NOFO Webinar Recording and Transcript.pdf

U.S. Department of Transportation

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research & Technology

How to Apply for the Climate Change and Transportation Research Initiative

Informational Webinar

October 27, 2023

Watch the webinar recording:

https://usdot.zoomgov.com/rec/share/S_idLI_tEUPFxspqrCBkWgwZMGvcbaFA87BaQWu- BB3murDiVwlwfgMV4dm96WHP.zwPBhl47ypjPFQl1?startTime=1698431406000 Passcode: #8jvfsz$

Read the webinar transcript below:

ROUGH EDITED COPY

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

HOW TO APPLY FOR THE CLIMATE CHANGE

AND TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2023

JOB NO. 25612

CART CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY:

LINDA M. FROST, CERTIFIED REALTIME CAPTIONER

on behalf of

MID-ATLANTIC INTERPRETING GROUP, INC.

https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fusdot.zoomgov.com%2Frec%2Fshare%2FS_idLI_tEUPFxspqrCBkWgwZMGvcbaFA87BaQWu-BB3murDiVwlwfgMV4dm96WHP.zwPBhl47ypjPFQl1%3FstartTime%3D1698431406000&data=05%7C01%7Cgretchen.goldman%40dot.gov%7C79f076f20a1d4d313f1008dbdbd80841%7Cc4cd245b44f04395a1aa3848d258f78b%7C0%7C0%7C638345493137229095%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=qG8E6QOCqqAempZuowfsfCMIkpBLRDZQqZWvSvP5r68%3D&reserved=0 https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fusdot.zoomgov.com%2Frec%2Fshare%2FS_idLI_tEUPFxspqrCBkWgwZMGvcbaFA87BaQWu-BB3murDiVwlwfgMV4dm96WHP.zwPBhl47ypjPFQl1%3FstartTime%3D1698431406000&data=05%7C01%7Cgretchen.goldman%40dot.gov%7C79f076f20a1d4d313f1008dbdbd80841%7Cc4cd245b44f04395a1aa3848d258f78b%7C0%7C0%7C638345493137229095%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=qG8E6QOCqqAempZuowfsfCMIkpBLRDZQqZWvSvP5r68%3D&reserved=0

This transcript is being provided in rough-draft format. Communication

Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. Due to the nature of a live event, terms or names that were not provided prior to the assignment will be spelled phonetically and may or may not represent the true spelling.

>> OPERATOR: Recording in progress.

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: Hello and thank you, all, for joining us today.

My name is Gretchen Goldman the Climate Change Research and Technology

Director at U.S. Department of Transportation. We're excited that you're here to join us on the webinar today on How to Apply for the Climate Change and Transportation Research Initiative. Next slide.

So, first to start off with some house keeping, you'll see in that first column, how to connect today. If you would like to listen via phone, you can use that number, and close captioning is provided today. All participants are automatically muted when you join with your cameras off, and this webinar is being recorded and will be posted publicly.

If you need any technical support on the webinar today, you can e-mail webconference@DOT.gov. You can see at the bottom of the screen a Q&A box where you can type in questions. We'll answer questions at the end of the webinar today. But you can feel free to pose questions in that box at any time.

If you'd like more information about this opportunity, you can go to the

Grants.gov listing for this, and punch in the opportunity number, climate and trans, one word all caps and that will bring up this opportunity, and you can learn more about this opportunity, and some of the DOT context surrounding it at the DOT climate change center web page which is linked on the screen there.

Next slide. So, today, you'll hear from a few speakers, in addition to myself, including our deputy Assistant Secretary Dr. Robert C. Hampshire, our program analyst Shawn Johnson from the office of environment development and technology coordination, and Pankaj Arora, our program manager for climate change research and technology.

So, with that, I would like to pass it to Dr. Robert C. Hampshire, our deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and technology at the U.S.

Department of Transportation. Over to you, Dr. Hampshire.

Thank you, Gretchen. Also, thank you for all of those attending today.

Good afternoon. My name is Robert Hampshire. As Gretchen mentioned I'm the deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and technology. But also the chief scientist at the Department of Transportation. I want to thank you, all, for really taking the time today, to par tis eight in today's webinar.

Today, the team will be sharing with you more about the application process for this USDOT climate change, and transportation research initiative. This initiative is a brand-new effort here at DOT that we're launching to support a partnership between the department and external researchers, with the goal of advancing climate and transportation research and technology.

During this administration, we've been committed to taking bold action to address the climate crisis and transportation sector is a huge focus for that work.

Part of that focus includes dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation sources, as well as ensuring transportation infrastructure's resilient to impact, current and future impacts of climate change, and also addressing the legacy of pollution and other harms to communities from the transportation sector.

This research initiative will support the work of the USDOT climate change center, and expands the program's ability to work directly with experts from the broader scientific community. So, right now, we have a critical opportunity to advance climate and transportation research, particularly work that's actionable. We know that every day, local, tribal, state, and Federal decision makers are working to try to address the nation's climate and transportation challenges. We know that right now, it's essential that we leverage the research and technologies that we know are essential to developing those key climate solutions, particularly for decision makers and communities across this country.

This research initiative is really about ensuring that science and technology are put to work to advancing climate actions. We know now, our communities need that more than ever. So, specifically, we're looking for, you know, the proposals that you -- that show that your research findings will support underserved communities, particularly when it comes to climate change and transportation, such as, you know, addressing the disproportionate negative environmental impacts of transportation on disadvantaged communities. We're also looking for those proposals that advance our goals of eliminating nearly all greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.

Also very relevant of proposals that advance evidence-based climate resilience actions. So, ultimately, you know, we -- we're looking to take proactive action, particularly for actionable science. You know, we really want to ensure that the research happening in this field, and in the labs, is directly supporting and informing actions and decision making, not just here at USDOT, but more importantly as well, in communities across the country.

So, for the next step, you'll hear a lot more about it here in the webinar, and what the team is going to provide, but this notice for funding opportunity is already officially open. It closes on November 27th. And, like we said, we're so excited for this brand-new initiative. We want to see what kind of innovations, collaborative partnerships and teams that are reflected in their proposals that you all are going to submit.

So, with that, I would like to turn it back to the Director of our climate change research and technology efforts, and Dr. Gretchen Goldman. So, Gretchen, back you to.

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Dr. Hampshire, we appreciate your being here with us.

Now we're going to dive in to a little more about the details in terms of the background and the goals, and some of the merit evaluation criteria for this opportunity. So, this is a new research opportunity that we're advancing, specifically to address the challenges that our nation faces when it comes to climate change and transportation. It include a $2.5 million grant for the first year, and up to 2.5 million for years two and three each, subject to availability of fund, and the period of performance is up to 36 months, for that three-year period.

Additional Federal funding may be made available for this agreement that could continue up to a total of five years, if funding is available, and this funding opportunity was published on September 28th, and it will close on

November 27th. So, we're about in the middle of the time period of it being open, and in this case, we anticipate making one award.

So, as you heard Dr. Hampshire say, we're very focused on thinking about solutions when it comes to the nation's climate change and transportation challenges. These are many and diverse, and they are already happening now. And that's both on the mitigation side of this -- the current need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as soon as possible. The transportation sector is responsible for a third of greenhouse gas emissions in this country. And we need to dramatically reduce those greenhouse gas emission, and as quickly as possible, across modes, across sectors. And importantly, we have an opportunity to rethink how we do that, and how do we look at emissions, how do we expand and make sure that we have a more climate-friendly transportation system. So, both in terms of mitigation, and in terms of the causes of climate change, but then we also know the transportation sector itself is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In fact we're already seeing damage and challenges when it comes to resilience of our transportation infrastructure across the country.

And we also need to look at the embodied carbon in our transportation infrastructure, and its materials themselves, and so, we know this problem, when it comes to climate change and transportation is complex, and diverse, and there's lots of dimensions to become concerned with. But at the same time, we know that research and technology have a lot to bring to the table to be leveraged to help us solve this problem. And that's really what this research initiative is about in thinking about what can be do, what can we leverage in terms of research and technology transfer and development that can help inform and address these challenges that our nation is facing every day.

So, that's sort of the broader context of this. And then specifically, the ways that we're looking to address that through this research initiative is we're really looking for proposals that can demonstrate research that will support decarbonization of the transportation sector, that can build resilience of transportation infrastructure networks and operations, that can address the adverse climate and environmental impacts related to transportation, and can otherwise advance solutions to the nation's climate change and transportation challenges.

And we have several guiding documents that are responsive and help shed light in more detail on how we view these issue, and what the DOT goals are when it comes to climate change work. There's several of those documents listed there, including the USDOT strategic plan, the USDOT research development and technology strategic plan, the first picture on this slide, the

U.S. national blueprint for decarbonization of the transportation sector, which is that middle photo that we released earlier this year. The USDOT equity action plan, and USDOT climate action plan for resilience. And so, these are documents that can help shed light on our goals, and approach, when it comes to thinking about these issues, and with the photos, I would highlight those two as being informative in terms of this particular opportunity.

So, next I want to talk about some research and technology development priorities listed in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. I first want to mention here that as this question has come up a few times already, is that there is not the expectation that you cover all of these top Is. These are meant to be illustrative of some of the kind of things we're very interested in, and -- but it is not limited to these topics, and this was to give a sense of the kind of work that we are thinking about, and so, do not feel constrained by the ideas on this slide, but we wanted to be able to share some ideas about it.

The other thing I mentioned, on the slide, I have paraphrased these for the purpose of fitting on the slide. In the funding opportunity itself, there's a little more detail on each of these bullets, if you're noticing, there's slight differences. That's for the purposes of speaking on the slide and making it a manageable amount of text.

Some of these ideas are data and tools to reduce trips and to shift trips to climate-friendly vehicles and modes. Research on approaches to address induced demand and associated greenhouse gas emissions from roadway improvement project, cutting edge technologies that leverage the climate tech industry for climate and transportation solutions. We're also looking at innovative applications of social and behavioral sciences for transportation demand management and other policy interventions that can support the carbon transportation choices. New and emerging environmental monitoring to reduce climate and environmental impacts of the transportation sector.

New and emerging -- rather, methods to assess and reduce physical climate risk, risk from climate impacts themselves to transportation and transportation performance. Innovative adoption strategies and standards for new resilient transportation networks. Innovative research on policy solutions to tackle challenges and deployment of local decarbonization strategies and research on lowering the levels of embodied carbon within transportation infrastructure.

Lastly, before I pass to my colleague Shawn Johnson, I wanted to highlight some of the evaluation criteria that we'll be looking at on the merit side. And so, the merit -- the technical evaluation criteria are around quality and feasibility. So, we're really looking for details of how the work will be carried out. Innovation and impact, where we're looking for proposals with high potential for significant impact on policy and other kind of decision making on climate change and transportation, either at USDOT or otherwise.

And organizational capacity, and record on previously federally funded projects. Monitoring and evaluation plan, so, really we're looking at how are you measuring success on this work. Sustainability, which, in this context, we are talking about the -- how the proposals will demonstrate. They will have a positive impact after the program end, so that sustainability of the program and the work and the longevity of it. And support for underserved communities. We're looking for proposals that will clearly show how the work will support underserved communities when it comes to climate change and transportation, such as addressing that disproportionate negative and environmental impact that we know transportation has had on disadvantaged communities, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. This is looking at proposals that will significantly inform or support the Department of

Transportation's greenhouse gas emissions reductions Colts, and this could include things like utilizing fiscally responsible land use, and increasing use of energy efficient modes like transit, rail, active transport, and transitioning to clean vehicles and fuels, electrification, carbon reducing uses of the right-of-way. These are all examples of the kind of things that we're looking for on this one. And evidence-based climate resilience. So, here we're looking at whether proposals incorporated climate resilience features, such as using the best available climate data and revision support tools and monitoring performance when it comes to resilience and looking at wetter there's features or measures that reflect understanding of climate resilience in this context.

So, with that, I will pass it to my colleague, Shawn Johnson, to take you through some of the application details and submission process.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: Thank you, Dr. Goldman. Greetings everyone my name is Shawn Johnson. I'm a program analyst supporting this effort. So, we're going to talk about the application process, the deadlines and eligibilities. Next slide.

So, who is eligible for this particular NOFO? Of course, institutions of higher education, public research entities, some of you are familiar with what we have here at DOT. We have University Transportation Centers, so, you can partner with University Transportation Center, what we call UTCs and any federally funded development and research center such as centers of excellence. I know FAA has center of excellence. FMSA has centers of excellence. Those are things we can search. And other entities can have that. You are able to partner with them. National laboratories like NRAIL which DOE has. That's another example. You can also partner on other entities that are eligible are private and 501(c)(3) non-profit research entities. And they must be private or 501(c)(3) non-profit. If they are not, they probably would not make the cut. Applicants you must idea at least one organization. You must, I repeat, you must identify at least one partner organization. You are not limited to just one partner. You can have a consortium. It can be three or four, but the lead organization will be responsible for the partners and dispersing the fund.

Thank you. This is a cooperative agreement. So, it is a little different than a typical grant. A cooperative agreement, I'll discuss this in a minute.

A cooperative agreement we would have a little more involvement. We will work with you and partner with you on technical assistance and guarding use against, will be monitoring the process. We'll be reviewing the appropriate research topics. We will be reviewing and commenting on the final document. We will have a very active role in this process. In a typical grant, the typical grant, like our UTCs, they are funded the money, they do the research and then they review progress reports. This is going to be a little bit different. Also, going back to the top of the slide, talk about the plan awarded type. It is reimburse. Cooperative agreement with a 50 percent funding match, which means. The expected award is 2.5 of Federal fund.

That means you must match the funding amount at 1.2 million. That does not necessarily have to be actual funding. It can be in kind. I would refer you to CPR -- not CPR, the code of Federal Register 2 part CFR 200 which talks about allowable cost and does talk about non-Federal matching as well.

I apologize for that. I do apologize for that. Sorry about that. I should have turned my land line off, sorry. I apologize for that.

Again, in the non-Federal match, you can have, again, your partners, it could be their salaries, it could be a list of things that you could match as, you can utilize as your non-Federal match. It doesn't necessarily have to be a dollar amount coming from the lead organization, it can be from within the organizations that you partner with. Next slide.

Your technical proposal must not exceed 25 pages. This is critical. If you exceed 25 -- this does not mean the appendix. We're talking about the actual bulk of the narrative of what you're going to be doing. Should not exceed 25 pages. A lot of times we see grantees, they submit applications and they do not follow the actual directions that are in the NOFO, and that could be your first item that you can be eliminated with.

So, please, 25 pages. You have to have a proposal summary, activities and deliverables, the milestones and time line, introduction to the organization applying, key personnel, your partner, monitoring the evaluation, that is key, monitoring the evaluation, that is key. I will say that again. Monitoring evaluation, and what that entails it also entails how are you going to monitor the progress, not only the research as a lead person, but your partners. How are you monitoring the research as far as funding, and what -- you have a financial system, how are you documenting, all of that is key, and there are times when we can do site visits to see if that is being done. If not, that can jeopardize future work.

Future funding, or sustainability, Dr. Gretchen talked about this. This is important, very important. What is your strategy? You don't have to have a whole two pages on it. But are you thinking about it beyond receiving technical assistance? Have you thought that through? What is your trajectory. This is key. That is another component that's very key. How do we maintain.

Next slide. Cost proposals. Cost proposals within Grants.gov, this is where you will go to apply for the grant in Grants.gov. There are standard form 424 for Federal assistance, then you have the other standard form, 424A for non-construction and 424B.

Now, 424B is for organizations that have not registered in SAM.gov. You can utilize -- you can apply, however when it comes down to the application, and we're getting ready to see who we award. If you are not in SAM.gov.

You will not receive the award. You must be in SAM.gov to receive assistance. If you are receiving Federal fund and you're not in SAM.gov. We can't help you, so, there are two areas that you're going to have to register in.

One, I would say SAM.gov. The second one is Grants.gov, because that's where the application process is. There is a form for individuals, but because of the requirements that you have to have a partner, we're not going to accept that form. The standard form F-424I is not accepted because we're looking at organizations partnering with other entities. You also have a disclosure of lobbying activities that have to be signed. Again, all of this information is included in Grants.gov and you can work through it through

Grants.gov.

Next slide. Cost share -- evaluation criteria for cost. This is critical. Your cost has to be reasonable. If there's you need to explain. Your percentage is very high or indirect cost, please have a narrative, talking about that cost, because we won't know that unless you tell us.

So, again, it has to be reasonable. The cost matching of 33.3 percent is of the total cost of the actual funding amount. So, rights now, you're going to -- the awardee will receive 2.5. You're matching it at 1.2. So, you have already met that requirement. But, again, and this is subjected to funding availability, if you receive additional fund, you have to add that into -- and there is a cost share with that, you have to add that into the total funding.

So, if you received another 100,000 or 50,000, you have to make sure you meet the requirement, 33.3 percent of the total funding that you have received for the project. Okay? And, again, remaining funding is up to is subjected to funding availability. You must have budget controls as well.

Again, I talked about that in the previous slide. You have to show how you're controlling your budget work is monitoring it. It can be your accountant, whoever that is. If it's a University, the sponsor research will handle that, but you have to have documentation. The grant specialist will look at that documentation, to make sure that you are monitoring your expenses for this particular project.

We can go to the next slide. Okay. So. I talked about Grants.gov.

Grants.gov is the vehicle that you can apply for a grant. Again, you have to register. If you are already registered, then you know what the process is.

Once you sign up, and login, to Grants.gov. You can identify the access, you can have sole access, you can be a managing person, a -- meaning that you will manage all of the other partners and you can give them access. It really is up to you. But you will have a work space. Within that work space. And there is YouTube videos on how to apply for the grant. They even have, if you go to the home page. They have several videos for every part of it. And you can kind of look through the video to show you. It also has a help desk that you can contact if you're having problems with Grants.gov. But you would -- develop that work space in that work space, you can apply online or download the forms, fill them out and upload them back into the system.

What will happen, once that's done, or upload them and apply online, you're ready to submit, the system will take it through a process, and it will say passing, or it will either say passing, or it doesn't say there's mistakes.

You have to go and correct those mistakes. Once you get all of the forms and information uploaded, and whatever else you want to add to that, then you can submit. Once you submit your application, you will get an -- a tracking number, and that is just a tracking number for you to see exactly where your application is in the process. Once the NOFO closes, you can still track and see where your application was received. We would have downloaded or pulled or received the application after the notice is closed and then after that, it t would be based on DOT notifying you that -- where we are in the process, but you can see exactly when your application has been pulled and it doesn't mean it is being reviewed, because applications will not be reviewed until after the date is pulled. All we're going to do is compile applications until the closing date and then once it closes then we'll start our review process. But that tracking number is good for you to track -- at least to that particular day.

If you need to pull up the grant, you can pull it up, as Dr. Gretchen said earlier, by Caltrans or you can pull it up by the number, the CFD number, which is 29 -- 20.946, and it will come up. You can review the application, you can download -- not the application, the NOFO. You can do all of that in

Grants.gov.

Next slide.

This is another part. And this -- when I talk about SAM, you have to be registered in SAM. If you're not registered in SAM.gov. Again, you cannot do business. Sometimes this process can be a little slow, so I would -- if you're not registered, I would encourage you to start that process immediately, like today. And this is where you get your unique entity identifier. And you -- again, you have to have this. If you do not, we cannot award a grant to you, if you are selected. Everyone has to be registered in

SAM to do business with the Federal Government. I have to repeat that again. Everyone must be registered in SAM to have a number, a unique, UEI number. You do not -- we cannot fund -- you cannot participate in the process.

So, go to SAM.gov. It is the advanced management system, go through the process of registering. If you already have one, if you already had a

DUNS number, and we used it before, they may have already issued you a number. But you need to go to SAM and register, so you can see that. And that is the number that you will use for any technical assistance funding.

Next slide. I think this is it. Again, key things to remember, the application deadline is November 27th. Deadline to submit technical questions through climateresearch@DOT.gov. Is Monday, November 20th.

And, again, you can pull up the grant opportunity through

CLIMATEANDTRANS, or you can pull it up with the number I gave you which is 20.946. Either way you can get to the grant or do a search on the DOT.

But you can pull up the NOFO that way.

Again, please go over your applications. Make sure you have all of the right information in your application. Make sure you follow the directions. If it is 25 for your narrative. Please stay at 25. Yes, you can have appendix, yes, that is not included in the count of the actual application itself, and we -- and evaluators will look at appendices as well. But that's not part of your narrative. Your narrative must be at 25.

Be sure that you have systems to monitor your financial process, your partners. And I would say good luck to everyone, and we look forward to working with you in the future, and I will turn it back over to Dr. Goldman.

I don't see Dr. Goldman right now I'm going to go ahead and continue. If you have any questions or concerns, please put your questions in the chat.

And we can start answering questions accordingly.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: All right. So, I think I lost my screen, something happened over there. So, just bear with me. I'm going to stop sharing -- what do you see on the screen right now, Shawn?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: I'm seeing you, Pankaj.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: You're seeing me, that's it? So, thanks again, Gretchen and Robert and Shawn. Is Gretchen -- "My Zoom froze. I should be back now."

So, thanks for all of your questions. As of now we have 34 questions, so, I'm glad we have half an hour set aside for the questions. The way I'm going to go about, some of the questions which I can answer myself, I will answer those, and then I will direct some of the questions to either Gretchen or to

Shawn, and then some of the questions we might come back to you later on after the seminar. But we'll answer all of the questions regardless whether we do it right now or later on.

So, let me take the first question. Quickly for everyone's awareness, the question is about the BOE announcement of $5 million for the resilience centers. And the question asked is, like if somebody applies for this one, the

DOT one for the climate and transport, is there going to be a negative impact if they apply for the DOE one. The answer is no. There's distinct opportunities, NOFO opportunities so they don't impact each other. So, you should not be worried about that one. That is a trade forward answer.

Let me go to the second question. How to budget for each partner since there is no well defined research agenda until task 2.

So, either Shawn or Gretchen if you want to take it?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: That is something you work out between you and the partners. Whatever the lead of -- if you're taking on the lead role and then you partner -- that's something you have to work out between you and the partners and how you disburse funding. That is not -- we're only submitting the funding to the lead applicant. And how you do that is beyond -- we don't have control over that.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Thank you. Shawn. Let me go to the next question.

It says can we provide existing research ideas in the proposal, if yes, what will be the weight given to them, or the proposal focused more on the expertise of the team?

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: Yeah, we absolutely want your ideas and your research proposals. You'll recall on merit criteria we're looking for innovation and impact. That will very much be looking for research ideas. I think we of course would also like to know that you have expertise, but we very much want to see the research ideas and taking that into account will develop the research agenda with you overtime but we like the idea.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Thank you, Gretchen. We have all together 50 questions, so, I'm going to zip through them and see what we can answer.

The next one is cost share. Does it depend on the project that each partner will have to commit during the proposal and then they cannot change the commitment?

On this one, we'll come back to you on that answer, if that's okay. We'll just park it. We'll come back and answer it. And, by the way, all of these answers we'll post on Grants.gov so you will see able to see it. All of the answers are there.

Next one, will the slides be -- we'll make the slide available afterward

Then the other question s-are these criteria in order of priority? That came from Eric Yamashita. And, Eric, according, if you can unmute him for a minute. Which criteria are you referring to

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: That's okay. I think I understand. He's saying in the -- I think it's from -- when I posted the merit evaluation criteria. So, that answer is no, it was not in order of priority. That's just the standardized order from DOT. And I'll say quickly while I have the floor, to make sure everyone is aware so we didn't say it explicitly. If you go to the Grants.gov listing where you see the grant -- the funding opportunity and there's also a question and answers document that's there, it's a PDF and we are updating it on a continuous basis, as we get -- as we go through all of the questions that come into the mailbox and that's also where we post slide. That's someplace to check. If you notify subscribers you'll get a notification every time you find that.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: You can find that under related documents tab. If you go to Grants.gov, under related document, click on that and you can see all of the document there.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: And I think the next question we have, Shawn, maybe you want to quickly tackle it. Does the match need to be a soft or hard match?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: Not sure what I me by soft or hard. The 2.5 has to be 1.2. If you're talking about soft as far as in kind. Yes, you can use in kind. Again, for instance, for the lead applicant, if you want to -- if you're salaried, I'm just doing this off the top of my head, if your salary is 50,000 and you're only spending so many hours on the grant, and you I take that back. You're spending your total hours on the grant. You can say you want

25 to go toward the grant and the other is in-kind, your salary and that holds true to your partner, especially in a non-Federal match. It can be travel.

There's a list of things that you can have. I guess you can have if you want to call that as soft. Yes, it doesn't have to be a hard currency, no.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Thank you. Next one, how many award -- I think the plan is to award only one. Select one applicant.

Next is what would DOT really emphasize to applicants given there is only one award? I think we answered that question in frequently asked questions.

We are not taking any position. What we're emphasizing, we're looking for idea and given the strategic plan of the documents, research priorities so, please look at all of those and use your judgment, and also your ideas, because that's not an exhaustive list, we're not taking a strong position on any of those.

How many applications/proposals can one organization submit

The other way to say, a single organization can submit multiple applications.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: But you got to make sure you follow the criteria. If you have, say, for instance your strategy you partner with B on this one and you want to partner with C you can do that. Or you want to be the lead on this particular one, but you're applying as a partner. You can do that, there's no restriction on that.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Okay. Great. The next one is a general question, if we are supposed to include the resume of the key personnel. That will assume a lot of pages of 25, will those be counted?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: You can put those as appendix. Appendices.

That's what other grantees do. Your narrative talks about the program and you can talk about your expertise and partnerships in the program -- excuse me in the 25 pages of application or narrative but you can also have appendixes. You can put your resumes and all of that in your appendices. I would not incorporate that in the narrative because that would eat up your application, the narrative parent of it. Your narrative should be focused on the program, on the prom, what you plan to do. You can mention your partners, you can say for further information, see appendix resumes. Could you do it that way.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: The next one, could you elaborate ail little more on the monitoring and evaluation plan?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: Monitoring and evaluation plan. How do you monitor -- we need to under how you are monitoring your progress. If that is, for instance, give awe example. For us, for DOT, the way we're going to be monitoring your progress, you're going to look at progress reports, reviewing progress reports a lot of DOT members will interact with you on a weekly, biweekly, whatever that schedule is set up, so they will be able to monitor that. For you, as a lead applicant you need to make sure that work is being done with your partners. You have to establish that protocol. And then once you establish that protocol, and it should be in your narrative, then whomever, grant specialist or Dr. Goldman want to see all of the documentation, you should be able to present that information, say, yeah, we know that partner A is doing this, and we have done this, because here's the report they sent us and we met with them on such and such a date. Da, Da, Da that's what we're talking about when it comes to monitoring and evaluation plan.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: That answers the second part of the question they had, do they have to monitor their partners and the answer is yes.

The next question is, please advice if the small business can be eligible as the prime or as a partner.

We can come back to you on that one. That's kind of get our legal opinions down so let's park that and we'll post the answer in the Q&A on the

Grants.gov, unless Shawn, or Gretchen, you want to tackle it right now.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: We can give further clarification, but if you're looking at when it says private that could be the end way, but we got to get further clarification on that.

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: I will say in general some of the very specific eligibility questions we mate want to get back you to on just to make sure we don't say something that's a specific situation, make sure we're giving accurate information.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: The next one -- I think Shawn answered it, so, I'm going to skip it. The question is, do all organizations need to register in

SAM.gov before -- actually no, let ask that question, do all of the organizations need to register in SAM.gov before the lead organization's proposal is submitted?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: If they are to err on the side of caution, any entity that is receiving Federal fund should be in SAM.gov.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Even their partner. Gretchen, and you are my partner all three of us should register?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: We should have some type of -- yeah.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Then it says is the lobbying SF-LLL, L3 and statement regarding the conflict of interest required for both the lead and the partners?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: I would have to get clarification, but it's definitely for the lead. We'll get clarification. I think the partners have to sign that as well.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Got it. Great. Thanks. The next question, please clarify about the match. You mentioned 50 percent match earlier, and now

33 percent of the total.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: 50 percent is the main requirement, is the initial requirement of the grant. The 33.3 percent is the totality of it. So, for instance, if you receive additional funding -- put it like this. The totality -- we'll do it this way. You have 2.5, you have to come up with 1.2 for the match. That means you're at 3.7, I believe. It has to be at least 33 percent of that total. And then you also have to look if you get additional funding as well. So, that's what that means, the totality of the grant, of the funding.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: So, for ease of everyone's -- for benefit for making it simple. Basically we're requiring at least 50 percent of the match. So whatever amount you get, at least 50 percent should be the match. That's the easiest way to do it. Let's go to the next one should the cost proposal be for the full 36-month performance period? That's up to 7.5 million funding potential with 3.75 cost share identified up front or submitted for the first year. 2.5 thus 1.25 for the cost share?

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: For the first year. Since -- yeah. Focusing on

2.5 and 1 tonight 2 match.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: I think these are multiple, seven questions, going to take a wee bit to screen through it.

We still have time. It is 3:20. I can't read the question number here.

Okay, are the data collections costs that will occur during this project by state and/or regional agencies qualifying as the cost share/match?

So, are the data collections costs that will occur during this project by state and/or regional agency, agencies qualifying as cost share/match?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: Can we get back --

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Okay.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: We'll answer that question.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: And the next one is, is indirect cost, overhead, discount good as cost -- I think we'll answer that, all of these questions cost-related after the seminar or webinar.

The next one is, do you strongly encourage partnership with existing centers in the USDOT University trans -- UTC program?

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: This is independent process from the University of transportation center program. It is not -- it will be blind to whether or not you were an existing UTC or previous UTC.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: And the next question is, I think I will ask that. Is there a preference for a specific region in the U.S. now? We're looking at the whole -- holistically for the whole country and looking for your idea. So, there is no position -- we're not taking a position on a region or area.

Is the intent of the grant to be technology transfer project instead of applied research?

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: Yeah. I would say it's not -- they may be asking because of other DOT kind of grants are more geared toward technology transfer. Here the only frame is that you heard Dr. Hampshire saying about wanting it to be action oriented and policy relevant. So, that's an impactful in terms of innovation. So it's not necessarily taking a position on whether or not that include technology transfer per se.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: And next one is, do partnerships that include regional governments and consultants allowed?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: We have to get clarity on that. Maybe this person would give an example of regional governments. Are you talking about region, are you talking about what -- that could be defined in several different ways.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: So -- all right. Let park it and we will respond to it after the call. After the webinar. So, the next one is -- because we have a lot of questions to go through. Could you please clarify the eligibility of private and 501(c)(3) non-profit. We'll come back to that. The next one, do you require details and budget justification for the partners in addition to the prime?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: Yes. You have to identify the budgeting -- if they're doing in-kind or how much they're going to be getting. Yes, that has to be shown in your budget.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: And the next one we already answered. After that is the summary page part of 25 pages?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: That's a good -- um, in most practices, yes, it is included.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: The next one okay. The award type is noted as the cost reimbursement but most national laboratories work on a forward funding basis. Does the USDOT anticipate making any exceptions for the lab's, knoll labs?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: That's if the lab is the actual lead

>> PANKAJ ARORA: I'm sorry, say that again.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: If the lab itself is the lead, they will still receive funding and it will still be reimbursable. If it's a national lab, if they're not the lead depend who the lead is.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: I think the question is, instead of cost reimburse, can they get the full funding if they are allowed, meaning the whole lump sum right away.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: If they are the lead, yes.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: They can. Okay.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: If they are the lead we will obligate the funding amount. It's 2.5 of the award amount they will get.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Okay. Great are we talking about the UEI number for the PI or for the institution of the PI? I think PI is principle investigator.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: So, depends how you are listed, if you're listed as

PI or listed as organization. It probably would be best as the organization.

Not necessarily the PI.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: And I think next one we already answered. Resumes can be part of the appendix.

As far as applicants, can private for-profit entities partner with non-profit entities?

I think we'll come back on this one. Legal, yeah.

So, it's Gretchen Goldman. They wanted to know what the first name is.

It should pop up. It's Gretchen Goldman. The same question I think we answered is the cost matching 33 percent or 50 percent. We already answered it.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: Yep. 50 percent.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Is there a teaming list. I don't know what that means but

So, if you can clarify that question, Patrick Murphy, if you can submit that more detail on that, that would be great.

The next one is, all right. This is a could question. Can you please explain what can be included in appendices that do not count toward the 25 page limit.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: Resumes, your partnership letter of intent that you get from the partners. That information, and any other information that you think is pertinent. Any certificates or whatever you think is pertinent for this -- for your application can go in the appendices.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Got it. We're down to 3 minutes, I'm going to take another two or three questions and just try to wrap it up.

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: I think we have until 4:00, just to clarify. I think we have to 4:00. I think zoom folks can let us know if that's not the case.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: That's wonderful. What is expected start date?

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: I can just say that the start date will be dependent of course on after it is avoided. Whatever is on your proposal will adjust it as needed after we start. So, you can use sort of a place holder start date, and we will adjust it moving forward. So, you can decide.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: The next question is related to what talked about.

Shawn maybe you can answer is. Does the budget and budget justification count against the 25 page proposal limit? Or appendix?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: The budget justification hopefully you can summarize the budget justification very quickly in the summary. Or you can add that to, as an -- in the appendix, because you also have your forms. I can't remember night now, there may be an area where you can justify on the forms. Because the forms are separate from the actual narrative. So, that's where all of your budget information -- so, you can attach it to that if you need to. But, you need to at least talk about it briefly in your narrative, if there's their is some discrepancy, or you think you need to justify it.

I hope that answers the question.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Yeah, the next two questions we already answered.

The performance -- the performance period is for 36 months, do we provide a budget for the for the three years or just for the first year?

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: Budget for the first year. The other thing I will say, I think we got related questions to the inbox. We understand because it's a cooperative agreement, the research agenda will be, you know, will work with us on that in the subsequent years. So, even though the period of performance is longer, the focus should be on that, this first year, and the budget should be foot the first year.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: This acronym, I don't under, but the person ask anonymous, are SP&R fund that go to state DOTs allowable as match for this grant? SP&R.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: I'm not familiar with that. That's something we have to double-check. I'm assuming they are talking about funding, like recent funding for CHRP or funding to the states, Federal Highway. But we have to get clarification on that.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: And then the person who -- the person who wrote that, if you can clarify what SP&R is, so we can be more diligent about it when answering it. That would be brilliant.

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: They said state research dollars from Federal

Highway.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: Federal Highway.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Okay. So, I think Shawn, we might have to check. I think the question is a little bigger. Like if they're getting Federal fund from something, other project, other grants, can they use that as the cost share from that one? So, we can come back on that one unless, Shawn, you're positive about it.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: I'm not 100 percent, I'm 99 percent that you cannot use other Federal funding as cost share. But we will make sure we clarify that. But you cannot use the Federal funding.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: And the next question is -- I think we answered that.

Just to close it up. 25 pages is the narrative and everything that we're asking for, as far as appendices is there a limit on appendices, how much they can put in appendices? No, right? Are slide available. Yes. Is budget limited to 2.5 million on Grants.gov or can it be more?

It's anonymous, so I think the question is like, will be able to give more than 2.5 million? I think that is the question being asked. Is the budget limited to 2.5 or more than that? It is 2.5, might be not more than that might be less than that but it's up to 2.5 million dollar.

What type of things can be included in the appendix of technical proposal.

So, I think we covered it. A bit of budget information, the resume, and I think Shawn also alluded to other things.

I think we answered that on Grants.gov in the frequently asked questions, for the whole community, can we partner with companies based outside of the U.S.? Will this count as match?

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: Go ahead Dr. Goldman.

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: No, you probably know better than me.

Everyone needs to be U.S.-based. Is that -- everyone needs to be

U.S.-based partners.

>> SHAWN JOHNSON: Yes.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: So this is further clarification. Could you please explain a little more in detail the cost matching, what does that mean obviously what is included. They just need more clarification.

>> GRETCHEN GOLDMAN: I think Shawn mentioned it and I think we can, in the questions and answers, it makes sense, we'll do a longer sort of narrative on the cost share and reference the CFR code that Shawn referenced that provides more details, since there seems to be a frequently asked question.

>> PANKAJ ARORA: Okay. Sound great. The next one is, if -- if a center offers up research solicitation outside of the center partnership can the successful…