Center for Syn Bio Proposers Day - ACC.pdf

ACC-APG

Contracting Dos and Don’ts Department of Army Center for Synthetic Biology

Fiscal Year 2022

BAA W911NF-21-S-0002

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William Creech ACC-APG RTP Division

14 December 2020

Please note that nothing discussed today should be construed as intent to change the BAA.

Unless a change is made to the BAA, all proposers should propose only to what is discussed in the BAA and not to these slides or information conveyed today.

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Opportunity Day

Cooperative Agreement (CA) under the authority of 31 U.S. Code

§ 6305.

An executive agency shall use a cooperative agreement as the legal instrument reflecting a relationship between the United States

Government and a State, a local government, or other recipient when—

(1) The principal purpose of the relationship is to transfer a thing of value to the State, local government, or other recipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law of the United

States instead of acquiring (by purchase, lease, or barter) property or services for the direct benefit or use of the United States Government;

and

(2) Substantial involvement is expected between the executive agency and the State, local government, or other recipient when carrying out the activity contemplated in the agreement.

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Award Instruments (Preferred)

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

(1) The principal purpose of which is to transfer a thing of value to the recipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law or the United States, rather than to acquire property or services for the Federal Government’s direct benefit or use.

(2) In which substantial involvement is not expected between the

Federal Government and the recipient when carrying out the activity contemplated by the grant.

(3) No fee or profit is allowed.

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Award Instruments

Procurement Contract - A legal instrument, consistent with 31

U.S.C. 6303, which reflects a relationship between the Federal

Government and a state government, a local government, or other entity/contractor when the principal purpose of the instrument is to acquire property or services for the direct benefit or use of the Federal Government.

Contracts are primarily governed by the following regulations:

a. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

b. Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS)

c. Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFARS)

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Award Instruments

• Proposals will be considered under one of two funding areas, awards will be made at funding levels commensurate with the proposed research, investigator/team type, as well as availability of funding.

• The Team and Seedling awards will collaborate and cooperate among themselves and with DEVCOM ARL and the Army S&T

Enterprise.

• The first funding area will support two large, team-oriented efforts

(Team). It is anticipated the Team awards may include several sub-awards to multiple institutions or organizations because the necessary expertise in addressing the multiple facets of the topics may reside within different organizations.

– Team awards: ~$1.5-2M/yr; 3 yr base/2 yr option

• The second funding area is for multiple single investigator awards

(Seedling).

– Seedling awards: $60k-$250k/yr; 1 yr base, 2 x 1yr options

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Funding Areas

Institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, and for-profit organizations (i.e. large and small businesses) in the United States or its territories.

FFRDC’s may propose as allowed by their sponsoring agency and in accordance with their sponsoring agency policy

Not Allowed- ARL/DoD laboratories or other government labs

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ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

Two-step submission process for both funding areas.

• Must submit a timely and compliant whitepaper or NOT eligible to submit a Proposal for consideration for funding.

• Must receive an invitation from the Government to submit a

Proposal based on the whitepaper or NOT eligible to submit a

Proposal.

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ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

• Whitepapers must be emailed to the following email address: usarmy.rtp.ccdc-arl.mbx.baa2@mail.mil

• Whitepapers – 01 February 2021 no later than 4:00 PM

Eastern Time

• Email subject line must include the phrase “Whitepaper

Submission Army Center for Synthetic Biology”, the BAA number W911NF-21-S-0002, and the Technical Thrust Area

• Must follow the formatting and page limitations of BAA

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Whitepaper Submission mailto:usarmy.rtp.ccdc-arl.mbx.baa2@mail.mil

• All proposers for a grant or cooperative agreement MUST submit through grants.gov if seeking a grant or cooperative agreement (preferred).

• At grants.gov you can search by the funding opportunity number, W911NF-21-S-0002 or search by the CFDA Number

12.431

• Grants.gov recommends submitting your proposal package at least 24-48 hours prior to the close date to provide you with time to correct any potential technical issues that may disrupt the proposal submission.

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Full Proposal Submission Process

(Assistance Instruments)

• All proposers seeking a contract can submit through grants.gov or email directly to:

usarmy.rtp.ccdc-arl.mbx.baa2@mail.mil

• At grants.gov you can search by the funding opportunity number, W911NF-21-S-0002 or search by the CFDA Number

12.431

• Grants.gov recommends submitting your proposal package at least 24-48 hours prior to the close date to provide you with time to correct any potential technical issues that may disrupt the proposal submission.

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Full Proposal Submission Process

(Contracts) mailto:usarmy.rtp.ccdc-arl.mbx.baa2@mail.mil

• Proposals are due 24 May 2021 no later than 4:00 PM

Eastern Time.

• Proposals submitted after the closing date will not be considered or evaluated by the Government.

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Full Proposal Submission Date

• Preliminary review for proposal completeness, eligibility requirements, conformance with BAA requirements

• Individual proposals will be evaluated against the evaluation criteria – not against each other

• Proposals received under this BAA will be evaluated using merit based, competitive procedures based on the

Evaluation Factors in Section II.G. of the BAA.

• All information necessary for the review and evaluation of a proposal must be contained in the proposal itself. No other material will be provided to the panel. Proposals should contain sufficient technical detail to allow for in-depth technical assessment.

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Evaluation Process

Factors - descending order of importance

i. Scientific merit, soundness, and programmatic strategy of the proposed research.

ii. Relevance and potential contributions of the proposed research to one or more of the topic areas.

iii. Qualifications and availability of the Principal Investigators and key co-investigators.

iv. Applicant’s record of past performance.

v. Realism and reasonableness of cost.

vi. Proposals under Funding Area One (Team) will use the additional criterion of rigor and completeness of the teaming and collaboration plan. This will be considered as of equal importance as criterion iii (Qualifications) above.

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Proposal Evaluation Criteria

EVENT *DATE

Whitepapers Due 01 February 2021

Selection of Whitepapers 01 March 2021

Full Proposals Due (Invite Only) 24 May 2021

Selection of Proposals **01 August 2021

Award **late October 2021

* Please pay close attention to closing dates and times.

Proposals submitted after the closing date/time will not be considered or evaluated by the Government.

** Estimated dates

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Key Dates