Grants and cooperative agreements; availability, etc.: Advanced technology program,

[Federal Register: November 20, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 224)]

[Notices]

[Page 64459-64463]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr20no98-27]

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket No. 981113285-8285-01]

RIN 0693-ZA28

Announcement of Availability of Funds for a Competition--Advanced Technology Program (ATP)

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technology Administration, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Technology Administration's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announces that it will hold a single fiscal year 1999 Advanced Technology Program (ATP) competition. This single competition will continue ATP's practice of being open to all technology areas, while also capturing the advantage and momentum of focused program planning. Through this single competition strategy, ATP encourages proposals from the many technical terms that have identified synergy between industry needs and ATP funding opportunities, accelerating the pursuit of critical elements of research which were identified in focused program plans. All fiscal year 1999 proposals received will be distributed to technology-specific source evaluation boards in areas such as advanced materials, biotechnology, electronics, information technology, etc. This notice provides general information regarding ATP competitions.

DATES: The proposal due date and other competition-specific instructions will be published in the Commerce Business Daily (CBD) at the time the competition is announced. Dates, times, and locations of Proposers' Conferences held for interested parties considering applying for funding will also be announced in the CBD.

ADDRESSES: Information on the ATP may be obtained from the following address: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Advanced Technology Program, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 4701, Administration Building 101, Room A407, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-4701.

Additionally, information on the ATP is available on the Internet through the World Wide Web (WWW) at http://www.atp.nist.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for ATP information, application materials, and/or to have your name added to the ATP mailing list for future mailings may also be made by:

(a) Calling the ATP toll-free ``hotline'' number at 1-800-ATP-FUND or 1-800-287-3863. You will have the option of hearing recorded messages regarding the status of the ATP or speaking to one of our customer representatives who will take your name and address. If our representatives are all busy when you call, leave a message after the tone. To ensure that the information is entered correctly, please speak distinctly and slowly and spell the words that might cause confusion. Leave your phone number as well as your name and address;

(b) Sending a facsimile (fax) to 301-926-9524 or 301-590-3053; or

(c) Sending electronic mail to atp@nist.gov. Include your name, full mailing address, and phone number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The statutory authority for the ATP is Section 5131 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-418, 15 U.S.C. 278n), as modified by Pub. L. 102-245. The ATP implementing regulations are published at 15 CFR Part 295, as amended. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number and program title for the ATP are 11.612, Advanced Technology Program (ATP).

The ATP is a rigorously competitive cost-sharing program designed for the Federal government to work in partnership with industry to foster the development and broad dissemination of challenging, high- risk technologies that offer the potential for significant, broad-based economic benefits for the

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nation. Such a unique government-industry research partnership fosters the acceleration not only of dramatic gains in existing industries, but also acceleration of the development of emerging or enabling technologies leading to revolutionary new products, industrial processes and services for the world's markets and work to spawn industries of the 21st century. The ATP provides multi-year funding to single companies and to industry-led joint ventures. The ATP accelerates technologies that, because they are risky, are unlikely to be developed in time to compete in rapidly changing world markets without such a partnership between industry and the Federal government. The ATP challenges industry to take on higher risk (but commensurately higher potential payoff to the nation) projects than they would otherwise. Proposers must provide credible arguments as to the project feasibility.

The funding instrument used in ATP awards is a ``cooperative agreement.'' Through the use of the cooperative agreement, the ATP is designed to foster a government-industry partnership to accomplish a public purpose of support or stimulation. NIST plays a substantial role in providing technical assistance and monitoring the technical work and business progress.

Funding Availability

A total estimated $66 million in first year funding expected to become available from Congressional appropriation, will be used for new awards for the fiscal year 1999 single ATP competition to be announced in the CBD. The actual number of proposals funded under this competition will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the amount of funding requested in the highest ranked proposals. Outyear funding beyond the first year is contingent on the approval of future Congressional appropriations and satisfactory project performance.

Eligibility Requirements, Selection Criteria, and Proposal Review Process

The eligibility requirements, selection criteria, and the proposal review process are discussed in detail in the ATP implementing regulations published at 15 CFR Part 295, as amended, and the ATP Proposal Preparation Kit dated November 1998.

Funding Amounts, Award Period and Cost Sharing (Matching) Requirements

(a) Single company recipients can receive up to $2 million for R&D activities for up to 3 years. ATP funds may only be used to pay for direct costs for single company recipients. Single company recipients are responsible for funding all of their overhead/indirect costs. Small and medium size companies applying as single company proposers are not required to provide cost-sharing of direct costs, however, they may pay a portion of the direct costs in addition to all indirect costs if they wish. Large companies applying as single company proposers, however, must cost-share at least 60 percent of the yearly total project costs (direct plus indirect costs). A large company is defined as any business, including any parent company plus related subsidiaries, having annual revenues in excess of $2.721 billion. (Note that this number will likely change for future competitions and, if so, will be noted in future annual announcements of availability of funds and ATP Proposal Preparation Kits.)

(b) Joint ventures can receive funds for R&D activities for up to 5 years with no funding limitation other than the announced availability of funds. However, ATP funding must be for a minority share of the yearly total project costs. Joint ventures must cost-share (matching funds) more than 50 percent of the yearly total project costs (direct plus indirect costs). Matching funds (cost-sharing) are defined in 15 CFR Part 295.2(l).

(c) Funds derived from Federal sources may not be used to meet the cost-share requirement. Additionally, subcontractors may not contribute towards the cost-share requirement.

Application Forms and Proposal Preparation Kit

A new November 1998 version of the ATP Proposal Preparation Kit is available upon request from the ATP at the address and phone numbers noted in this notice. The Kit is also available on the Internet through the World Wide Web under the heading Publications on the ATP home page http://www.atp.nist.gov. Note that the ATP is mailing the Kit to all those individuals whose names are currently on the ATP mailing list. Those individuals need not contact the ATP to request a copy. The Kit contains proposal cover sheets, other required forms, background material, and instructions for preparing ATP pre-proposals and full proposals. All proposals must be prepared in accordance with the instructions in the Kit.

Submission of Revised Proposals

A proposer may submit a full proposal that is a revised version of a full proposal submitted to a previous ATP competition. NIST will examine such proposals to determine whether substantial revisions have been made. Where the revisions are determined not to be substantial, NIST reserves the right to score and rank, or where appropriate, to reject, such proposals based on reviews of the previous submitted proposal.

Other Requirements

(a) Federal Policies and Procedures. Recipients and subrecipients are subject to all Federal laws and Federal and Department of Commerce policies, regulations, and procedures applicable to Federal financial assistance awards as identified in the cooperative agreement award.

(b) Past Performance. Unsatisfactory performance under prior Federal awards may result in a proposal not being considered for funding.

(c) Pre-award Activities. Pre-award costs may not be incurred by any proposer and are not reimbursable under an ATP award.

(d) No Obligation for Future Funding. If a proposal is selected for funding, NIST has no obligation to provide any additional future funding in connection with that award. Renewal of an award to increase funding or extend the period of performance is at the total discretion of NIST.

(e) Delinquent Federal Debts. No award of Federal funds shall be made to a proposer or recipient who has an outstanding delinquent Federal debt until either the delinquent account is paid in full, a negotiated repayment schedule is established and at least one payment is received, or other arrangements satisfactory to NIST are made.

(f) Name Check Review. All for-profit and non-profit proposers are subject to a name check review process. Name checks are intended to reveal if any key individuals associated with the proposer have been convicted of or are presently facing criminal charges such as fraud, theft, perjury, or other matters which significantly reflect on the proposer's management, honesty, or financial integrity.

(g) Primary Applicant Certification. All primary proposers (including all joint venture participants) must submit a completed form CD-511, ``Certifications Regarding Debarment, Suspension, and Other Responsibility Matters; Drug-Free Workplace Requirements and Lobbying,'' and the following explanation is hereby provided:

(1) Nonprocurement Debarment and Suspension. Prospective participants, as defined at 15 CFR part 26, section 105

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are subject to 15 CFR part 26, ``Nonprocurement Debarment and Suspension'' and the related section of the certification form prescribed above applies;

(2) Drug-Free Workplace, Grantees (as defined at 15 CFR part 605) are subject to 15 CFR 26, subpart F, ``Governmentwide Requirements for Drug-Free Workplace (Grants)'' and the related section of the certification form prescribed above applies;

(3) Anti-Lobbying. Persons (as defined at 15 CFR part 28, section 105) are subject to the lobbying provisions of 31 U.S.C. 1352, ``Limitations on use of appropriated funds to influence certain Federal contracting and financial transactions,'' and the lobbying section of the certification form prescribed above applies to applications/bids for grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts for more than $100,000, and loans and loan guarantees for more than $150,000, or the single family maximum mortgage limit for affected programs, whichever is greater; and,

(4) Anti-Lobbying Disclosures. Any proposer that has paid or will pay for lobbying using any funds must submit an SF-LLL, ``Disclosure of Lobbying Activities,'' as required under 15 CFR part 28, Appendix B.

(h) Lower Tier Certification. Recipients shall require proposers/ bidders for subgrants, contracts, subcontracts, or other lower tier covered transactions at any tier under the award to submit, if applicable, a completed Form CD-512, ``Certifications Regarding Debarment, Suspension, Ineligibility and Voluntary Exclusion--Lower Tier Covered Transactions and Lobbying'' and Form SF-LLL, ``Disclosure of Lobbying Activities.'' Although the CD-512 is intended for the use of primary recipients and should not be transmitted to NIST, the SF-LLL submitted by any tier recipient or subrecipient should be forwarded in accordance with the instructions contained in the award document.

(i) False Statements. A false statement on any application for funding under ATP may be grounds for denial or termination of funds and grounds for possible punishment by a fine or imprisonment as provided in 18 U.S.C. 1001.

(j) Intergovernmental Review. The ATP does not involve the mandatory payment of any matching funds from state or local government and does not affect directly any state or local government. Accordingly, the Department of Commerce has determined that Executive Order 12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs'' is not applicable to this program.

(k) American-Made Equipment and Products. Proposers are hereby notified that they are encouraged, to the greatest extend practicable, to purchase American-made equipment and products with the funding provided under this program in accordance with Congressional intent.

(l) Paperwork Reduction Act. This notice contains collection of information requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), which have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB Control Nos. 0693-0009 and 0348-0046). Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with a collection of information, subject to the requirements of the PRA, unless that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB Control No.

(m) If a proposer's proposal is judged to be of high enough quality to be invited in for an oral review, ATP reserves the right to submit a list of questions to the proposer that must be addressed at the oral review.

(n) There are certain types of projects that ATP will not fund because they are inconsistent with the ATP mission. These include:

(1) Straightforward improvements of existing products or product development.

(2) Projects that are predominately basic research.

(3) Pre-commercial scale demonstration projects where the emphasis is on demonstration that some technology works on a large scale or is economically sound rather than on R&D.

(4) Projects involving military weapons R&D or R&D that is of interest only to some mission agency rather than to the commercial marketplace.

(5) Projects that ATP believes would likely be completed without ATP funds in the same time frame or nearly the same time frame.

(o) Certain costs that may be allowed in Federal financial assistance programs are not eligible for funding under ATP awards. Section G of the Proposal Preparation Kit lists these costs.

(p) For joint ventures, no costs shall be incurred under an ATP project by the joint venture members until such time as a joint venture agreement has been executed by all of the joint venture members and approved by NIST. NIST will withhold approval until it determines that a sufficient number of members have signed the joint venture agreement. Costs will only be allowed after the execution of the joint venture agreement and approval by NIST.

(q) Research under an ATP project involving vertebrate animals must be in compliance with the National Research Council's ``Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals'' which can be obtained from National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20055. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) associated with the proposing organization(s) must approve all research involving vertebrate animals before Grants Officer review and release of funds.

(r) Research under an ATP project involving human subjects or human tissue must be in compliance with Department of Commerce regulations entitled ``Protection of Human Subjects'', 15 CFR Part 27, which require that recipients whose research involves human subjects maintain appropriate policies and procedures for the protection of human subjects. Currently, NIST does not approve human subjects research that takes place in a foreign country as part of an ATP project. In addition, NIST does not accept foreign sources of human tissue or data, even if the tissue or data may qualify for an exemption under the rule.

Additional Presidential policies, statutes, regulations, and guidelines have been issued concerning types of research activities involving human subjects. NIST may not be directly named in these statutes and regulations; however, in order to assure that research funded by NIST involving human subjects is consistent with national policy, NIST hereby declares that it will fully adhere to these requirements. Therefore, research projects involving the protected classes of human subjects must adhere to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regulations found at 45 CFR Part 46, Subparts B, C, and D. Protected classes include pregnant women, human in vitro fertilization, fetuses, prisoners, and children. Research projects involving the transplantation of fetal tissue into human subjects must adhere to Section 111 of the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, 42 U.S.C. 289g-1. In addition, the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, 42 U.S.C. 289g-2 contains a criminal statute prohibiting all purchases of fetal tissue for valuable consideration whether or not NIH or NIH funding is involved. Fetal research must adhere to Section 498(b) of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 289g. Embryo research must adhere to Section 513 of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of

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1998, Public Law 105-78, 111 Stat. 1467. Research involving xenotransplantation into human subjects must adhere to the FDA guidelines published at 61 FR 49919 (September 23, 1996). All research projects will adhere to the Presidential Directive, 33 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 281 (March 10, 1997), prohibiting the federal conduct and funding of research involving human cloning.

Special Requirements

Research projects involving protected classes of human subjects as defined in 45 CFR Part 46, Subparts B, C, and D (including pregnant women, human in vitro fertilization, fetuses, prisoners, and children) MUST be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) that possesses a current assurance which has been approved by the Office of Protection from Research Risk (OPRR), National Institutes of Health (NIH), for federal-wide use, and appropriate for the research in question. No award involving protected classes as defined under 45 CFR Part 46, Subpart B, will be issued until the proposer has certified that an appropriate IRB has made the determinations required under Subpart B, and all other NIST approvals have been completed.

(s) In any invention resulting from work performed under an ATP project in which an ATP recipient has acquired title, NIST has the right, in accordance with 15 CFR 295.8(a)(2) and any supplemental regulations of NIST, to require the recipient, an assignee, or an exclusive licensee of a subject invention to grant a nonexclusive, partially exclusive, or exclusive license in any field of use to a responsible applicant or applicants, upon terms that are resealable under the circumstances. If the recipient, assignee, or exclusive licensee refuses such a request, NIST has the right to grant such a license itself if NIST determines that:

(1) Such action is necessary because the recipient or assignee has not taken, or is not expected to take within a reasonable time, effective steps to achieve practical application of the subject invention in such field of use;

(2) Such action is necessary to alleviate health or safety needs which are not reasonably satisfied by the recipient, assignee, or licensees;

(3) Such action is necessary to meet requirements for public use specified by Federal regulations and such requirements are not reasonably satisfied by the recipient, assignee, or licensees; or

(4) Such action is necessary because of the requirement that the recipient grant licenses to potential licensees that would be likely to manufacture substantially in the United States or that, under the circumstances, domestic manufacture is not commercially feasible, is not adhered to, or because a licensee of the exclusive right to use or sell any subject invention in the United States is in breach of the aforementioned requirement.

The preceding information describes NIST's legal rights with regards to patents. However, potential proposers should not interpret these rights as indicating that NIST intends to manage an awardee's intellectual property. Quite the contrary. First of all, these rights only apply to patents resulting from the ATP project itself, and not from work done before or after the ATP project, or other R&D performed by the company in the same time frame that is not part of the ATP- funded tasks. More importantly, the provisions above would ONLY be invoked under very unique circumstances. For example, if an ATP project developed a cure for cancer, but for some strange reason the company chose not to commercialize the technology, the ATP might, only after verifying that the company had no intention of using the technology, invoke provision 2. above and try to find another company willing to take a license and bring the new development to market. In the over 300 projects funded to date, NIST has never had to exercise the rights noted above.

(t) Proposers shall provide sufficient funds in the project multi- year budget for a project audit, including each joint venture participant. Subcontractors/subawardees, including universities, who receive total funding under an ATP project totaling more than $300,000 each are also subject to the audit requirement. A subcontractor/ subawardee is defined as an organization which receives a portion of the financial assistance from the recipient/awardee and assists the ATP recipient/awardee in meeting the project goals but does not include procurement of goods and services. It is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that audits are performed in a timely fashion. Most routine audits can be performed by the recipient's external CPA. However, the Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General (DoC/ OIG) and General Accounting Office (GAO) reserve the right to carry out audits as deemed necessary and appropriate. ATP recipients must be willing to submit to audits (e.g., audits of cost-accounting systems, direct-cost expenditures, indirect cost rates, or other periodic reviews) by the DoC/OIG or cognizant Federal agency Inspectors General or GAO. Periodic project audits shall be performed as follows:

(1) For awards less than 24 months, an audit is required at the end of the project.

(2) For 2-, 3-, or 4-year awards, an audit is required after the first year and at the end of the project.

(3) For 5-year awards, an audit is required after the first year, third year, and at the end of the project.

Budgeting for an audit shall be as follows:

(1) Proposers should allocate funds in their proposal budgets under the ``Other'' direct cost category for the project audit. For joint ventures, this must be included in each participant's budget as each participant is responsible for the performance of their own project audit.

(2) If an organization's indirect cost pool includes audit costs, this is acceptable. In these cases, an explanation must be provided in the budget narrative and no audit costs reflected under ``Other'' costs.

(3) If a cognizant Federal agency auditor is resident within the company, the cognizant Federal agency auditor may perform the audit. In these cases, an explanation must be provided in the budget narrative and no audit costs reflected under ``Other'' costs or ``Indirect Costs.''

Audits of all recipients shall be conducted in accordance with Government Auditing Standards (GAS), issued by the Comptroller General of the United States (the Yellow Book). If an ATP recipient is required to have an audit performed in accordance with OMB Circular A-133, Audits of States, Local Government, and Non-Profit Organizations, the annual Circular A-133 audit is deemed to meet the ATP audit requirement.

If an ATP recipient does not have an annual Circular A-133 audit performed, the recipient should follow the following project audit requirements:

(1) Audits for single company recipients shall be conducted using the NIST Program-Specific Audit Guidelines for Advanced Technology Program (ATP) Cooperative Agreements with Single Companies.

(2) Audits for joint venture recipients shall be conducted using the NIST Program-Specific Audit Guidelines for Advanced Technology Program (ATP) Cooperative Agreements with Joint Ventures.

(u) Indirect cost charged to ATP cooperative agreements or used as cost-sharing must be calculated in accordance with an approved indirect cost proposal. If a recipient has established an indirect cost rate with its

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cognizant Federal agency (the Federal agency providing the greatest dollars), the recipient must submit a copy of the negotiated agreement to the DoC/OIG for verification. Acceptance of indirect cost rates in excess of 100 percent of direct costs is subject to approval by NIST and the DoC/OIG. If an indirect cost rate(s) has not been negotiated prior to receiving the award, then an indirect cost rate proposal must be submitted to the recipient's cognizant Federal agency within 90 days from the date of the award. Provisional rates provided by the joint venture participant in the indirect cost proposal may be used until approval is obtained or indirect cost rates are negotiated.

(v) All ATP recipients must agree to adhere to the U.S. Export Administration laws and regulations and shall not export or re-export, directly or indirectly, any technical data created with Government funding under an award to any country for which the United States Government or any agency thereof, at the time of such export or re- export requires an export license or other Governmental approval without first obtaining such licenses or approval and the written clearance of the NIST Grants Officer. The Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) shall conduct an annual review for any relevant information about a proposer and/or Recipient. NIST reserves the right to not issue any award or suspend or terminate an existing award in the event that significant adverse information about a proposer or Recipient is disclosed by BXA to the NIST Grants Officer.

Dated: November 16, 1998. Robert E. Hebner, Acting Deputy Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology.

[FR Doc. 98-30957Filed11-17-98; 2:55 pm]

BILLING CODE 3510-13-M

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