1. Eligibility
1.1) Several university systems consist of multiple campuses, University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs), and other entities; are these each eligible and considered separate organizations for this solicitation?
Note: Amendment 2 to the NOFO has changed this answer to indicate that only the prime applicant is required to award doctoral degrees.
Awards under this NOFO (either as applicant or sub-applicant) are restricted to U.S. Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs). In addition, the prime applicant must be an IHE that grants doctoral degrees. Different campuses of a single university system are considered as separate organizations, each of which may apply as prime applicant if they meet the doctoral degree-granting IHE requirement.
1.2) Can staff at University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs) serve as co-PIs?
Each identified PI and Co-PI must be a U.S. Person and an active member of the teaching/research faculty of an IHE. Adjunct professors, visiting professors, and post-doctoral fellows are ineligible to be PIs or Co-PIs. See pages 13-14 of the NOFO for additional detail to eligibility.
UARCs are non-profit, non-degree-granting organizations, so they would not be eligible to be a subrecipient for awards under this funding opportunity.
1.3) Can non-PhD granting departments at eligible IHEs be included in an application?
While not eligible to apply as the prime institution, U.S. Institutions of Higher Education that are non-PhD granting educational institutions and able to grant other degrees, are eligible to be sub-applicants on an application.
1.4) Are PIs with joint appointments at DOE National Laboratories eligible?
Note: Amendment 2 to the NOFO has changed this answer to indicate that each identified PI and Co-PI must receive a majority of their salary from an eligible IHE.
Per the NOFO (section III.A.2.b) “FFRDCs are not eligible to receive any funding” and (section III.B) “Each identified PI and co-PI ... must be an active member of the teaching/research faculty of an IHE” and “must receive a majority of their salary from an eligible IHE.” Therefore, if any person gets the majority of their salary from a DOE laboratory, they would not be allowed to receive funds from the project. If they get a majority of their salary from the university, they would be allowed.
1.5) Can a PI also be a co-investigator on other PSAAP proposals?
As stated in Section III.G.2.c of the NOFO, “NNSA will not accept more than one application with an identified lead PI (e.g., a specific PI may not be requested as the lead PI on more than one application for this NOFO). However, an individual identified as a lead PI in an application may be identified as a Co-PI in other applications.”
2. Budget
2.1) Do the maximum and minimum award sizes in Section II.C refer only to the Federal portion, or to the combined Federal + non-Federal total?
Those budget ranges ($1.5-3.5M/year for PSCs, and $0.5-1.0M/year for FICs) refer only to the Federal funds award size, and do not include the required cost share (Section III.D).
2.2) Does "Anticipated Budget" refer to the Federal portion only or Federal + non-Federal?
It is recommended that your entity be explicit in the brief explanation of the types of funds (federal and non-federal/cost share) and how they will be partitioned.
2.3) In the PSAAP IV Pre-Proposal Meeting presentations, it mentions that NNSA will provide up to $100k per year to incentivize DEI efforts. Are those funds part of the $3.5M limit each year or are those supplemental funds that are requested at a later time?
Presentations and discussions from the PSAAP IV Pre-Proposal Meeting reflected thinking and intentions at that time back in August 2023. While the material from that meeting is made available to provide background and context, the Notice of Funding Opportunity is the definitive description of this opportunity for PSAAP IV. As such, supplemental funds for DEIA or other activities may not be requested in either the pre-application or full application responses.
3. Full application format and requirements
3.1) The guidelines require that biographical sketches be generated in ScienCV. Synergistic activities need to be included in the bio. However, ScienCV will no longer allow investigators to include synergistic activities in the bio because NSF changed their guidelines on May 20, 2024, and require synergistic activities to be attached separately. Where should we include the synergistic activities?
Please attach the synergistic activities as a separate one-page document in Appendix 1 following the guidelines at PAPPG Chapter II.D.2.h(iv), while ensuring the combined Biographical Sketch and synergistic activities for each person does not exceed three pages.
3.2) The guidelines state that the Project Narrative and all appendices be combined into one PDF. However, the guidelines also ask that Appendix 3 (COI) be uploaded as an Excel document. Should appendix 3 be converted to PDF so that it can be included with the Project Narrative, or should it be attached separately as an Excel document?
Because of the contradiction in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, we will accept Appendix 3 as either a PDF or Excel document. However, we prefer combining all the other appendices into one PDF and attaching Appendix 3 separately as an Excel document.
3.3) Recent laws in our state and Supreme Court decisions prohibit us from providing a DEIA plan. What should we do?
You should provide a specific, actionable plan for how you will strive to broaden the workforce, recruit students from traditionally underrepresented groups, and promote an inclusive culture. A successful plan should avoid generic institutional statements and commitments. Instead, focus on providing experience-based plans supported by evidence from the management team. A personal and evidence-based approach will make this section more impactful. For instance, see:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.668250/full
3.4) Are DOE Laboratory staff allowed to participate as members of our Center?
While DOE Laboratory staff and other unfunded personnel may be identified as collaborators, they should not be relied upon for any specific tasks, and particularly not for work that is on the critical path. DOE laboratory staff identified as collaborators must provide their own funding for the work as they must not receive any PSAAP funding. As described in Sections I.F.3 and I.F.4, the Alliance Strategy Team (AST) will identify Laboratory personnel to serve on Peer Meeting and Trilab Sponsor teams for Centers that are selected for funding; you should not suggest these or other external advisory boards.
3.5) Is it permissible to reach out to NNSA Laboratory researchers to request their agreement to be included as potential collaborators?
As stated in Section VII.C of the NOFO, “Communication is not authorized between any potential applicants, applicants and NNSA HQ/National
Laboratory personnel regarding PSAAP IV applications upon publication date of this NOFO.” This includes such requests to be named in an application. You may, if you wish, indicate your intent to explore potential collaboration opportunities with specific Laboratories, groups, or individuals. In addition, please note that letters of collaboration are not allowed. Per section IV.B.3, the only allowed letters of support are the mandatory one from the Applicant’s Vice President for Research (or equivalent), and letters confirming access to sites, equipment, facilities, or data. No additional letters of support or recommendation are allowed.
3.6) Can you confirm the submission deadline, which has been listed as either September 30 or October 1?
The full application deadline is 11:59pm ET on October 1, 2024. Although the original NOFO instructions posted in May indicated September 30, this and other items were corrected in a subsequent amendment; please refer to the latest version at Grants.gov: https://grants.gov/search-results-detail/354427
