Timothy J. HallmanAssociate Director of the Office of Science

for Nuclear Physics

University of Missouri and the National Association of College and University Business Officers Federal Update Webinar

November 10, 2010

Washington, D.C.

Grants, Policies and Procedures in the DOE Office of Science

• Brief Reprise of Office of Science Overview• Purpose of Financial Assistance• Funding Opportunity Announcement• Pre-Application• Application from the Applicant• Application at DOE• Peer Review of the Application• Selection of an Application• Issue Award• Return Reviews to Principal Investigator• Continuation Reports and Supplemental Requests• Renewal Applications• End of Project• Withdrawals/Declinations of Application

Outline

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Over View

To support research and development programs enabling the Department of Energy to accomplish its missions in energy security, national security, environmental restoration, and science.

Office of Science research investments have yielded a wealth of dividends,including significant technological innovations, medical and health advances,new intellectual capital, enhanced economic competitiveness, and improvedquality of life for the American people.

Research supported by the Office of Science has made major contributionsto the development of the Internet; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and medical isotopes; composite materials used in military hardware and motorVehicles; and x-ray diagnostics of computer chips and other high-tech materials.

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Office of Science – the Science Programs

DOE Germantown Building, Germantown, MD

NPHallman

ASCRHitchcock

BERWeatherwax

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UniversitiesDOE laboratories

The Office of Science supports:27,000 Ph.D.s, graduate students, undergraduates, engineers, and technicians26,000 users of open-access facilities300 leading academic institutions17 DOE laboratories

SC Supports Research at More than 300 Institutions Across the U.SSC Supports Research at More than 300 Institutions Across the U.S.

• The mission of the DOE Office of Science is to deliver the scientific discoveries and major scientific tools that transform our understanding of nature and advance the energy, economic, and national security of the United States.

• The mission is accomplished by funding– Science for Discovery, focused on unraveling nature’s mysteries—

from the study of subatomic particles, atoms, and molecules that make of the materials of our everyday world to DNA, proteins, cells, and entire biological systems;

– Science for National Need, focused on advancing a clean energy agenda through basic research on energy production, storage, transmission, and use; and advancing our understanding of the Earth’s climate through basic research in atmospheric and environmental sciences and climate change; and

– National Scientific User Facilities, the 21st century tools of science, engineering, and technology— providing the Nation’s researchers with the most advanced tools of modern science including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, and facilities for studying the nanoworld.

Purpose of Financial Assistance

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Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is a publicly available document by which a U.S. Federal agency makes known its intentions to award discretionary grants or cooperative agreements, usually as a result of competition for funds. Funding opportunity announcements may be known as program announcements, requests for applications, notices of funding availability, solicitations, or other names depending on the agency and type of program. FOA’s can be found at:

http://www.grants.gov/

Funding Opportunity Announcement

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http://www.grants.gov/

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http://www.grants.gov/applicants/get_registered.jsp

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http://www.grants.gov/applicants/individual_registration.jsp

Annual Open Solicitationhttp://www.sc.doe.gov/grants/index.asp

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Open throughout the year.

Funding Opportunity Announcements can be more specific, too. (The Office of Science issues about 40 FOAs per year.)

Submission is throughGrants.gov.

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• Advanced Scientific Computing Research– http://www.sc.doe.gov/ascr/index.html

• Basic Energy Sciences– http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/bes.html

• Biological and Environmental Research– http://www.sc.doe.gov/ober/ober_top.html

• Fusion Energy Sciences– http://www.science.doe.gov/ofes/

• High Energy Physics– http://www.science.doe.gov/hep/index.shtm

• Nuclear Physics– http://www.sc.doe.gov/np/index.shtml

• Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists– http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/scied/sci_ed.htm

More Information on Funding Opportunities can be found on the Program Websites

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Pre-Application

• Pre-proposals can be a requirement – please check the FOA announcement.

• Submit the pre-proposal as instructed.

• DOE will send a response email to each proposer encouraging or discouraging the submission of a formal proposal by a certain date.

• Those pre-applications that are encouraged will be used to help the Office of Science begin planning for the formal application peer review process.

• The intent of the Office of Science in discouraging submission of certain full applications is to save the time and effort of applicants in preparing and submitting formal applications not responsive to this funding announcement.

• Only one pre-application per Principal Investigator is allowed.

http://science.doe.gov/grants/guide.asp

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Application from the Applicant

• In order to be considered for award, Applicants must follow the instructions contained in the FOA.

• Applications submitted to the Office of Science must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov to be considered for award.

• Instructions and forms are available on the Grants.gov website.

• If you experience problems when submitting your application to Grants.gov, please visit their customer support website: http://www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport; email: support@grants.gov; or call 1-800-518-4726.

Ingredients for a Successful Application(The Speaker’s Thoughts)

• Clear description of the proposed research and where it will be carried out

• What will be delivered (outcomes)?

• Why is the research compelling (how will it change our understanding and if applicable, what important applications might result)?

• How will the results compare with the results of other projects internationally ?

• When will the outcomes be delivered ?

• Are there significant risks to a successful outcome; how will they be managed?

• What resources are required to carry out the project? (facilities, people, money)

• What new resources are required from the funding agency?

• Will contributions from other institutions or agencies leverage DOE resources for the project ?

• Who will carry out the project; do they have other commitments?

• Is the project particularly strong in promoting diversity ?

• Is there a strong education component for young scientists ?

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Application at DOE

• Proposal is received at DOE and is given to the appropriate office.

• Proposal is assigned to a program manager, notification of receipt of application is sent to applicant.

• Three or more reviews per proposal are obtained.

• Proposals are reviewed generally within 6 months and no longer than 12 months from the date of receipt.

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Peer Review of the Application

Office of Science Merit Review System (10 CFR 605)

• Program managers perform an initial evaluation of allapplications to ensure that the required information isprovided; the proposed effort is technically sound andfeasible; and the effort is consistent with programfunding priorities.

• For applications that pass the initial evaluation, programmanagers use peer review to evaluate them based oncriteria specified in 10 CFR 605.

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Funding decisions in the Office of Science are made based on peer review.

• 10 CFR 600 and 10 CFR 605 apply to financial assistance (grants and cooperative agreements).• However, the Office of Science generally applies 10 CFR 605 principles to the review of national laboratory work as well.

– National laboratory employees are contractors

– Peer review is used for both research and facilities

• DOE reviews research and facility operations at least once every three years.

• User facilities allocate facility time based on peer review. The facility directors carry out these reviews.

• CPU time at our computational facilities is allocated based on peer review executed either by DOE or by facility directors.

• In a special process, construction is reviewed by DOE at regular intervals (sometimes every few months) by the Office of Project Assessment in concert with program offices.

Peer Review of the Application

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Mail Review– Generally used for the open solicitation, when proposals arrive throughout the year.– Reviews trickle in over time.– Reviewers are generally given six weeks to return the review.– Reviewer identity kept confidential.

Panel Review– Generally used for targeted solicitations when many proposals arrive simultaneously– Multiple panels of 10-15 people apiece convene in Washington D.C. and submit reviews; the total number of panelists at a given time can total in the hundreds.– Each panelist provides his/her own input.– Reviewer identity kept confidential.

Site Visit or “Reverse Site Visit”– Generally used for large, group programs such as national laboratory efforts, large facility competitions, etc.– Researchers make presentations to a site visit team.– The site visit team may interact with and ask questions of the investigators.– The site visit team members submit independent reviews to DOE.

Review Methods Used

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Selection of an Application

Merit review is advisory and does not replace the authority of the program manager or contracting officer. Recommendations for awards are based upon– the findings of the technical peer review– the importance and relevance to the Office of Science and program mission– the availability of funds– Other program policy factors, e.g., program balance

Program managers recommend awards to the selection official who approves a final selection and sends a recommendation to the contracting officers. The contracting officers implements the recommendation of the program office selection official. – All financial assistance contracting officers are located in Chicago.– Each national laboratory has a federal contracting officer on site.

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Issue Award

Selection of applications for award will be done by the authorized Office of Science selecting official and will be based upon merit review, the importance and relevance of the proposed project to the Office of Science missions, and funding availability. Cost reasonableness and realism will also be considered to the extent appropriate. The applicant will be advised of this decision and may be asked to submit additional details or a revised budget. Plans for getting the project underway may be firmed up at this time. Such actions are not a commitment that the Office of Science will make award.

DOE will issue a Notice of Financial Assistance Award (NFAA) (DOE Form 4600.1) signed by the Contracting Officer. No commitment of funds may be made until the NFAA has been received by the applicant.

If, on the other hand, it is decided that the application will not be supported, the applicant will be so notified.

Upon receipt of a written request, the Office of Science will provide applicants with a summary of the evaluation of their application. However, until a decision is announced, no information can be provided on the probability of support.

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Return Reviews to Principal Investigator

The most important components of a review are the narrative responses to specified review criteria.

• Scoring or adjectival ratings not standardized and used at the discretion of the program manager.

• Reviewer identities and review contents are kept confidential.

• Review contents are released to the Principal Investigator at the time of award or declination. Information that reveals the identity of the reviewer or is inflammatory is redacted.

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Continuation Reports/Supplement Requests

Continuation AwardA continuation award is an award for the second or subsequent budget period within an approved project period. To be considered for a continuation award, a continuation progress report must be submitted to the DOE Project Officer 90 days prior to expiration of each budget period. A formal continuation application is not required.

Supplemental Application Two types of supplemental applications may be submitted. They must be submitted using the forms and instructions provided in the Annual Notice: Submission of Renewal and Supplemental Applications for Office of Science Grants and Cooperative Agreements (DE-FOA-0000179). If the awardee needs additional funds:

For increased costs that could not have been predicted when the application was originally approved; or To increase the "level of effort" or accelerate the project; and, if there is no change to the project description as contained in the approved application.

If the grantee is requesting support for a new task or activity to be added to the approved project, a supplemental application shall contain the same information as a new application. These applications will generally undergo merit review and will compete for funding with other new applications.

Applicants should contact the DOE Project Officer before submitting a supplemental application.

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Renewal Applications

Renewal ApplicationA renewal application must be submitted no later than six months before the scheduled expiration of the project period. When submitting a renewal application, applications should be in response to the Annual Notice: Submission of Renewal and Supplemental Applications for Office of Science Grants and Cooperative Agreements (DE-FOA-0000179). Renewal applications must follow the instructions in the FOA and include the following:

• Include under the project description section, information on any research changes (size or scope) that affect the original research endeavor; • An estimate of anticipated unexpended funds that will remain at the end of the current project period; and, • A progress report as a separate section that describes the results of work accomplished through the date of the renewal application and how such results relate to the activities proposed to be undertaken in the renewal period.

A renewal application generally will be subjected to the Office of Science merit review requirements. Should an application be approved and funded, the extended period of support is treated as an extension of the original project period.

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End of Project

Final Reports: A final report summarizing the entire project must be submitted by the recipient within 90 days after the final project period ends or the award is terminated. Satisfactory completion of an award will be contingent upon the receipt of this report. The final report shall follow the same outline as a progress report. Manuscripts prepared for publication should be appended. Submit one copy of the Final Report to the DOE Project Officer (Block 11 of the Notice of Financial Assistance Award). The final Scientific/Technical Report must be submitted electronically-via the DOE Energy Link System (E-Link) accessed at http://www.osti.gov/elink-2413.

The report must be accompanied by a completed electronic version of DOE Form 241.3, "U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Announcement of Scientific and Technical Information (STI)." You can complete, upload, and submit the DOE F.241.3 online via E-Link.

Reports must be submitted in the ADOBE PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT (PDF) and be one integrated PDF file that contains all text, tables, diagrams, photographs, schematic, graphs, and charts. Materials, such as prints, videos, and books, that are essential to the report but cannot be submitted electronically, should be sent to the Contracting Officer at the address listed in Block 12 of the Notice of Financial Assistance Award.

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Withdrawals/Declinations of Application

Withdrawals and Declinations

1.Withdrawals: An applicant may withdraw an application at any time before a final decision is made by DOE. An official request for withdrawal to DOE must include the signatures of both the Principal Investigator and the Authorized Organizational Representative. DOE will send confirmation of the withdrawal request. DOE does not normally return the copies of the withdrawn application to the applicant, but does retain a file copy. 2. Declinations: When DOE determines an application will not be funded, DOE will send a declination letter to the applicant advising that support will not be provided. This letter, which includes reasons for the declination, will be addressed to the Principal Investigator with a copy to the Authorized Organizational Representative.

Outlook

The Office of Science is making major investments in support of President

Obama’s vision for the future energy security, national security, and

competitiveness of our Nation:

— Transformational discovery science and forefront technological advances

— Increased support for training and advancement of the future scientific and

technological workforce

— Next generation research tools and facilities for advanced capability

A cornerstone of this vision is bringing the best scientific and technical minds

everywhere to bear on creating new knowledge, new possibilities, and new

sustainable solutions to address future needs of the global community.

Your proposals are welcome.

 

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