachments will be accepted by the Grants.gov system. A receipt from Grants.gov indicates only that an application was transferred to a system. It does not provide details concerning whether all attachments (or how many attachments) transferred successfully. Applicants using Grants.gov will receive a series of e-mail

5http://www.nist.gov/data/upload/Final-O-5701_0.pdf 6http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmp.jsp 7http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/data_sharing/data_sharing_guidance.htm http://go.usa.gov/3sZvQ http://www.grants.gov/ http://www.nist.gov/data/upload/Final-O-5701_0.pdf http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmp.jsp http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/data_sharing/data_sharing_guidance.htm messages over a period of up to two business days before learning whether a Federal agency’s electronic system has received its application.

Applicants are strongly advised to use Grants.gov’s “Download Submitted Forms and Applications” option to check that their application’s required attachments were contained in their submission.

After submitting the application, follow the directions found at this link, https://go.usa.gov/xQqeh in the Grants.gov Online Users Guide.

If any, or all, of the required attachments are absent from the submission, follow the attachment directions found above, resubmit the application, and check again for the presence of the required attachments.

If the directions found at https://go.usa.gov/xQqeh are not effective, please contact the Grants.gov Help Desk immediately. If calling from within the United States or from a U.S. territory, please call 800-518-4726. If calling from a place outside the United States or a U.S. territory, please call 606-545-5035. E-mails should be addressed to support@grants.gov. Assistance from the Grants.gov Help Desk will be available around the clock every day, except for Federal holidays. Help Desk service will resume at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time the day after Federal holidays.

Applicants can track their submission in the Grants.gov system by following the procedures at the Grants.gov site (http://go.usa.gov/cjamz). It can take up to two business days for an application to fully move through the Grants.gov system to NIST.

NIST uses the Tracking Numbers assigned by Grants.gov,and does not issue Agency Tracking Numbers.

c. Application Format

(1) Paper, E-mail and Facsimile (fax) Submissions. Will not be accepted.

(2) Figures, Graphs, Images, and Pictures. Should be of a size that is easily readable or viewable and may be landscape orientation. Any figures, graphs, images, or pictures will count towards the page limit for the Technical Proposal.

(3) Font. Easy to read font (12-point minimum). Smaller type may be used in figures and tables but must be clearly legible.

(4) Page Limits. See the table below:

Section Page Limit Project Summary 1 Technical Proposal 20 Data Management Plan 2 https://go.usa.gov/xQqeh https://go.usa.gov/xQqeh mailto:support@grants.gov http://go.usa.gov/cjamz

(5) Page Limit Excludes: SF-424, Application for Federal Assistance; SF-424A, Budget Information – Non-Construction Programs; SF-424B, Assurances – Non- Construction Programs; CD-511, Certification Regarding Lobbying; SF-LLL, Disclosure of Lobbying Activities; Resumes of key personnel; Budget Narrative;

Indirect Cost Rate Agreement, and Letters of Commitment.

(6) Page size. 21.6 centimeters by 27.9 centimeters (8 ½ inches by 11 inches).

(7) Application language. English.

d. Application Replacement Pages. Applicants may not submit replacement pages and/or missing documents once an application has been submitted. Revisions can only be made by submitting a complete new application that is received by NIST before the submission deadline.

e. Pre-Applications. Pre-applications will not be accepted under this NOFO.

f. Statement of Intent. To assist NIST in gauging interest and planning for the evaluation process all potential applicants are strongly encouraged to send an e-mail to pscr@nist.gov with ‘iAxis’ in the subject line indicating intent to apply. The statement of intent will only be used for competition planning purposes; it will not be used as part of the evaluation process or to eliminate any applicants from consideration under this NOFO. An applicant will receive full consideration under this NOFO if they do not submit a statement of intent.

g. Certifications Regarding Federal Felony and Federal Criminal Tax Convictions, Unpaid Federal Tax Assessments and Delinquent Federal Tax Returns. In accordance with Federal appropriations law, an authorized representative of the selected applicant(s) may be required to provide certain pre-award certifications regarding Federal felony and Federal criminal tax convictions, unpaid Federal tax assessments, and delinquent Federal tax returns.

3. Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management (SAM)

Pursuant to 2 C.F.R. part 25, applicants and recipients (as the case may be) are required to: (i) be registered in SAM before submitting its application; (ii) provide a valid unique entity identifier in its application; and (iii) continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active Federal award or an application or plan under consideration by a Federal awarding agency, unless otherwise excepted from these requirements pursuant to 2 C.F.R. § 25.110.

NIST will not make a Federal award to an applicant until the applicant has complied with all applicable unique entity identifier and SAM requirements and, if an applicant has not fully complied with the requirements by the time that NIST is ready to make a Federal award pursuant to this NOFO, NIST may determine that the applicant is not qualified to receive a Federal award and use that determination as a basis for making a Federal award to another applicant.

4. Submission Dates and Times

Applications must be received at Grants.gov no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, Friday, October 19, 2018. NIST will consider the date and time recorded by Grants.gov as the official submission time. Applications received after this deadline will not be reviewed or considered. Paper applications will not be accepted.

Applicants should be aware, and factor in their application submission planning, that the Grants.gov system is expected to be closed for routine maintenance from 12:01 a.m.

Eastern Time, Saturday, September 15, 2018 until 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time Monday, September 17, 2018. Applications cannot be submitted when Grants.gov is closed.

When developing the submission timeline, please keep in mind that: (1) all applicants are required to have a current registration in both the electronic System for Award Management (SAM.gov) and Grants.gov; (2) the free annual registration process in the SAM.gov (see Sections IV.3. and IV.7.a.(2). of this NOFO) often takes between three and five business days and may take as long as two weeks; and (3) applicants will receive e-mail notifications over a period of up to two business days as the application moves through intermediate systems before the applicant learns via a validation or rejection notification whether NIST has received the application. (See Grants.gov for full information on application and notification through Grants.gov.). Please note that a Federal assistance award cannot be issued if the designated recipient’s registration in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) is not current at the time of the award.

5. Intergovernmental Review

Applications under this Program are not subject to Executive Order 12372.

6. Funding Restrictions

Applications for product development and/or commercialization are not considered responsive to this NOFO. Profit or fee is not an allowable cost.

7. Other Submission Requirements

a. Applications must be submitted electronically via Grants.gov.

(1) Applicants should carefully follow specific Grants.gov instructions to ensure that all attachments will be accepted by the Grants.gov system. A receipt from Grants.gov indicating an application is received does not provide information about whether attachments have been received. For further information or questions regarding applying electronically for the 2018-NIST-PSIAP-I-AXIS http://www.grants.gov/ announcement, contact Leon Sampson by phone at 301-975-3086 or by e-mail at grants@nist.gov.

(2) Applicants are strongly encouraged to start early and not wait until the approaching due date before logging on and reviewing the instructions for submitting an application through Grants.gov. The Grants.gov registration process must be completed before a new registrant can apply electronically. If all goes well, the registration process takes three to five business days. If problems are encountered, the registration process can take up to two weeks or more. Applicants must have a valid unique entity identifier number and must maintain a current registration in the Federal government’s primary registrant database, the System for Award Management (https://www.sam.gov/), as explained on the Grants.gov Web site (also see Section IV.3. of this NOFO).

After registering, it may take several days or longer from the initial log-on before a new Grants.gov system user can submit an application. Only individuals authorized as organization representatives will be able to submit the application, and the system may need time to process a submitted application. Applicants should save and print the proof of submission they receive from Grants.gov. If problems occur while using Grants.gov, the applicant is advised to (a) print any error message received and (b) call Grants.gov directly for immediate assistance. If calling from within the United States or from a U.S. territory, please call 800-518-4726. If calling from a place other than the United States or a U.S. territory, please call 606-545-5035. Assistance from the Grants.gov Help Desk will be available around the clock every day, except for Federal holidays.

Help Desk service will resume at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time the day after Federal holidays. For assistance using Grants.gov, the applicant may also contact support@grants.gov.

(3) To find instructions for submitting an application on Grants.gov, Applicants should refer to the “Applicants” tab in the banner just below the top of the www.grants.gov home page. Clicking on the “Applicants” tab produces two exceptionally useful sources of information, Applicant Actions and Applicant Resources, which applicants are advised to review.

(4) Applicants will receive a series of e-mail messages over a period of up to two business days before learning whether a Federal agency’s electronic system has received its application. Closely following the detailed information in these subcategories will increase the likelihood of acceptance of the application by the Federal agency’s electronic system.

(5) Applicants should pay close attention to the guidance under “Applicant FAQs,” as it contains information important to successful submission on Grants.gov, including essential details on the naming conventions for attachments to Grants.gov applications.

mailto:grants@nist.gov https://www.sam.gov/

(6) All applicants should be aware that adequate time must be factored into applicants’ schedules for delivery of their application. Applicants are advised that volume on Grants.gov may be extremely heavy leading up to the deadline date.

The application must be both received and validated by Grants.gov. The application is “received” when Grants.gov provides the applicant a confirmation of receipt and an application tracking number. If an applicant does not see this confirmation and tracking number, the application has not been received. After the application has been received, it must still be validated. During this process, it may be “validated” or “rejected with errors”. To know whether the application was rejected with errors and the reasons why, the applicant must log in to Grants.gov, select “Applicants” from the top navigation, and select “Track my application” from the drop-down list. If the status is “rejected with errors,” the applicant may still seek to correct the errors and resubmit the application before the deadline. If the applicant does not correct the errors, the application will not be forwarded to NIST by Grants.gov.

Refer to important information in Section IV.4. Submission Dates and Times, to help ensure the application is received on time.

b. Amendments. Any amendments to this NOFO will be announced through Grants.gov. Applicants may sign up on Grants.gov to receive amendments by e-mail or may request copies by e-mail from pscr@nist.gov.

V. Application Review Information

1. Evaluation Criteria Applications will be evaluated per the following evaluation criteria. Total scores will be calculated out of a maximum of 100 points according to the individual points and weights associated with each criterion in the table below.

Evaluation Criteria

Maximum Points Weight

Total

Technical Merit 10 4 40

Project Execution 10 2 20

Qualifications 10 4 40

Maximum score: 100

For example, an application receiving criterion scores of 8, 7, and 10, (respectively) would receive a total score of 86 according to the following calculation: (8x4) + (7x2) + (10x4) = 86.

a. Technical Merit: Reviewers will evaluate:

(1) The extent to which the proposal demonstrates a clear understanding of the program goals.

(2) The extent to which the approach is cohesive, comprehensive, innovative, feasible, and likely to achieve the NOFO’s stated objectives.

(3) The likelihood and extent to which the proposal will make a positive impact on public safety and the R&D community.

(4) The extent to which the outputs will be available, traceable, and extendable for the public safety and R&D communities.

b. Project Execution: Reviewers will evaluate:

(1) The feasibility and appropriateness of the proposed goals, milestones, timelines, and methods that would be used to assess project performance.

(2) The appropriateness and cost effectiveness of the budget with respect to executing the proposed project.

(3) The degree to which the budget reflects a clear understanding of the objectives of the NOFO.

c. Qualifications: Reviewers will evaluate:

(1) The relevance and the appropriateness of the qualifications and experience of the key personnel and technical experts participating in the project, and the likelihood that they will be able to fulfill the objectives of this NOFO.

(2) The applicant’s access to the necessary staff, equipment, facilities, support, and resources to accomplish the proposed objectives.

(3) Letters of Commitment for the appropriateness of the partnership, the relevance of their expertise, and their ability to contribute effectively to the project.

2. Selection Factors

The Selecting Official, the Chief of the PSCR Division, shall generally select and recommend the most meritorious applications for an award based upon the final adjectival ratings prepared by the Evaluation Panel and one or more of the seven (7) selection factors listed below. The Selecting Official also retains the discretion to select and recommend applications out of order (i.e. from a lower adjectival category) based on one or more of the following selection factors:

a. Results of the merit reviewers’ evaluations.

b. The availability of funding.

c. The extent to which matching funds and/or in-kind contributions (voluntary committed cost share) would help ensure potential success of the project.

d. Whether the project duplicates other projects funded by NIST or other Federal agencies.

e. Alignment with the NOFO objectives.

f. Diversity of entity types within the PSCR R&D portfolio.

g. Geographic diversity within the PSCR R&D portfolio.

3. Review and Selection Process

Proposals, reports, documents and other information related to applications submitted to NIST and/or relating to financial assistance awards issued by NIST will be reviewed and considered by Federal employees, or non-Federal personnel who have entered into conflict of interest and confidentiality agreements covering such information, when applicable.

a. Initial Administrative Review of Applications. Applications received by the deadline will be reviewed to determine eligibility, completeness, and responsiveness to this NOFO and to the scope of the stated program objectives (see Section I. of this NOFO). Applications determined to be ineligible, incomplete, and/or nonresponsive may be eliminated from further review. However, NIST, in its sole discretion, may continue the review process for an application that is missing non-substantive information, the absence of which may easily be rectified during the review process.

b. Full Review of Eligible, Complete, and Responsive Applications. Applications that are determined to be eligible, complete, and responsive will proceed for full reviews in accordance with the review and selection process below:

(1) Merit Review. At least three (3) objective reviewers, who may be Federal employees or non-Federal personnel, with appropriate professional and technical expertise relating to the topics covered in this NOFO, will evaluate and score each eligible, complete, and responsive application based on the evaluation criteria (see Section V.1. of this NOFO). While every application will have at least three (3) reviewers, applications may have more than three (3) reviewers if specialized expertise is needed to evaluate an application. During the review process, the reviewers may discuss the applications with each other, but scores will be determined on an individual basis. Reviewers may consult as a panel with Federal or non-Federal subject-matter experts to seek clarification or explanation of specific issues identified during the initial review process.