RAV NOFO Questions and Answers

Application Submission

Question: The only place I see to attach the PDF file of the application contents in the application from grants.gov is the field on the SF424 Application for Federal Assistance V4.0- “Attach supporting documents as specified in agency instructions”. Please confirm this is where this should be uploaded. (02/08/2024)
Answer: That is correct.

Award Timing

Question:  
a. If available, could you please share the timing for awards/when they will be announced for this NOFO? (02/08/2024)
b. What is the anticipated project start date?  (02/07/2024)
Answer:  Award announcement is anticipated late July 2024, but we cannot provide exact timing.

Budget

Question:  
a. It was clarified in the webinar the budget should be provided for the full project. Please clarify if the budget should be broken out by cost category per phase or per 12-month year (this would be for the budget plan and for the SF424 A form). (02/08/2024).  
b. I have a follow up question regarding the budget after reviewing the webinar. The webinar indicated that an applicant should submit a six-year budget. However, on page 19 of the NOFO it states: "Provide a completed overall Budget Plan (see Attachment A to this NOFO) for the first year of the cooperative agreement, including required matching funds." The webinar referenced page 18 in regard to a six-year budget but all I could find is the following: "Applicants should plan their budgets to fulfill three phases to the project: research, demonstration, and deployment." The language in the NOFO seems to indicate only a one-year budget needs to be submitted since the language on page 18 uses the word plan and on page 19 states provide. Can you clarify if a one-year or six-year budget should be submitted with the application?  (02/06/2024)
c. In the NOFO, it states that we should prepare a completed overall Budget Plan for Year 1 (pg. 19). Does that mean that we only need to prepare the detailed budget table with subawards and confirmed cost share for Year 1, instead of all 6 years? We can certainly include our plan for the overall budget distribution across the 6 years in the proposal text, but just want to make sure if it is sufficient to just submit the detailed budget table for Year 1. (02/06/2024).
d. For this RAV NOFO, do we provide our one-year budget for the full funding amount of $15 million plus cost-share of $15 million utilizing Attachment A budgetary form, and also provide the same for each of our subcontractors? (We found this information on Page 20 of the NOFO.) (02/01/2024).

Answer: A six-year budget should be submitted with the application. Please submit a detailed budget table with subawards and confirmed cost share for Year 1 and estimates for the remaining 5 Years to the best of your knowledge. The budget should be broken out by cost category per 12-month year. 

Question:
The NOFO provided Attachment A as an example for the budget plan, but notes that we may provide the budget plan in any format we choose, but it must only use the budget categories specified in Attachment A. Given the requirement that we must spend at least 10% of our total Fed and non-Fed budget for research demonstration and we must separate out these costs into a cost category in our budget plan, I do not see this cost Category on Attachment A. To confirm, we could use Attachment A for our budget plan and modify to include a separate Research Demonstration cost category?  
Answer: Yes, you can include a separate Research Demonstration cost category.

SP&R Funds

Question:  
a. As we are assembling match for our RAV application, we are seeking clarity about the use of projects funded by SP&R funds as match. In past USDOT proposals, including UTCs, we've used SP&R funds/funded projects through our own and other states as match. Can you confirm that such funds are eligible for match in this case? (02/07/2024).
b. Can SP&R funds that come through our State DOT be used as match such as funds received for the Local Technical Assistance Program (NDLTAP). (01/25/2024)
Answer: Contrary to what was allowed in the UTC program, SP&R funds that come through your State DOT are ¬not eligible as match for the RAV program.

F&A 

Question:  
a.   In the webinar someone asked if F&A was allowed to be used for cost sharing. The answer provided was no and that a written response was available. The written response available is referencing unrecovered F&A, which would be defined as the difference between the federally negotiated F&A rate and the F&A Rate approved by the sponsor. Given that there is no F&A limitation per the sponsor, I wanted to confirm that following cost principles guidance, F&A would be allowed on direct costs of the cost share, since F&A is allowable on the direct costs of the federal request.  This is different from unrecovered F&A. (02/08/2024)
b. US DOT is not capping the indirect that said Universities can claim; it should be at their NICRA rate.  Unrecovered F&A would be if there was a difference in our approved rate and the rate set by the agency, which is not the case with this solicitation.   Therefore, my understanding on the indirect on the match side is that F&A would be allowed per 2 CFR 200.  Could you please confirm? (02/08/2024)

Answer: It sometimes happens on Federal agreements that a recipient itself (not the agency) chooses to charge to the agreement less than the negotiated indirect-cost rates and then counts the “unrecovered” amount as match – that is the scenario that is not acceptable under the RAV Program that relies so heavily upon collaboration.  The RAV Program does accept recipients’ negotiated indirect-cost rates and does allow appropriate charges for indirect costs on both Federal funds and matching funds.

Cost share/Match funds

Question: 
a. Regarding the cost share: is this 50% of the total project cost or 50% of the federal share?  Can you please provide a sample calculation?  
Answer: A one-to-one match is required, i.e., the cost share is 50% of total funds.  For example, the federal funds for the movement of people award are $15M, thus the cost share would be $15M and the total project cost would be $30M.

Foreign Entities

Question: Are foreign entities (e.g., Europe-based companies) allowed to participate in a proposal? (02/05/2024)
Answer: No. all participating entities must be based in the U.S.

Federally-Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs)

Question:  Are FFRDCs eligible for participation? If they are not allowed as a consortium participant, can they be subcontracted for the use of the publicly funded facilities?  

Answer: Yes, Federally-Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) are eligible for participation as a “private entity” and/or a “non-profit entity” as listed in the RAV NOFO eligibility criteria. See more detail below.  

The Rural Autonomous Vehicle Program Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) Section C, Part I, states, “Eligible applicants shall include a consortium of two or more non-profit institutions of higher education but additional consortium members may include State, local, Tribal, and territorial (SLTT) Departments of Transportation and Departments of Public Works, metropolitan and regional planning organizations, the private sector, the philanthropic sector, and non-profit organizations on a particular project or to provide services that assist in accomplishing the cooperative agreement research activities.” 

Federally-Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) are private-sector entities that have unique long-term relationships with one or more sponsoring federal Departments or Agencies to accomplish tasks integral to the missions and operations of their sponsor(s). Given their private sector, autonomous operation, and typically non-profit status, an FFRDC satisfies the eligibility requirements as stated in the NOFO and can be a non-lead member of a consortium.  An FFRDC can also serve as a participant or subcontractor “on a particular project or to provide services that assist in accomplishing the cooperative agreement research activities.”

It should be noted that an FFRDC cannot serve as the as the consortium lead because it is not an “institution of higher education” whether it has experience in automated vehicle research and rural and Tribal transportation or not. Also, an FFRDC would not count towards the requirement for each consortium to include “at least two non-profit institutes of higher education” even if the parent organization of the FFRDC was a non-profit institution of higher education.

Higher Education

Question: 
a. I wanted to confirm that the Rural Autonomous Vehicle Program is targeted only at higher education. (12/14/2023). 
b. We were wondering if University X along with a few private sector companies (who are a part of a consortium with X) and/or non-profit organization(s) will be eligible to participate in this opportunity. Please note that University X will lead the proposal. Also, is it necessary to have more than one institution of higher education or is one institution i.e., University X sufficient? (1/2/2024).
Answer: Per the NOFO document language: “The consortia shall be led by an institution of higher education with experience in automated vehicle (AV) research and rural and Tribal transportation. Eligible applicants shall include a consortium of two or more non-profit institutions of higher education but additional consortium members may include State, local, Tribal, and territorial (SLTT) Departments of Transportation and Departments of Public Works, metropolitan and regional planning organizations, the private sector, the philanthropic sector, and non-profit organizations on a particular project or to provide services that assist in accomplishing the cooperative agreement research activities.” AS stated, the consortium can include private sector and non-profit organizations as partners. Please note that the consortium must include at least two universities, i.e., non-profit institutions of higher education.

Unrecovered F&A

Question: We are an academic institution who is interested in applying.  Can un-recovered F&A (overhead) on the Federal direct cost funds provided be considered as part of the required cost share?  Can un-recovered F&A (overhead) on the direct cost matching/cost share funds provided by the applicant team be considered as part of the required cost share?  (12/18/2023).
Answer: For this opportunity, un-recovered F&A cannot be used as part of the required cost share. Applicants’ partnerships with consortium members and collaboration with stake holders who bring resources to the agreement through cost share are considered key to the success of the RAV Program. 

Letter of Intent (LOI)

Question: 
a. We have a faculty member who wishes to respond to this opportunity: https://grants.gov/search-results-detail/351434. My concern is that there is not enough time to prepare a competitive application. Will there be other competitions in 2024 or 2025?  (02/06/2024).
b. I am writing this email to confirm if it is too late to provide a Letter of Intent for the RAVTRANS Rural Autonomous Vehicle Program NOFO in order to provide a full submission by 3/13/24. (02/05/2024).
c. Could you please confirm whether the LOI is required or not, and whether it can be submitted after the January 19th deadline in the NOFO? (02/01/2024).
d. We will be submitting a letter of Intent to this call, however the FOA does not state what is needed for the LOI submission. Could you please let us know if there is something else that we should be looking at for the letter of intent submission information. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. (12/19/2023).
e. We were wondering if there is a specific format for the Letter of Intent i.e., Page limit, line spacing, font size and type, letters of support, topics to include, requirement of an abstract/executive summary in the letter of intent, and word limit, if any. (1/2/2024).
f. I have a quick question on how to submit the letter of intent. According to page 22 of the funding opportunity the letter of intent should be submitted to Grants.gov by 01/19/24. We have downloaded the application package and it appears to be for the full proposal. How should we submit the letter of intent? Is there an opportunity for the letter of intent? Also, is there a specific format for the letter of intent or do we just state we are intending to submit an application? I read through the funding opportunity and did not see any guidance on the format of the letter. (1/3/2024)
g. Is the information for the LOI to be submitted via email or via Grants.gov? (1/5/2024)

Answer

• For this NOFO, the LOI was required by the January 19th deadline to allow submission of full applications for the RAV program NOFO by 3/13/24. US DOT continuous to have upcoming competitions in various focus areas every year; however, we are currently not aware of RAV related funding for 2024 or 2025.  
• The information required in the letter of intent (LOI) are the Name of Lead University, Area of interest (Freight or Passenger movement), and the contact details of the point-of-contact individual at Lead institution. 
• There are no formatting requirements or word limit for the LOI.
• While the NOFO states the LOI should be submitted to www.grants.gov, we would like applicants to submit the LOI by email to RavProgram@dot.gov

Small Business Owners

Question: Can a small business owner that can hire 5 employees to help meet the needs of disabled special needs individual with chronic medical rare diagnosis and diseases to get individual to doctors’ appointments grocery store pharmacy qualify for any grants or funding for vehicles (12/21/2023).
Answer: The funding opportunity is primarily intended for the conduct of research activities to investigate and apply automated vehicles technologies in rural communities for effective and efficient movement of goods and people.

Informational Webinar

Question: Will the informational webinar (for the RAV NOFO) only be held virtually?
Answer: The informational webinar will be virtual only. Registration link can be accessed from https://www.transportation.gov/policy/ost-r/rdtrav 

Non Profit Collaboration

Question: Even though SAE is a non-profit, we are not of course an institution of higher education. That said, we believe we could bring value to the effort as a consortia member. Do you know which universities might be interested in collaborating with SAE?
Answer: We encourage you to reach out to universities, as you see fit. We are not in the position of providing teaming information.