NOFOAFRLAFOSR20250006.pdf

NOFOAFRLAFOSR20250006

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

Fiscal Year 2026

I. OVERVIEW INFORMATION

This is a special Notice of Funding Opportunity Announcement (NOFO) sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), which will hereafter generally be referred to as “we, us, our, or AFOSR.” The Fiscal Year 2026 Air Force Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) intends to support individual early in career scientists and engineers who have received Ph.D. or equivalent degrees by 01 April 2018 or later showing exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research. The program objective is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering; enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators;

and increase opportunities for the young investigator to recognize the Air Force and Space Force mission and related challenges in science and engineering.

Individual awards are made to U.S. institutions of higher education, industrial laboratories, for-profit, or non-profit research organizations where the principal investigator (PI) is employed on a full-time basis and holds a regular, non-contractor position. A YIP PI must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident. Researchers working at a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, or a Department of Defense (DoD) Laboratory are not eligible for this competition.

YIP awards are funded up to $150,000 per year for three years, for a total of $450,000. No single year may exceed $150,000. Please review the remainder of this announcement for additional information.

Under this competition, an anticipated thirty-seven (37) traditionally funded YIPs and two (2) YIPs funded in partnership with the Laboratory for Physical Sciences (LPS) in the Quantum

Information Sciences research discipline may be awarded. There may be potential for an additional 37 YIPs funded from other AFOSR research funding. All actions are based on the availability of funds.

Proposers are encouraged to confer with the designated AFOSR Program Officer(s) prior to submitting a full proposal. We will evaluate proposals using an internal review panel. AFOSR reserves the right to select and fund all, some, or none of the proposals from any of the topics below. AFOSR provides no funding for direct reimbursement of proposal development costs.

Technical and budget proposals (or any other material) submitted in response to this NOFO will not be returned. It is the policy of AFOSR to treat all white papers and proposals submitted under this NOFO as sensitive competitive information and to disclose their contents only for the purposes of evaluation.

White papers briefly summarizing the proposing institution’s ideas are required. Submit white papers to our whitepaper portal, which is linked below. The topic points of contact (POCs) will coordinate to provide feedback on the white papers.

The proposals will need to include a data management plan, outlining how samples and data collected in the program will be stored and managed. This includes but is not restricted to issues such as standards for data and metadata collection, content and format, data archiving, database management, and data sharing within, outside the awardee and beyond the lifetime of the grant.

This precondition is modeled on the National Science Foundation Data Management Plan requirement (e.g., https://www.nsf.gov/eng/data-management-plans).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants should be alert for any amendments that may modify the announcement. Amendments to the original Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will be posted to the Grants.gov Webpage: https://www.grants.gov/.

Hyperlinks have been embedded within this document and appear as underlined, and or blue- colored words in the midst of paragraphs. The reader may “jump” to the linked section within this document by “clicking” (CTRL + CLICK or CLICK).

https://www.nsf.gov/eng/data-management-plans https://www.grants.gov/

II. BASIC INFORMATION

FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY NAME

Air Force Office of Scientific Research

875 North Randolph Street

Arlington, VA 22203

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY TITLE

Air Force Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Young Investigator Program (YIP)

ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE

Initial Announcement.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER

NOFOAFRLAFOSR20250006

CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE (CFDA) NUMBER

12.800 Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program

FUNDING DETAILS

AFOSR intends to fund a minimum of thirty-seven (37) awards, in the amount of $150,000 per year, for a maximum of three (3) years. The expected value of each award is anticipated to be $450,000. The total amount of funding and the number of awards is based on the quality of the proposals and the availability of funds.

KEY DATES

Pre-proposal inquiries and questions, regarding white papers and the submission of those white papers, must be received in writing by electronic mail to the address(es) of this NOFO not later than 04 July 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered. The Government will respond to any pre-proposal inquiries or questions via public posting, or individual responses, no later than COB on 11 July 2025.

White papers must be received by submitting to https://community.apan.org/wg/afosr/p/submitawhitepaper by 25 July 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered. White paper evaluation is meant to initially assess the capability of a https://community.apan.org/wg/afosr/p/submitawhitepaper proposed effort and is NOT a selection process. White papers must be no more than five (5) pages in length. References and CV/bios will not count against the page limit.

The government will respond to the white paper determination before COB on 22 August 2025.

Pre-proposal inquiries and questions must be received in writing by electronic mail to the address(es) of this NOFO not later than 04 July 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered.

The Government will respond to any pre-proposal inquiries or questions via public posting, or individual responses, no later than COB on 11 July 2025.

Proposals must be received electronically through Grants.gov by 19 September 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered.

We anticipate that we will notify proposers of selection or non-selection for award no later than 14 February 2026. We anticipate awards to be made by 01 March 2026, barring delays.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Fiscal Year 2026 Air Force Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) intends to provide support for individual scientists and engineers who have either received Ph.D. or equivalent degrees post 01 April 2018. These scientists and engineers must have shown exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research.

The program objective is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering; enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators; and increase opportunities for the young investigators to recognize the Air Force and Space Force mission and related challenges in science and engineering.

We seek unclassified proposals from qualified and responsible individual applicants in the research areas of interest identified in the most recent Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) titled “Research Interests of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research” published on Grants.gov at https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/345653.

Note: The AFOSR open BAA updates annually in the March/April time frame. Please make sure you coordinate your topic ideas with the appropriate Program Officer (PO) to ensure the topic area is still relevant to the Air Force.

Additionally, the AFOSR has partnered with the Laboratory for Physical Sciences (LPS) to award additional outstanding YIP proposals in the field of gate-based quantum computing under the “Quantum Information Sciences” research portfolio area (Section A.3.g of the AFOSR open BAA). Proposals for both experimental and theoretical research are encouraged. The primary focus is on innovative research to advance the state of the art in quantum computing systems by understanding and mitigating challenges, developing revolutionary new approaches, tracking, characterizing, and reducing noise, and developing supporting technology. Specific research topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: understanding and mitigating the https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/345653 impact of ionizing radiation on qubits, improving the gate and readout speed and fidelity in multi-qubit systems, investigating promising new qubit modalities that address existing qubit challenges, developing novel control and readout schemes, and exploring schemes for modular quantum computing. Proposals should describe the long-term vision of the proposed work and how it relates to gate-based quantum computing research. Proposals should also describe the expected technical challenges and steps to overcome them. For submissions in the area of quantum computing, please format the title of your submission as, “Quantum Computing – Title of Project” to ensure that your application is properly sorted.

YIP proposals may be submitted for only one research portfolio area.

It is important that your proposal shows strength in as many of the evaluation areas as practicable for maximum competitiveness.

Individual awards are made to U.S. institutions of higher education, industrial laboratories, for-profit, or non-profit research organizations where the individual principal investigator is employed on a full-time basis and holds a regular, non-contractor position. YIP primary investigators must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident. We discuss this more in section A.1. Eligible Applicants. Researchers working at the Federally Funded Research and Development Centers and DoD Laboratories are not eligible for this competition.

AGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION

a) Technical Inquires and Questions

You should submit your questions in writing by electronic mail to the Program Officer responsible for your topic(s) of interest from B. Program Description. You should include the NOFO number in the subject line.

The technical contact for this announcement is as follows:

SECTION PROGRAM OFFICER(s) EMAIL B Ms. Ellen Robinson, AFOSR/RTC afosryip@us.af.mil

If you submit a question via telephone call, fax message, or any other means, you may not receive a response.

b) General Inquires and Questions

You must send all general questions and inquiries about this announcement by email. Your questions will generally be consolidated with other questions and posted on grants.gov so everyone gets the same information. We may provide an individual response by email if your question does not apply to everyone else.

AFOSR/RBKR1

GRANTS OFFICER

Email: afosryip@us.af.mil

Table of Contents

I. OVERVIEW INFORMATION

II. BASIC INFORMATION

A. ELIGIBILITY

1. Eligible Applicants

a) Qualified and Responsible United States and Foreign Educational & Non-Profit Institutions

b) Eligible Applicants must meet the following criteria:

c) Ineligible Entities

2. Cost Sharing

3. Other

a) Primary Investigator Employment Requirements

b) Acknowledgment of Support and Disclaimer Requirements

c) Expectation of Public Dissemination of Research Results

d) Disclosure of Conflict of Commitment and Conflict of Interest

B. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Access to DoD Resources

2. Federal Award Information

C. APPLICATION CONTENT AND FORMAT

1. Pre-Proposal Inquiries and Questions

2. The Application as a Whole

a) Proposal Format

b) Proposal Length

c) Marking Requirements for Confidential or Proprietary Information

d) Application Form and Proposal Attachment

3. Components Pieces of the Application

a) SF-424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance Form

b) R&R Other Project Information Form

c) Publicly Releasable Project Summary/Abstract

d) Project Narrative

e) Bibliography & References

f) R&R Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form

g) R&R Budget Form

h) R&R Budget Justification

i) R&R Project/Performance Site Locations Form

j) Data Management Plan

k) R&R Personal Data Form

4. Information You Must Submit If Selected for Possible Award

D. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS AND DEADLINES

1. Address to Request Application Package

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

a) SAM Registration Required

b) SAM Exemption or Exceptions Not Available Under This Announcement

c) Consequences of Non-Compliance with SAM Registration Requirements

3. Submission Instructions & Grants.gov Application Registration

a) Electronic Delivery

b) How to Register to Apply through Grants.gov

4. Application Submission and Receipt Procedures

a) How to Submit an Application to AFOSR via Grants.gov

b) Create a Workspace

c) Complete a Workspace

d) Submit a Workspace

e) Track a Workspace

5. Submission Dates and Times

a) Pre-Proposal Inquiries and Question Deadline:

b) How Pre-Proposal Inquires and Question Time is Determined

c) Effect of Missing Pre-Proposal Inquiries and Questions Deadline

d) Proposal Submission Deadline

e) How Proposal Submission Time is Determined

f) Grants.gov Tracking Number is Application Receipt

g) Effect of Missing the Proposal Submission Deadline

6. Intergovernmental Review

7. Funding Restrictions

a) Proposal Preparation Costs

b) Pre-Award Costs

c) Air Force Office of Scientific Research No-Cost Extension (NCE) Policy

8. Other Submission Requirements

E. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

1. Criteria

a) Principal Evaluation and Selection Criteria

b) Additional Evaluation and Selection Criteria

2. Review and Selection Process

a) Merit based, Competitive Procedures

b) Cost Analysis for Reasonableness and Realism

3. Disclosure of Administrative Processing by Contractor Personnel

4. Security Risk Review

a) Security Risk Review

b) Security risk review for these subject proposals will be developed for all proposed Senior/Key personnel and “Covered Individuals”

c) External Engagements

d) Actions Required by Applicants/Recipients at Proposal Submission

e) Actions Required by Covered Individuals

f) Actions Required by Applicants/Recipients During Period of Performance

5. No Guaranteed Award

F. AWARD NOTICES

1. Selection Notices

a) Electronic Notification

b) Selection for Possible Award Does Not Authorize Work

2. Award Notices

a) Federal Award Document

b) Electronic Federal Award Distribution

G. POST-AWARD REQUIREMENTS AND ADMINISTRATION

1. Administration and National Policy Requirements

a) Reporting of Matters Related to Recipient Integrity and Performance

b) Agency Review of Applicant’s Risk

c) Certification of Lobbying Activity

d) Cross-cutting National Policy Requirements

e) Acknowledgement of Research Support

f) Disclaimer Language for Research Materials and Publications

g) Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements

h) DoD Research and Development General Terms and Conditions

i) Conditions of Award for Recipients Other Than Individuals

j) Minimum Record Retention Requirements

2. Reporting

a) Monitoring and Reporting Program Performance

b) Technical Performance Report Format

c) Department of Defense (DD) Form 882 Report of Inventions and Subcontracts

d) Standard Form (SF)-425 Federal Financial Report

e) Electronic Payment Requests and Electronic Payment

f) Property Reports

g) Other Reports

h) Electronic Submission of Reports

H. OTHER INFORMATION

1. Ombudsman

2. Grants and Contracting Officer Authority

3. Funding Opportunities

A. ELIGIBILITY

1. Eligible Applicants

a) Qualified and Responsible United States and Foreign Educational & Non- Profit Institutions You are eligible to submit an application if you are a qualified and responsible organization from academia, the non-profit sector, and industry. Academia includes educational institutions in the United States as defined at 10 U.S.C. 2194. Educational institutions means a local educational agency, college, university, or any other nonprofit institution dedicated to improving science, mathematics, and engineering education. We review your application, proposal, and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) designated repositories of government-wide public and non-public data, including comments you have made, as required by 41 U.S.C. 2313 and described in 2 CFR 200.205 and 32 CFR 22.410 to assess risk posed by applicants, and confirm applicants are qualified, responsible, and eligible to receive an award.

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2023-title10/USCODE-2023-title10-subtitleA-partIII-chap111-sec2194 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2009-title41/USCODE-2009-title41-chap4-subchapIII-sec231 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-C/section-200.205 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-32/subtitle-A/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-22/subpart-D/section-22.410

Individual awards are made to U.S. institutions of higher education, industrial laboratories, for-profit businesses, or non-profit research organizations where the individual principal investigator is a U.S. citizen, national, or has permanent residency at time of proposal submission; employed on a full-time basis and holds a permanent position. All PIs must meet all eligibility requirements.

b) Eligible Applicants must meet the following criteria:

(i) Doctorate no earlier than 01 April 2018

c) Ineligible Entities None of the following entity types are eligible to submit proposals as primary award recipients under this announcement:

(i) Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs)

(ii) Individual persons or people

2. Cost Sharing We do not require cost sharing for proposals under this announcement. Cost sharing is not an evaluation or selection criterion.

3. Other

a) Primary Investigator Employment Requirements As the individual Principal Investigator, you must hold a full-time, non-contractor permanent, career-competitive, or tenure-track position (based on your institution’s definition) with your organization, or your proposal must include a letter from your organization stating that you will be considered for a permanent, career- competitive, or tenure-track non-contractor position if you currently hold a short-term appointment. This is in addition to the requirement you are a U.S.

citizen, national, or permanent resident. You are not eligible to submit a proposal if you do not meet these requirements. You must have permanent residency at the time of proposal submission.

b) Acknowledgment of Support and Disclaimer Requirements You must include the Acknowledgment of Research Support on all materials created or produced under our awards. The Disclaimer Language must be included in materials as required. The award document may provide additional instructions about specific distribution statements to use when you provide research materials to us. You are not eligible to submit a proposal if you cannot accept these terms.

c) Expectation of Public Dissemination of Research Results We expect research funded by this announcement will be fundamental. We expect public dissemination of research results if you receive an award. This is a basic requirement for unclassified research results. We intend, to the fullest extent possible, to make available to the public all unclassified, unlimited peer-reviewed scholarly publications and digitally formatted scientific data arising from research and programs funded wholly or in part by the DoD as described in the OUSD, AT&L Memorandum, “Public Access to Department of Defense-Funded Research” dated 09 Jul 2014.

We follow DoD Instruction 5230.24 and DoD Instruction 5230.27 policies and procedures to ensure broad dissemination of unclassified research results to the public and within the Government. The DoD Instruction 5230.27 policy and procedures allowing publication and public presentation of unclassified fundamental research results will apply to all research proposed under this competition unless the Program Officer gives you an explicit, written exclusion to these policies with the Grants or Contracting Officer’s advice and consent. All exclusions must be authorized or required by law and must cite a valid legal authority.

You must provide a copy of all peer-reviewed publications developed or produced from research conducted with Air Force and Space Force funds to our Program Officer.

You are not eligible to submit a proposal if you cannot accept these terms.

d) Disclosure of Conflict of Commitment and Conflict of Interest This announcement requires that all current and pending research support, as defined by Section 223 of the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act must be disclosed at the time of proposal, for all covered individuals. Such disclosure will be updated annually during the performance of any research project selected for funding, and whenever covered individual are added or identified as performing under this project. Covered Individuals are those who are listed as key personnel on proposals including but not restricted to the principal investigator or co-principal investigator.

Any decision to accept a proposal for funding under this announcement will include full reliance on the applicant’s statements. Failure to report fully and completely all sources of project support and outside positions and affiliations may be considered a materials statement within the meaning of the federal False Claims Act and constitute a violation of law.

The funding agency may conduct a pre-award conflict of interest/conflict of commitment review of any proposal selected for funding, as defined in the National Security Strategy for United States Government-Supported Research and Development (NSPM-33). Offerors are advised that any significant conflict of interest/conflict of commitment identified may be a basis for the rejection of an otherwise awardable proposal. Furthermore, the development or discovery of a https://www.esd.whs.mil/portals/54/documents/dd/issuances/dodi/523024p.pdf https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/523027p.pdf?ver=2019-04-04-095230-883 https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/523027p.pdf?ver=2019-04-04-095230-883 https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/010422-NSPM-33-Implementation-Guidance.pdf https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/010422-NSPM-33-Implementation-Guidance.pdf conflict of interest or conflict of commitment identified after an award may be a basis for terminating an already awarded proposal.

(i) General Requirement for Disclosure: You and your organization must disclose any potential or actual scientific or non- scientific Conflict of Interest(s) to us. You must also disclose any potential or actual conflict(s) of interest in any subrecipient you include in your proposal.

You must provide enough information for us to evaluate your disclosure. We may have to ask you more questions if we need more information.

At our discretion, we may ask you for a conflict-of-interest mitigation plan after you submit your proposal. Your plan is subject to our approval.

(ii) Scientific Conflict of Interest: Scientific collaborations on research and development projects are generally the result of close collaboration prior to the submission of applications for support. Accordingly, virtually all of these collaborations might be considered to include a potential conflict of interest. The potential conflict is mitigated by the disclosure of these collaborations, and the list of current and pending support you provide for senior and key researchers.

B. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Fiscal Year 2026 Air Force Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) intends to provide support for individual scientists and engineers who have either received Ph.D. or equivalent degrees post 01 April 2018. These scientists and engineers must have shown exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research.

The program objective is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering; enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators; and increase opportunities for the young investigators to recognize the Air Force and Space Force mission and related challenges in science and engineering.

We seek unclassified proposals from qualified and responsible individual applicants in the research areas of interest identified in the most recent Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) titled “Research Interests of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research” published on Grants.gov at https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/345653.

Note: The AFOSR open BAA updates annually in the March/April time frame. Please make sure you coordinate your topic ideas with the appropriate Program Officer (PO) to ensure the topic area is still relevant to the Air Force.

Additionally, the AFOSR has partnered with the Laboratory for Physical Sciences (LPS) to award additional outstanding YIP proposals in the field of gate-based quantum computing under https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/345653 the “Quantum Information Sciences” research portfolio area (Section A.3.g of the AFOSR open BAA). Proposals for both experimental and theoretical research are encouraged. The primary focus is on innovative research to advance the state of the art in quantum computing systems by understanding and mitigating challenges, developing revolutionary new approaches, tracking, characterizing, and reducing noise, and developing supporting technology. Specific research topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: understanding and mitigating the impact of ionizing radiation on qubits, improving the gate and readout speed and fidelity in multi-qubit systems, investigating promising new qubit modalities that address existing qubit challenges, developing novel control and readout schemes, and exploring schemes for modular quantum computing. Proposals should describe the long-term vision of the proposed work and how it relates to gate-based quantum computing research. Proposals should also describe the expected technical challenges and steps to overcome them. For submissions in the area of quantum computing, please format the title of your submission as, “Quantum Computing – Title of Project” to ensure that your application is properly sorted.

YIP proposals may be submitted for only one research portfolio area.

It is important that your proposal shows strength in as many of the evaluation areas as practicable for maximum competitiveness.

Individual awards are made to U.S. institutions of higher education, industrial laboratories, for-profit, or non-profit research organizations where the individual principal investigator is employed on a full-time basis and holds a regular, non-contractor position. YIP primary investigators must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident. We discuss this more in section A.1. Primary Investigator Employment Requirements.

Researchers working at the Federally Funded Research and Development Centers and DoD Laboratories are not eligible for this competition.

1. Access to DoD Resources Proposals may request access to AFRL facilities or DoD high performance computing resources in order to conduct the proposed research. Proposals should make this request in accordance with the instructions given in the C.3.d. Project Narrative section of this announcement. If authorized, there is no cost to the research for these resources. Applicants are advised that routine access of educational institution researchers to AFRL buildings and facilities is limited to U.S. citizens.

Individuals eligible for access are subject to background checks.

2. Federal Award Information Most YIP awards are three (3) years in duration, funded up to $150,000 per year for a total of approximately $450,000. The YIP may be funded no more than $150,000 annually, regardless of if the overall amount is $450,000.

The YIP projected start date is determined at the time of the award but is most likely projected no later than 01 March 2026 based on the availability of the president’s budget.

We anticipate approximately thirty-seven (37) traditionally funded YIPs, and two YIPs funded in partnership with the Laboratory for Physical Sciences (LPS) in the Quantum Information Sciences research discipline may be awarded under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 4001 in the form of grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts. Potential for an additional 37 funded research disciplines core funded YIPs may be awarded. We rely on discretionary appropriated funds for this program. Awards are only made if funds are available.

We select what kind of award instrument we can use based on requirements in the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act 31 U.S.C. 6301 – 31 U.S.C. 6308.

• A grant or cooperative agreement award may be made to U.S. institutions of higher education (IHE) or nonprofit organizations as described in 2 CFR 25.345, including foreign public entities and foreign organizations operated primarily for scientific, educational, service, charitable, or similar purposes in the public interest.

• A grant or cooperative agreement may be awarded to applicants with a for-profit organization type as described in 2 CFR 25.325, or to any applicant that requests a fee or profit.

Individual awards are made to U.S. institutions of higher education, industrial laboratories, for-profit, or non-profit research organizations where the individual PI is employed on a full-time basis and holds a regular, permanent position. A YIP PI must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident. There may not be co-PIs except in cases where the potential proposed individual PI transfers institutions post-closing date of the announcement and the primary institution agrees to add the PI’s receiving institution as a sub-award. Researchers working at a Federally Funded Research and Development Center or a DoD Laboratory are not eligible for this competition.

No domestic or foreign collaborators, funded or non-funded, are allowed for this single investigator award. 2 CFR 1108.115 defines Co-principal investigator as “any one group of individuals whom an organization that is carrying out a research project with DoD support designates as sharing the authority and responsibility for leading and directing the research intellectually and logistically, other than the one among the group identified as the primary contact for scientific, technical, and related budgetary matters (see the definition of “principal investigator”).”

The YIP award is to an institution. However, YIP highlights outstanding individuals and should the awardee transfer institutions after the announcement closing date, the agency may attempt to accommodate these changes if funds are available and approved by the Program Manager, PO, and Contracting office. Potential options may include: (1) grant remains at awarded YIP institution with a new PI, identified by the YIP awardee, (2) primary institution must identify a replacement PI and agree to sub-contract to the new institution of the YIP awardee (must be PI listed on the original YIP proposal), or (3) termination of YIP grant with new award to the YIP awardee as a Core AFOSR grant or any combination of the above. The new PI must meet the stated YIP eligibility requirements.

Awards are made under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 4001 in the form of grants, or cooperative agreements. We rely on discretionary appropriated funds for this program. We select what kind of award instrument we can use based on requirements in the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act 31 U.S.C. 6301 – 31 U.S.C. 6308. We discuss regulations, terms, and conditions that generally apply to our awards in Section F. Federal Award.

Awards may take the form of contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements, The following provides a brief description of potential instrument types:

Grant. A legal instrument consistent with 31 U.S.C. 6304, is used to enter into a relationship:

The principal purpose of which is to transfer a thing of value to the recipient to carry out a public purpose of support of stimulation authorized by a law or the United States, rather than acquire property or services for the Federal Government’s direct benefit or use in which substantial involvement is not expected between the Federal Government and the recipient when carrying out the activity contemplated by the grant.

No fee or profit is allowed.

Cooperative Agreement. A legal instrument which, consistent with 31 U.S.C 6305, is used to enter into the same kind of relationship as a grant, except that substantial involvement is expected between the Federal Government and the recipient when carrying out the activity contemplated by the cooperative agreement. No fee or profit is allowed.

We reserve the right to select and fund for award all, some, part, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement. There is no guarantee of an award.

C. APPLICATION CONTENT AND FORMAT

1. Pre-Proposal Inquiries and Questions

You are encouraged to contact the Program Officer listed in section A.9.a. Technical Inquires and Questions before you submit your proposal.

If you need help with general matters, you should contact the individual listed in A.9.b. General Announcement Questions.

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Your pre-proposal inquiries and questions should be submitted not later than 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time on 04 July 2025. AFOSR may not be able to answer questions received later. This is discussed more in section E.5.a. Submission Dates and Times. The Government will respond to any pre-proposal inquiries or questions, either directly, or via public posting no later than COB on 11 July 2025.

The Program Officer does not have the authority to make commitments for the government.

Grants and Contracting Officers acting within their warranted capacity are the only people authorized to make commitments for the Government.

2. The Application as a Whole You must submit your proposal electronically through Grants.gov. AFOSR will not accept or evaluate any proposal submitted by any means other than through Grants.gov. AFOSR must receive your proposal before the Proposal Submission Deadline.

You must use the electronic Standard Form (SF) 424 Research and Related (R&R) Form Family, OMB Number 4040-0001. The SF 424 (R&R) Application for Federal assistance form must be your cover page. No pages may precede the SF 424 (R&R).

You must mark your application with the announcement number.

A summary of what is required for a complete proposal is summarized below:

• The forms and attachments in bold text are required with all applications.

• Some applications require the attachments in italic.

• More instructions are provided in D.4.a Component Pieces of the Application

R&R FORM, OMB No. 4040-0001 FIELD ATTACHMENT

SF-424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance, including an authorized signature

18. If applicable, SF- LLL Disclosure of Lobbying Activities

Per instructions in G.1. c.

R&R Other Project Information Form 7. Project Summary / Abstract

8. Project Narrative

9. Bibliography & References Cited

10. Facilities and Other Resources

11. Equipment

12. Other Attachments

R&R Senior / Key Person Profile Form (Expanded)

Biographical Sketch

Current & Pending Support

R&R Personal Data Form None

R&R Budget Form Budget Justification

R&R Subaward Budget Attachments Form

Subaward Budget

R&R Project / Performance Site Locations Form

None

The SF 424 (R&R) must include the signature of an authorized representative from your organization. The signature is affixed electronically by Grants.gov upon submission. You are still required to submit any documentation, including disclosure of any unpaid delinquent tax liability or a felony conviction under any Federal law (see FAR 52.209- 11). This signature is considered the signature for the application as a whole.

a) Proposal Format

(i) Paper Size – 8.5 x 11-inch paper

(ii) Margins – 1 inch

(iii) Spacing – 1.5-line spacing

(iv) Font – Times New Roman or Garamond, 12 points

(v) Page Limitation – No more than twenty (20) single-sided pages. The cover page, table of contents, list of references, letters of support, curriculum vitae and list of on-going and pending research support are excluded from the page limitations. The pages of proposals exceeding the page limit may not be included in the evaluation.

(vi) Attachments – Electronic Portable Document Format (PDF)

(vii) Content – As described below https://www.grants.gov/

b) Proposal Length No more than twenty (20) single-sided pages. This page count does not include the following sections: Project Summary/Abstract, Curriculum Vitae, and the Bibliography & References. You must not include elaborate brochures, reprints, or presentations beyond those sufficient to present a complete and effective proposal.

AFOSR will not consider more than the maximum number of pages in its evaluation;

however, not all pages are counted. This list below is intended to help you understand how to calculate your page count.

NOT INCLUDED IN PAGE COUNT

• SF-424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance and all attachments

• R&R Budget and Budget Justification attachments, R&R Other Project

Information Form, and all attachments

• Documents that support the budget or particular items of cost R&R Project/

Performance Site Locations Form

• Optional R&R Personal Data Form

• Budget related information is not included in the page count because AFOSR cannot make an award unless it can determine the cost of your proposal is reasonable and realistic and complies with 2 CFR 200 Subpart E - Cost Principles.

• Not having enough information in your proposal to understand if your costs are reasonable and realistic is the most common reason awards are delayed.

c) Marking Requirements for Confidential or Proprietary Information You must not include confidential or proprietary information in your proposal. This was also discussed earlier in section B. Program Description. AFOSR will not consider your proposal if you include confidential or proprietary information or place restrictive markings on any part of your proposal. Because your proposal shouldn’t include proprietary information, there shouldn’t be a need for marking the proposal.

d) Application Form and Proposal Attachment Your application and proposal attachments must be in electronic file formats. You should use the Portable Document Format (PDF) for your attachments.

DO NOT password protect any attachments.

The website Adobe Software Compatibility | Grants.gov offers a list of file convertors available to convert your documents to the PDF format.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E https://www.grants.gov/applicants/adobe-software-compatibility.html

3. Components Pieces of the Application

a) SF-424 (R&R) Application for Federal Assistance Form The SF 424 (R&R) Application for Federal assistance form must be your cover page. No pages may precede the SF 424 (R&R).

Complete all required fields in accordance with the “pop-up” instructions on the SF 424 (R&R) form. The completion of most fields is self-explanatory. You can turn on Grants.gov “Help Mode” to provide additional instructions for forms. “Help Mode” is turned on by the icon with the pointer and question mark at the top of the form.

Below are AFOSR special instructions for completion of several SF 424 (R&R) form fields in your application:

FIELD INSTRUCTION

2. You may leave “Applicant Identifier” blank

3. You may leave “Date Received by State” and “State Application Identifier” blank

9. You must list Air Force Office of Scientific Research as the Federal Agency if Grants.gov has not pre-populated this answer

16. You should check “No.” and “Program is Not Covered by Executive Order 12372”

17. Select “I Agree” to:

Certify that all statements in the proposal, your, and Internal

Confidentiality Agreements are true, complete, and accurate to the best of your knowledge.

See section G.1 Administrative and National Policy Requirements for more information and links to the full text of these items.

18. You must attach the completed SF-LLL Disclosure of Lobbying Activities if your grant amount exceeds $100,000 and have lobbying activity to disclose. See section G.1. Administrative and National Policy Requirements for more information.

http://apply07.grants.gov/apply/forms/sample/SFLLL-V1.1.pdf https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms/sf-424-family.html https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms/sf-424-family.html

b) R&R Other Project Information Form Complete this form as indicated. You must include all necessary attachments.

FIELD INSTRUCTION

1, 1a. You must address all prospective human subject involvement by answering these questions. Additional documentation pursuant to National Policy and U.S. Air Force and Space Force standards is required for all proposals with human use research or involvement.

2, 2a. You must address all prospective animal research and/or recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA) involvement by answering these questions. Additional documentation pursuant to National Policy and U.S. Air Force standards is required for all proposals with animal or rDNA research or involvement.

4a. For any proposal that has an actual or potential impact on the environment, answer yes and provide the answers and attachments required for fields 4b, 4c, and 4d. Additional documentation in accordance with National Policy and U.S. Air Force and Space Force standards is required for any proposal with an actual or potential impact on the environment.

7. Attach your C.3. c. Publicly Releasable Abstract

8. Attach your C.3. d. Project Narrative

9. Attach your C.3. e. Bibliography and References Cited

10. Attach a Facilities and Other Resources description document here if you need to supplement your C.3.d.iv. Proposal

Narrative facilities and resources section.

11. You may supplement your C.3.h. Budget Justification by attaching an Equipment Justification here. Do not duplicate information included on your budget justification. If you attach an Equipment Justification, make sure you reference the attachment in your budget justification.

12. Attach the C.3.i R&R Subaward Budget Attachments Form if applicable and not attached elsewhere. You should have budgets for all subawards proposed attached within this form before attachment.

Attach all C.3.j Subaward Budget Justifications as applicable Attach your D.3.i. Data Management Plan here if applicable

You may supplement your C.3.h. Budget Justification by attaching quotes for materials and supplies, local travel, etc.

c) Publicly Releasable Project Summary/Abstract You must attach the Project Summary/Abstract to field 7 of the R&R Other Project Information form.

You must submit the “AFOSR Abstract” as an attachment with the proposal submission, this form is located on the “Related Documents” tab of grants.gov. You must provide a concise abstract of 300 words or less with your proposal (no more than 2000 characters).

You must mark this abstract publicly releasable. Your abstract should use terms the public can understand to describe the research objective, technical approach, anticipated outcome, and potential impact of the specific research.

Enter the Project Summary/Abstract on the form as a single block of plain text. Do not use special formatting such as line breaks, tables, or superscript/subscript. Do not use special characters or symbols such as μ, λ, γ, π, &, :, /, \, “, or?.

Your abstract header should include the Program Officer's name and office symbol from section A.9.a. Technical Inquiries and Questions above.

If you receive an award, we must publish your abstract to a searchable website available to the general public in accordance with Public Law 113-235. The website address is https://discover.dtic.mil/submit-documents/.

d) Project Narrative You must attach the Project Narrative to field 8 of the R&R Other Project Information Form. The narrative must be complete and self-contained to qualify for review.

https://www.congress.gov/113/plaws/publ235/PLAW-113publ235.pdf https://discover.dtic.mil/submit-documents/

You must identify the research discipline area your proposed research falls under. You must clearly describe your research, including your research objective and approach.

Your project narrative will be evaluated using section E.1. Criteria. You should show strength in as many of the evaluation and selection areas as practicable to demonstrate maximum competitiveness.

You must describe any environmental impacts of your research outside the laboratory in any appropriate narrative section, including how you will ensure compliance with environmental statutes and regulations.

Your narrative should include the following elements:

(i) Statement of Objectives You must summarize your proposed research on a single page titled “Statement of Objectives.” We may decide to incorporate your statement of objectives into the award as a description of the work instead of incorporating the whole technical proposal. You should use active verbs when you prepare the statement of objectives, e.g., “conduct” research in a subject area, “investigate” a problem, “determine” to test a hypothesis.

(ii) Research Effort

(a) You should describe the research you plan in detail. State the research objectives and approach, and the relationship and comparable objectives to research progress elsewhere.

Describe your research team’s knowledge in the field and discuss the nature of the expected results. Discuss how your research is relevant to current AFOSR and Air Force research.

(b) The adequacy of this information will influence the overall evaluation in accordance with the criteria and procedures specified in section E. Application Review Information below.

(iii) Principal Investigator (PI) and Senior Personnel Time

(a) You must provide an estimate of the time the principal investigator and other senior professional personnel will devote to the research. Your estimate must include information pertaining to the proportion of time anticipated devoted to this research, to other research, and to other commitments of time such as sabbatical, extended leave, and teaching duties.

(b) State the number of graduate students for whom each senior staff member is responsible.

(c) If your principal investigator or other key personnel have current, pending, or expected research supported by other sponsors or agencies during the period you seek our support, state the title of the other research, the proportion of time to be devoted to it, the amount of support, name of agency, dates, etc. You must attach a list of Current and Pending Support for each person listed on the C.3.f. R&R Senior / Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form. Each abstract should include research title, objectives, approach, and budget for both present and pending research projects. Send any changes as they become known.

(iv) Your Facilities

(a) Describe the facilities available for performing the proposed research, and any additional facilities or equipment the organization proposes to acquire at its own expense for the work.

(b) Indicate any government-owned facilities that will be used. Indicate any government-owned equipment possessed presently that will be used. The facilities contract number, or in absence of a facilities contract, the specifics of the facilities or equipment, and the number of the award under which they are accountable are required.

(v) Government Furnished Equipment You may list any special Government-owned property or test equipment required to complete the research. When possible and practicable, give a description or title for each item, the current location, and an estimated cost as applicable. If you do not have information about individual items, group items you require by class and provide an estimate of values.

(vi) High Performance Computing Requirements You may be eligible to use DoD high performance computing resources at no cost to your research. You should address utilization of this program if you need high performance computing cycles to meet the needs of your research. This program provides access to a range of state-of-the-art high performance computing assets and user training opportunities that can be used in some of our awards; special terms and conditions apply.

You can review the details, capabilities, and requirements of the program at www.hpc.mil. Our Program Officers will help you establish an account if your proposal is selected for an award and can answer questions before you submit your proposal.

https://www.hpc.mil/

e) Bibliography & References You must attach your narrative Bibliography and References to field 9 of the R&R Other Project Information Form.

f) R&R Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form You must attach a short biographical sketch and list of significant publications (vitae) for each Senior/Key Person. You must also attach a list of current and pending support as discussed in Principal Investigator (PI) and Senior Personnel Time.

You must list all the key people proposed for the research on the R&R Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form. Key people are generally the PI and senior staff. We use this information to evaluate the qualifications of you and your research team.

To evaluate compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C.

A subsection 1681 Et. Seq.), the DoD is collecting certain demographic and career information to be able to assess the success rates of women who are proposed for key roles in applications in STEM disciplines. To enable this assessment, each applicant must include this form completed as indicated.

The Credential, e.g., agency login field will be used by DoD to track ORCID for each researcher. In addition to the required fields on the form, applicants must complete this field for all individuals that are identified on the form.

The Degree Type and Degree Year Fields will be used by DoD as the source for career information. In addition to the required fields on the form, applicants must complete these two fields for all individuals that are identified as having the project role of PD/PI or Co- PD/PI on the form.