[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 10, Volume 4] [Revised as of January 1, 2003] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 10CFR600.8] [Page 87-89] TITLE 10--ENERGY CHAPTER II--DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) PART 600--FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE RULES--Table of Contents Subpart A--General Sec. 600.8 Solicitation. (a) General. A solicitation for financial assistance applications shall be in the form of a program rule or other publicly available document which invites the submission of applications by a common due date or within a prescribed period of time. (1) A Program Assistant Secretary (or official of equivalent authority) may annually issue a program notice describing research areas in which financial assistance is being made available. Such notice shall also state whether the research areas covered by the notice are to be added to those listed in a previously issued program rule. If they are to be included, then applications received as a result of the notice may be treated as having been in response to that previously published program rule. If they are not to be included, then applications received in response to the notice are to be treated as unsolicited applications. Solicitations may be issued by a DOE Contracting Officer or program office with prior concurrence of the contracting office. (2) DOE shall publish either a copy or a notice of the availability of a financial assistance solicitation in the Federal Register. DOE shall publish solicitations or notices in the Commerce [[Page 88]] Business Daily when potential applicants include for-profit organizations or when there is the potential for significant contracting opportunities under the resulting financial assistance awards. (b) Subawards. In accordance with the provisions of the applicable statute and program rules, if a DOE financial assistance program involves the award of financial assistance by a recipient to a subrecipient, the recipient shall provide sufficient advance notice so that potential subrecipients may prepare timely applications and secure prerequisite reviews and approvals. (c) Contents of solicitation. Each solicitation shall provide information as may be necessary to allow potential applicants to decide whether to submit an application, to understand how applications will be evaluated, and to know what the obligations of a recipient would be. At a minimum, each solicitation must include: (1) A control number assigned by the issuing DOE office; (2) The amount of money available for award and, if appropriate, the expected size of individual awards broken down by areas of priority or emphasis, and the expected number of awards; (3) The type of award instrument or instruments to be used; (4) The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number for the program; (5) Who is eligible to apply; (6) The expected duration of DOE support or the period of performance; (7) An application form or the format to be used, location for application submission, and number of copies required; (8) The name of the responsible DOE Contracting Officer (or, for program notices or solicitations issued by the program office, the program office contact) to contact for additional information, and, as appropriate, an address where application forms may be obtained; (9) Whether loans are available under the DOE Minority Economic Impact (MEI) loan program, 10 CFR part 800, to finance the cost of preparing a financial assistance application, and, if MEI loans are available, a general description of the eligibility requirements for such a loan, a reference to Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 81.063, and the name and address of the DOE office from which additional information and loan application forms can be obtained; (10) Appropriate periods or due dates for submission of applications and a statement describing the consequences of late submission. If programs have established a series of due dates to allow for the comparison of applications against each other, these dates shall be indicated in the solicitation; (11) The types of projects or activities eligible for support; (12) Evaluation criteria and the weight or relative importance of each, which may include one or more of the following or other criteria, as appropriate: (i) Qualifications of the applicant's personnel who will be working on the project; (ii) Adequacy of the applicant's facilities and resources; (iii) Cost-effectiveness of the project; (iv) Adequacy of the project plan or methodology; (v) Management capability of the applicant; (vi) Sources of financing available to the project. Any requirement concerning cost sharing shall be clearly stated (See also Sec. 600.30, Cost Sharing). Cost sharing is generally encouraged. However, unless cost sharing is required by the solicitation, it shall not be considered in the evaluation process and shall be considered only at the time the award is negotiated. (vii) Relationship of the proposed project to the objectives of the solicitation; (13) A listing of program policy factors, if any, indicating the relative importance of each, if appropriate. Examples of program policy factors are: (i) Geographic distribution; (ii) Diverse types and sizes of applicant entities; (iii) A diversity of methods, approaches, or kinds of work; and (iv) Projects which are complementary to other DOE programs or projects; (14) References to or copies of: (i) Statutory authority for the program; (ii) Applicable rules, including the appropriate subparts of this part; [[Page 89]] (iii) Other terms and conditions applicable to awards to be made under the solicitation, including allowable and unallowable costs and reporting requirements; (iv) Policies and procedures for patents, data, copyrights, audiovisual productions and exhibits; (v) Any required assurances not included in the application form; (15) The deadline for submission of required or optional preapplications; (16) Date, time, and location of any briefing for applicants; (17) Required presubmission reviews and clearances, including a statement as to whether review under E.O. 12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs'', is required. (18) Dates by which selections and awards are expected to be made and whether unsuccessful applications will be returned to the applicant or be retained by DOE and for what period of time; (19) A statement that DOE is under no obligation to pay for any costs associated with preparation or submission of applications if an award is not made. If an award is made, such costs may be allowable as provided in the applicable cost principles (See Secs. 600.127 and 600.222); (20) A statement that DOE reserves the right to fund, in whole or in part, any, all, or none of the applications submitted in response to the solicitation; and (21) Any other relevant information, including explanatory information or factual basis for justifications required by this part.