RFP RFX-2026-10008 - Amendment No. 1.pdf

ACQUISITION SERVICES

Request for Proposal No. RFX- 2026-10008

Amendment No. 01

Date: 10/26/2026

ISSUED BY:

National Laboratory of the Rockies 15013 Denver West Parkway Golden, CO 80401

PROJECT NAME: “2026 Distributed Wind Turbine Competitiveness Improvement Project”

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth below. The hour and date specified for receipt of offers

[X] is not extended. [ ] is extended to

FAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THIS AMENDMENT MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. EXCEPT

AS PROVIDED HEREIN, ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE SOLICITATION DOCUMENT REMAIN

UNCHANGED AND IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT.

Subcontract Administrator: Kyndall Jackson, Kyndall.Jackson@nlr.gov

Amendment No. 1 is also hereby issued in response to questions received regarding the subject Request for Proposal (RFP) No. RFX-2026-10008. Please note that some questions may have been edited to address duplicate questions or to protect business-sensitive information provided in the original questions. The essences of the original questions are not affected. Questions are in no particular order.

1) If a company has a prototype turbine nearly complete, and would like to test, but anticipates the need to scale the system up to a larger size and output to achieve competitive LCOE (as in the Bergey 10kw to 15kw to 75kw example), would it be recommended to validate the existing design under topic 3.(PIT) and implement lessons learned by circling back to phase 1. (PDD) or would it be recommended to directly pursue topic 1. (PDD), to redesign the existing prototype towards a more competitive LCOE?

Offerors should select a topic area that aligns with the efforts they are ready to advance while considering the merit criteria for that topic area. The RFP also allows phased, multi-topic area proposals.

2) Will anyone outside of NLR/DOE be reviewing our proposal?

No

3) Are Attachments 3–6, letters of commitment, the Price/Cost proposal, and supporting documents excluded from the page limit?

Yes mailto:Kyndall.Jackson@nlr.gov

4) Are the title page, cover letter, and table of contents excluded from the page limit?

5) For phased multi-topic proposals, do the follow-on phase plans, deliverable tables, and Price/Cost proposals count toward the 20 pages.

Follow on phase plans do count towards the 20-page limit. Attachment 6 and Price Cost proposal do not.

6) Will our proposal be given equal consideration if we are not a member of DWEA?

7) Is there a limit to how many single topic proposals that could be awarded and run in parallel by a single applicant during this CIP cycle?

There is no technical upper limit for parallel projects but merit criteria such as ‘technical approach and readiness’ and ‘team qualifications’ will be evaluated in the scoring. Awardees should have adequate resources to fully execute subcontracted efforts. Available funding may also limit the total number of awards made in a given round of CIP.

8) For a three-topic phased proposal, can the second and third topics be run in parallel?

Section 10(f) of the RFP states, “Multi-topic area proposals should be phased in a serial manner (phase one followed by phase two, etc.) with go/no-go stages between project phases.”

9) Topic Area 1: Prototype Design Development and Topic Area 3: Prototype Installation and Testing, state that work performed under these topic areas may apply to the whole turbine or a component of the turbine. Is this correct?

Yes, the scope of both topic area 1 (PDD) and topic area 3 (PIT) allow efforts with a focus on a ‘turbine or component’.

10) Does Topic Area 2: Prototype Manufacture, also apply to the whole turbine or a component of the turbine?

Per the RFP, the scope of topic area 2 (PM) “shall be construction of a production prototype of a full turbine system that is ready for prototype testing.”

11) Topic area 2 and Topic area 3 seem very similar. Both mention construction and/or installation of a wind turbine system. Can you elaborate on the differences between these two topic areas? Is #3 hoping that a turbine is already installed somewhere, and aims to cover only the testing? Or can both solicitations cover installation of a complete wind turbine system, but only #3 additionally includes testing? It seems as if in the past the manufacturing topic area was related to manufacturing innovations, or potentially establishing manufacturing capabilities for a commercially available product, but in this round it has shifted to constructed / installed turbines. Could you clarify or maybe describe the project differences between topic area 2 and 3?

Topic area 2, Prototype Manufacturing, is intended to cover the manufacturing of a prototype distributed wind system. The project result is expected to be a final prototype turbine, manufactured and ready for installation and testing. Topic area 3, Prototype Installation and Testing, is intended to cover the prototype testing of a turbine system or component. If desired, an offeror may also request funding for the installation of the turbine or component at an appropriate location to initiate prototype testing.

12) Can you clarify that the max award amount is not the same as max project amount. Is the max award amount simply the maximum award amount paid out by NLR for the awarded project in that topic area? So for example, the topic area 3 max award of $400k results from a project cost of minimum $500k in order to satisfy the 20% cost share requirement. Please confirm.

Correct, maximum award amount is the maximum amount of funding from NLR to the subcontractor (excluding any potential lab-based technical assistance). So yes, for a $500k total project cost, cost share would be $100k, award amount would be $400k.

13) How does the LCOE calculation in this round consider recent increased costs and inflation? The same turbine offering a proposal 2 years ago may have a higher LCOE today because of inflation and increased supplier costs. Is that accounted for in any way in the LCOE calculation in this round?

Indeed LCOE changes over time and is influenced by externalities such as inflation, tariffs, and supply chain. Offerors should use the LCOE tools provided and supply their most accurate estimates for current costs and projected end-of-project costs. As noted in the Attachment 4 supplemental spreadsheet, offerors should list assumptions when adjusting costs for inflation.

14) Regarding price participation, can this be met by new materials and supplies purchased for the project, and can salaries also count towards this participation for Topic 1 and 3?

15) Are any line items explicitly excluded from being part of the price participation?

Refer to FAR 31.201-6 – Unallowable costs. Examples include entertainment, lobbying, certain legal fees, fines, donations, and bad debts.

16) Would a Delaware-incorporated company with a physical address outside the United States meet the Attachment 3 requirement that "an eligible subcontractor shall be a U.S. company located within the United States"?

This would qualify as a domestic entity, however, Attachment 3 also specifies “work funded under this effort is expected to take place in the United States or U.S. territories unless otherwise justified and approved.”

17) Is active SAM.gov registration required by the proposal due date, or is registration in progress acceptable, given clause 52.204-13(b) in Appendix B-2?

No, active SAM registration must be completed at the time of award, not at the proposal submission.

18) Is a blade-focused component design project for our own turbine an appropriate fit for Topic Area 1?

Yes, topic area 1 (PDD) applies to a prototype turbine or component.

19) May the offeror engage or employ team members who will perform part of the project work while physically located outside the United States? If so, should their effort be funded by the price participation?

This is allowable if well justified. Work funded under this effort is expected to take place in the United States or U.S. territories unless otherwise justified and approved. This can be proposed as part of the funding received from NLR or as price participation.

20) May the offeror's director, who is physically located outside the United States, serve as the Principal Investigator and manage the project, while the engineering, fabrication and testing work is performed in the United States?

The subcontracted company must provide evidence of incorporation in the United States. Work funded under this effort is expected to take place in the United States or U.S. territories unless otherwise justified and approved.

21) How does NLR determine whether Appendix C-1 or Appendix C-2 applies to an offeror? For a lower-tier subcontractor that is a U.S. small business, would C-2-type provisions apply to its subject inventions?

Appendix C-1 applies to large businesses, state and local governments, or foreign organizations.

Appendix C-2 applies to small business, educational institutions, and other non-profits. This will apply to the proposing entity only.

22) Would a patent-pending residential distributed-wind technology currently at the conceptual design stage be eligible for consideration under Topic 1 – Prototype Design Development?

For topic area 1 (PDD), the offeror should have completed, at a minimum, the preliminary design stage of development, demonstrating an initial assessment of loads, identifying likely design challenges, and spelling out the next steps of the development process.

23) Would a residential renewable-energy system emphasizing wind-generated electricity, with solar energy as a complementary component, fall within the technical scope of the solicitation?

While the focus on CIP is on distributed wind energy technology, the new topic area 13 (Field Validation) is open to wind turbine systems, components, power electronics, and multi-technology systems such as microgrids containing a distributed wind turbine.

24) Can an entity legally incorporated in Delaware, but wholly or partly controlled by non-U.S.

shareholders, satisfy the U.S.-company eligibility requirement in Attachment 3, provided all other requirements are met?

25) What documentation does NLR consider sufficient to demonstrate incorporation and current status? Would a current signed W-9, Certificate of Incorporation and recent Certificate of Status be sufficient, or is any additional document required?

Only a W-9 and a completed Attachment 3 – Eligibility Verification are required.

26) Can Topic 1 cover an integrated structural rotor module associated with a single turbine platform of the OEM where the outcome is a final design package ready for prototype manufacture and subsequent testing?

Yes, topic area 1 (PDD) applies to a prototype turbine or component.

27) If part of the pre-existing know-how or engineering support comes from an affiliated entity outside the United States, which activities may be included only with justification/approval, and which funded activities must necessarily be performed in the United States or U.S. Territories?

Work funded under this effort is expected to take place in the United States or U.S. territories unless otherwise justified and approved.

28) Please confirm the required electronic submission method for the final proposal, including whether the complete package should be submitted by email to this address, preferred file structure (separate PDFs / ZIP), size limits, naming convention and any secure-transmission procedure.

Email proposals to Kyndall.Jackson@nlr.gov. See section 10 of the RFP for proposal submission instructions.

29) For a U.S. corporation with possible foreign ownership, which intellectual-property/data-rights provisions or ownership disclosures should be addressed in the cover letter and proposal package?

Appendix C-1 applies to Large Businesses, State and Local Governments, or Foreign Organizations. Appendix C-2 applies to Small Businesses, educational institutions and other non-profits. See Standard Terms and Conditions | NLR for further details. Offerors should reference the applicable appendix based on their entity structure.

30) Page limit. Section 10(c) states the 15-page limit includes "attachments, appendices," but the example in the same section lists Attachments 3-6, letters of commitment, and the Price/Cost Proposal in an appendix "not included in page count." Which items count toward the 15-page limit?

This refers to attachments and appendices that an offeror may want to include in their technical proposal. NLR required forms (title page, cover letter, table of contents, Attachments 3, 4, 5 and 6, resumes, letters of support, price/cost proposal, supporting documentation) are not included in the page count.

31) Pre-award work. May engineering costs incurred before subcontract execution count toward price participation, or must all price participation be incurred during the period of performance?

Pre-incurred costs can be included in the offeror’s proposed price participation as long as it directly relates to this work effort.

32) Cost-share schedule. Section 6.14 refers to "Section 8 for detailed cost-share schedules and formulas," but I couldn't find them in Section 8. Is there an additional schedule?

The statement within parenthesis under Subcontractor’s price participation in Section 6.14 was put in the RFP document in error. Please disregard the statement “(see Section 8 for detailed cost-share schedules and formulars)”.

https://www.nlr.gov/workingwithus/standard-terms

33) Mandatory Qualification 4.5. For a Prototype Design Development proposal, what does "The offeror has all recent relevant certification and design standards" require? Does that mean possessing the relevant certification standards and published standard structural and load requirements?

Yes, the offeror must possess recent certification and design standards that are relevant to the proposed effort.

34) Laboratory technical assistance. Does NLR technical assistance requested in a proposal (for example, loads modeling support) carry a cost to the offeror or count against the award amount?

Yes, technical assistance requests should be in the main body of the technical proposal. If needed, additional support documents can be added to the appendix.

35) Preliminary loads for novel configurations. For turbine configurations not supported by validated tools such as OpenFAST, what level of documentation of the preliminary loads approach does NLR expect at the proposal stage of a designed turbine but not yet a built prototype?

As shown in merit criteria 6.1.1d, “If a new, novel or proprietary model or approach was used, information must be included on the basis for the approach and the level of certainty”.

36) Lower-tier cost share. May a lower-tier subcontractor's discounted rates count as price participation, and if so, how should that be documented?

Lower-tier subcontractor cost can be used as price participation. Labor categories, rates and number of hours should be included. Refer to the Price Cost proposal form for further instructions.

37) Submission method. Should proposals be submitted by email to the Subcontract Administrator, and is there a file-size limit for the zipped submission?

Email proposals to Kyndall.Jackson@nlr.gov. See section 10 of the RFP for proposal submission instructions. There is no specific file size limit.

38) Energy production for building-mounted turbines. For the Annual Energy Production in Attachment 5 and the LCOE in Attachment 4, at what height should the 6 m/s reference wind speed be applied for a turbine mounted on a building roof? For a turbine with a fixed orientation (no yaw), should offerors adjust energy production for wind direction, and if so, is a specific method preferred?

As described in Attachment 4, Annual Energy Production shall be calculated for one Reference Site where the annual average wind speed is 6 m/s @ a height of 30 meters, wind shear alpha is 0.25, Rayleigh distribution. Losses, such as misalignment with wind, can be estimated in the spreadsheet losses table. Actual turbine hub height is an input in row 4 of the Annual Energy Production tab of the LCOE spreadsheet.

39) Price participation (Section 4): the RFP encourages offerors to include offeror-owned materials, supplies and equipment, and new equipment and tooling. Can the offeror's own engineering and technician labor, at its normal rates, also count toward the 20% minimum price participation for Topic Area 4?

40) Mandatory Qualification 4.5 ("The offeror has all recent relevant certification and design standards"): for a component manufacturer that does not itself design or certify turbines, which certifications and design standards does NLR expect the offeror to show on Attachment 3?

The offeror must possess recent certification and design standards that are relevant to the proposed effort. For example, ff a power electronics manufacturer is proposing an effort to list a device to UL 1741-SB, they must possess that and any other standards relevant to the proposed effort.

41) Given we already have a Preliminary Design but not a Prototype Design as defined in the solicitation would NRL feel it is reasonable to conduct System Optimization under Topic #5 before proceeding to Topic 1?

Offerors should select a topic area that aligns with the efforts you are ready to advance while considering the merit criteria for that topic area. As stated in section 3.5 of the SOW, “System Optimization proposals should only be considered for turbine systems that have undergone full system prototype development.”

42) Can one applicant submit multiple proposals - in same or multiple topic areas?

An applicant can submit multiple proposals, but generally only one proposal per turbine platform or product, per topic area. Phased, multi-topic area proposals are also allowed.

43) We have sensitive product information that we can’t share publicly. If we pursue the RFP, how will confidential information be safeguarded or is everything going to be part of the public record?

Proprietary information is something we take very seriously. Generally, no information about products becomes part of the public record. We request that any proprietary information is clearly marked and to the extent possible confidential information is not included in any reports provided under the contract. You are, however, entering into a contract with a government organization and there are some instances, such as national security, in which the government can request access to proprietary information, but this has never happened in regard to a CIP project.

44) Would the Maximum Award amounts listed on Page 2 and 3 of the RFP represent the NREL award amounts or the total project amounts (including the price participation)?

The maximum award amounts listed are the maximum amount of NLR contribution. The offeror is required to provide a minimum cost share as identified. The total project cost will be NLR award amount plus the offeror’s cost share/price participation.

45) Should phased proposals be for subsequent 21-month cycles?

The first phase of the proposal should be completed within the defined time period, but additional phases would be undertaken on a timeline proposed by the applicant within the proposal. The anticipated period of performance (POP) is execution through twenty-one (21) months (per Topic Area for phased, multi-topic proposals). For the Field Validation topic area, the POP can extend beyond twenty-one (21) months if needed, up to a maximum of sixty (60) months.

46) So, if equipment is involved in one of the topics with 20% match shown, should higher match actually be proposed?

The price participation (cost share) is considered a minimum. Proposed price participation may be above the minimum amount.

47) For field validation, is there lab assistance/tech support available for test plan development?

Yes. If this laboratory technical assistance is needed for any reason, please include this as part of your proposal. As indicated, we encourage you to engage with private companies to get this support if possible. The proposal should however include an estimate of monitoring or other equipment that will be needed to complete the testing. This equipment should be purchased by the subcontractor.

48) Are there any items that are not able to count towards the cost participation component? It wasn't clear from RFP what was not able to be included for cost participation purposes Refer to FAR 31.201-6 – Unallowable costs. Examples include entertainment, lobbying, certain legal fees, fines, donations, and bad debts.

49) If equipment procurement is included in prototype installation & testing or commercialization proposals, should 50% match be provided?

50% price participation would not be required for topic area 3 (PIT), but care should be taken in using NLR funding for durable equipment.

50) Would legal costs be allowable for match?

Legal costs are not considered an allowable cost.

51) Regarding eligibility and U.S. or foreign company status, do they have to have a current presence, a planned market entry, etc.?

Please see section 5 of the RFP (Mandatory Qualifications). Offerors must provide evidence of incorporation in the United States

52) Can the cost share equipment be funded by another federal or state grant?

53) Are IP assets considered eligible for price participation?

Yes, this should not be an issue.

54) Does TA count towards the total proposal budget?

No, laboratory technical assistance is not included in the CIP budget. Lab based TA is funded separately.

55) Would a suitable project (particularly for turbine design) be one that a) excludes or b) includes new, unproven technologies, including novel applications or combinations of existing technologies?

Novel ideas are eligible, as long as the output is electricity. Note that the merit criteria includes market impact and a competitive cost of energy for the intended market, as well as other criteria.

56) Multi phase proposals. Can 2 phases be simultaneous?

Section 10(f) of the RFP states, “Multi-topic area proposals should be phased in a serial manner (phase one followed by phase two, etc.) with go/no-go stages between project phases.”

57) Should applicants disclose if/how AI is used in preparing proposals?

No

58) If a small business SAM registration is submitted by not activated by the submission date, are they eligible to apply?

Yes, you can apply, but SAM registration would need to be complete by subcontract execution.

Offerors should start this process early, as it takes time.

59) If a project concept covers multiple turbine models and OEMs, how does the "based model" need to be confirmed?

Distributed wind turbine models and OEMs that the offeror is working with should be described in the proposal along with letters of support.

60) Could TA include writing up the proposal? (That may be ahead of any award…) No, industry consultants would be good source for this type of assistance.

61) Can Topic 1 be followed by Topic 4 and then Topic 2?

Yes. The progression of topic areas for phased, multi-topic area proposals is to be determined by the offeror based on the planned technology development process.

62) Can a U.S.-registered company outsource engineering design services and composite blade mold manufacturing to a company outside the United States under CIP? Would these overseas subcontracting costs be eligible for funding or cost share, if the prototype is developed and tested in the U.S.?

Work funded under this effort is expected to take place in the United States or U.S. territories unless otherwise justified and approved. This can be proposed as part of the funding received from NLR or as price participation.