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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY For more information about the Office of Science, go to Office of Science |
To DOE National Laboratories LAB 08-16
The OFES-NNSA Joint Program in
SUMMARY: The Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) of the Office of Science (SC) of the
Department of Energy (DOE) announces its interest in receiving proposals including
renewals of existing awards in FY 2009 for research in energy-related High Energy
Density Laboratory Plasmas (HEDLP). This Announcement is directed at researchers
who are affiliated with DOE national laboratories and government laboratories.
Collaboration with private sector and academic organizations is allowed (details for
setting up such collaboration are given in the section Collaboration below). Proposals
should clearly indicate in the Title Page and in the Executive Summary the research area
or areas (i) - (ii) identified in the section on Research Topics the Proposal is responding
to.
A separate compendium Announcement will be released for the OFES-NNSA Joint
Program in High Energy Density Laboratory Plasma directed at researchers not affiliated
with DOE national laboratories and government laboratories.
LETTER OF INTENT DUE DATE: August 18, 2008
A Letter-of-Intent (LOI) to submit a proposal is REQUIRED and should be
submitted by August 18, 2008. Failure to submit a Letter-of-Intent by a proposer
may preclude the full proposal from due consideration. Electronic submission of the
Letter-of-Intent and the formal proposal in PDF format is required. It is important that
the submission be in a single PDF file. The Letter of Intent should clearly indicate the
research area or areas (i) - (ii) identified in the section on Research Topics the proposal is
responding to. The Letter of Intent should be submitted electronically by E-mail to
John.Sauter@science.doe.gov, with a copy to Francis.Thio@science.doe.gov and
Allan.Hauer@nnsa.doe.gov. Please include "Letter of Intent for LAB 08-16" in the
subject line.
The purpose of the Letter-of-Intent (LOI) is to facilitate the OFES in planning the review
and the selection of potential reviewers for the proposal. For this purpose, the LOI must
include a one-page abstract of the proposed research, and list the names and institutional
affiliations of Principal Investigators, any Co-Principal Investigators, key investigators,
collaborators, or consultants, so as to reveal any potential conflict of interest in the
selection of reviewers for the proposal. For proposed investigations requiring access to
experimental user facilities, confirmation of communication with the facility's point-of-
contact should be indicated in the LOI.
FORMAL PROPOSAL DUE DATE: September 11, 2008, 8 PM Eastern Time
DATES: Proposals submitted in response to this Announcement must be submitted
using the Office of Science Field Work Proposal Instructions provided in the Notice to
Users section on the ePMA home page: http://www.osti.gov/fwp, and must be received no
later than September 11, 2008, 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time to be accepted for merit review
and to permit timely consideration for award.
Please see the "Addresses" section below for further instructions on the method of
submission for the proposal.
ADDRESSES: A complete formal FWP in a single Portable Document Format (PDF)
document that has 'formatted text and graphics' (also known as "native" PDF) must be
submitted using the Office of Science Field Work Proposal Instructions provided in
the Notice to Users section on the Searchable FWP home page: http://www.osti.gov/fwp.
(This submission process includes sending the FWP via CD using Federal Express).
Send CD via Federal Express to:
To identify that the FWP is responding to this Program Announcement, when sending
your CD please identify the Program Announcement Title and Program Announcement
number on the Federal Express package.
In addition to following the submission instructions on the http://www.osti.gov/fwp web
site, please submit via email, a single PDF file of the entire LAB proposal and FWP. This
will assist in expediting the review process. Please send the email to:
john.sauter@science.doe.gov. Please include "Proposal for LAB 08-16" in the subject
line of the email.
DOE National Laboratories should submit as instructed above. Researchers from other
Federal agencies and Non-DOE Federally Funded Research and Development Centers
(FFRDCs) should follow the format at
http://www.science.doe.gov/grants/fed_prop.html
and also submit via email as stated above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Communications related to the formal proposal should use "Program Announcement
LAB 08-16" in the subject line.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Descriptions of the Research Programs and the Applications Solicited under this Announcement.
The OFES and NNSA have agreed to coordinate their research activities in the field of
HEDLP under a Joint Program. This coordination is aligned with the recommendations of
the interagency Task Force on High Energy Density (HED) Physics to provide improved
stewardship of the field of HEDLP, while maintaining the interdisciplinary nature of this
area of science, by tying the basic scientific research to its roots in application [1]. An
important objective of the Joint Program in HEDLP in the long term is to enable the
broader scientific community to conduct research at the major NNSA HED facilities -
e.g., the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
the Z-pinch pulsed power accelerator at Sandia National Laboratory and the Omega laser
at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester. However,
extensive and comprehensive evaluation of concepts and proposed experiments are
required to fully realize the scientific potential of these large-scale facilities and to
capture the opportunities they afford. As a scientific path forward towards the use of
these large-scale facilities, HEDLP conditions may be achieved at many small- or
intermediate-scale facilities using pulsed power driven accelerators, lasers, or ion-beam
compression techniques. The availability and use of experimental facilities to address the
objectives of this program is discussed in Section 2. Another important objective of the
Joint Program in HEDLP is to provide an avenue to explore the HED physics that
underpins the scientific foundation for inertial fusion energy sciences.
Planning of the Joint Program by the two Offices has been guided by the reports of the
National Task Force on High Energy Density Physics chaired by Davidson [2], the
interagency Task Force on High Energy Density Physics chaired by Keane and Kovar
[1], and the HEDLP Workshop at Argonne National Laboratory chaired by Rosner and
Browne [3]. Following are two of the main themes that encompass the scientific
challenges and opportunities of HEDLP. Proposed research efforts can include
experimental, theoretical, and/or computational science. Proposals integrating
experiments, theory, and simulation are encouraged.
(i) Advance HED science that enables fusion energy
(ii) Creation, control, diagnosis and utilization of new HEDLP conditions
The total amount of funds available for competition is expected to be approximately
$3,000,000 in FY 2009, subject to further appropriation of funds for FY 2009 by the
Congress and other factors.
[1] Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Report of the Interagency Task
Force on High Energy Density Physics (Chairs: C. Keane, D. Kovar, Executive
Secretary: Y. C. F. Thio), National Science and Technology Council, Committee on
Science, Interagency Working Group on the Physics of the Universe.
[2] Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Frontiers for Discovery in High
Energy Density Physics, National Task Force on High Energy Density Physics (Chair:
R. C. Davidson), July 20, 2004.
[3] R. Rosner and J. C. Browne, Summary of a Workshop on Opportunities for High
Energy Density Laboratory Plasma Science, Argonne National Laboratory, May 23-
24, 2007.
http://www.science.doe.gov/ofes/ProgramNews/Orbach-HEDLP-final_(2).pdf
Collaboration
Collaborative research projects involving more than one institution are encouraged.
Proposals submitted from different institutions, which are directed at a common research
activity, should clearly indicate they are part of a proposed collaboration and contain a
brief description of the overall research project, and include Letters of Coordination from
the collaborative partners. However, each Proposal must have a distinct scope of work
and a qualified principal investigator, who is responsible for the research effort being
performed at his or her institution. Further information on preparation of collaborative
Proposals may be accessed via the Internet at:
http://www.science.doe.gov/grants/Colab.html.
Use of Experimental Facilities
For applicants who propose investigations requiring the use of either laboratory- or
university-based experimental facilities, the applicant must make arrangements with the
appropriate laboratory or university. Potential applicants are responsible for contacting
the specific laboratory or university to discuss any facility-related activities and
utilization, including availability of beam-time and appropriate diagnostics, shot
schedule, support for target fabrication, etc. Costs for using a university-based facility
will either be the responsibility of the National Laboratory through a sub-contracting
arrangement, or the university may submit a companion proposal through the companion
financial assistance Joint Program HEDLP solicitation. A letter from either the facility
manager or program manager indicating 1) the level of communication between the
Principal Investigator (PI) and facility management, 2) the feasibility of the proposed use
of the facility, and 3) arrangements pursued regarding facility availability for this project
must be included with the Proposal. For some national user facilities, such as those
operated by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), the applicant may need to
compete in a separate user facility access solicitation. A description of BES national
scientific user facilities can be found at
http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/BESfacilities.htm.
Budget requests supporting investigations at either laboratory- or university-based
experimental facilities must include all incremental costs necessary to perform the
proposed experiment above the facility's baseline operational budget.
Examples of HED science experimental facilities include:
Intermediate-scale facilities:
Jupiter Laser Facility (LLNL): http://jlf.llnl.gov/
Trident Laser Facility (LANL): http://Trident.lanl.gov
Alternate contact: Randy Johnson: rpjohnson@lanl.gov
Nevada Terawatt Facility (University of Nevada at Reno): http://www.ntf.unr.edu/
Petawatt Laser Facility (University of Texas at Austin):
http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~utlasers/texas_petawatt_files/texas_petawatt.htm
Cobra Pulsed Power Facility (Cornell University):
http://www.plasmacenter.cornell.edu/
Laboratory of Plasma Studies
Heavy Ion Beam Experimental Facility (LBNL):
http://hif.lbl.gov/VNLresearch.html
Large--scale facilities:
National Ignition Facility (LLNL): https://lasers.llnl.gov/
Z Pulsed Power Accelerator (SNL): http://zpinch.sandia.gov/
Omega Laser (Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester):
http://www.lle.rochester.edu/
For the use of the Omega Laser Facility at the University of Rochester, a parallel
solicitation for the National Laser User Facility (NLUF) is planned to request access. A
link to this solicitation can be found on Grants.gov. A link will also be posted at
http://www.lle.rochester.edu.
Other facilities of relevance to the solicitation include:
Shiva Star Pulsed Power Facility
NIKE Laser Facility
Program Funding:
Research awards (typically single-investigator projects) are expected to be made for a
period of one to three years at a funding level appropriate for the proposed scopes, with
out-year support contingent on the availability of funds and satisfactory progress, though
proposals may request support for up to five years. Consideration will also be given to
multi-institution consortia proposing investigations in advancing the state-of-the-art in
the technical themes identified in the section on Research Topics of this solicitation and,
as appropriate, culminating in the use of large-scale HEDP facilities (such as NIF, Z, and
Omega), or intermediate-scale facilities.
OFES reserves the right not to make any awards if no proposal is judged to be of suitable
scientific quality or of sufficient relevance to the programs described in the section on
Research Topics. The cost-effectiveness of the proposal will be considered when
comparing proposals with differing funding requirements. Previous awards have ranged
from approximately $50,000 to $1,000,000 per year in similar areas, typically less than
$500,000 per year. A single award or multiple awards may be made depending on the
number and quality of the proposals received and favorably reviewed. If multiple awards
are made, it is anticipated that award sizes may range from $25,000 to $1,000,000 per
year, typically less than $500,000 per year.
Additional Information
In selecting proposals for funding, priority will be given to proposals that can produce
experimental results within three to four years after grant initiation. Theoretical research
will be accepted for consideration under this Notice when bundled with and in support of
an experimental Proposal. Preferred proposals in this category would typically have a
performance period of, but not limited to, three or four years.
Proposals concerned with scientific assessment, theoretically and/or computationally, of
new concepts or approaches that are not ready for experimental investigation should have
a well-defined scope. The product of such assessment would be a clear scientific
description of the concept and its operation, its physics and engineering basis, critical
analysis of major difficulties to be overcome in developing the concept, and an analysis
of what would be achieved by moving to experimental research. Proposals in this
category should propose research with a performance period of, but not limited to, one or
two years. Proposals in this category with a funding request between $25,000 and
$50,000 are particularly welcome.
Formal Proposals:
DOE will accept new and renewal proposals under this Announcement. Renewal
proposals compete with all other proposals. In preparing a renewal proposal, principal
investigators should assume that reviewers will not have access to previous proposals.
The proposal should be developed as fully as though the principal investigator were
applying for the first time. The proposal must include all the information required for a
new project, plus the project narrative section should discuss the results from prior work.
Funding under this Announcement is limited to supporting research activities based in the
U.S. Collaborations with non-U.S. institutions are allowed provided the lead institution
is a U.S. institution. Proposals from non-U.S. institutions will be declined.
The research project description must be 30 pages or less, exclusive of attachments and
appendices and must contain an abstract or summary of the proposed research. All
collaborators should be listed with the abstract or summary. Attachments include
literature cited, biographical sketches, description of facilities and resources, letters of
endorsement, and a listing of all current and pending federal support. Biographical
sketches should be limited to no more than two pages per individual. No Protected
Personal Information should be included in the proposal. Protected Personal Information
includes social security number, date of birth, mother's maiden name, driver license
number and passport number.
The instructions and format described below should be followed. You must reference
Program Announcement LAB 08-16 on all submissions and inquiries about this program.
GUIDE FOR PREPARATION OF SCIENTIFIC/TECHNICAL PROPOSALS TO BE SUBMITTED BY NATIONAL LABORATORIES Proposals from National Laboratories submitted to the Office of Science (SC) as a result of this Program Announcement will follow the Department of Energy Field Work Proposal process with additional information requested to allow for scientific/technical merit review. The following guidelines for content and format are intended to facilitate an understanding of the requirements necessary for SC to conduct a merit review of a proposal. Please follow the guidelines carefully, as deviations could be cause for declination of a proposal without merit review. 1. Evaluation Criteria After an initial screening for eligibility and responsiveness to the solicitation, proposals will be subjected to scientific merit review (peer review). The proposals will be evaluated against the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of importance as set forth in 10 CFR Part 605.10 (d). Included with each criteria are the detailed questions that will be asked of the reviewers.
2. Summary of Proposal Contents
A complete formal FWP in a single Portable Document Format (PDF) document that has 'formatted text and graphics' (also known as "native" PDF) must be submitted using the Office of Science Field Work Proposal Instructions provided in the Notice to Users section on the Searchable FWP home page: http://www.osti.gov/fwp. (This submission process includes sending the FWP via CD using Federal Express). Send CD via Federal Express to:
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, SC-24.2/GTN 19901 Germantown Road Germantown, MD 20874-1290 ATTN: Program Announcement LAB 08-16 To identify that the FWP is responding to this Program Announcement, when sending your CD please identify the Program Announcement Title and Program Announcement number on the Federal Express package. In addition to following the submission instructions on the http://www.osti.gov/fwp web site, please submit via email, a single PDF file of the entire LAB proposal and FWP. This will assist in expediting the review process. Please send the email to: john.sauter@science.doe.gov. Please include "Proposal for LAB 08-16" in the subject line of the email. 3. Detailed Contents of the Proposal Adherence to type size and line spacing requirements is necessary for several reasons. No researcher should have the advantage, by using small type, of providing more text in their proposals. Small type may also make it difficult for reviewers to read the proposal. Proposals must have 1-inch margins at the top, bottom, and on each side. Type sizes must be at least 11 point. Line spacing is at the discretion of the researcher, but there must be no more than 6 lines per vertical inch of text. Pages should be standard 8 1/2" x 11" (or metric A4, i.e., 210 mm x 297 mm). 3.1 Field Work Proposal Format (Reference DOE Order 412.1A) (DOE ONLY) The Field Work Proposal (FWP) is to be prepared and submitted consistent with policies of the investigator's laboratory and the local DOE Operations Office. Additional information is also requested to allow for scientific/technical merit review. Laboratories may submit proposals directly to the SC Program office listed above. A copy should also be provided to the appropriate DOE operations office. 3.2 Proposal Cover Page The following proposal cover page information may be placed on plain paper. No form is required.
SC Program announcement title Research area(s): (One or more of the Research Topics (i)-(vi)) Name of laboratory Name of principal investigator (PI) Position title of PI Mailing address of PI Telephone of PI Fax number of PI Electronic mail address of PI Name of official signing for laboratory* Title of official Fax number of official Telephone of official Electronic mail address of official Requested funding for each year; total request Use of human subjects in proposed project:
Signature of official, date of signature* *The signature certifies that personnel and facilities are available as stated in the proposal, if the project is funded. Provide the initial page number for each of the sections of the proposal. Number pages consecutively at the bottom of each page throughout the proposal. Start each major section at the top of a new page. Do not use unnumbered pages and do not use suffices, such as 5a, 5b. 3.4 Budget and Budget Explanation A detailed budget is required for the entire project period and for each fiscal year. It is preferred that DOE's budget page, Form 4620.1 be used for providing budget information*. Modifications of categories are permissible to comply with institutional practices, for example with regard to overhead costs. A written justification of each budget item is to follow the budget pages. For personnel this should take the form of a one-sentence statement of the role of the person in the project. Provide a detailed justification of the need for each item of permanent equipment. Explain each of the other direct costs in sufficient detail for reviewers to be able to judge the appropriateness of the amount requested. Further instructions regarding the budget are given in section 4 of this guide. * Form 4620.1 is available at web site: http://www.science.doe.gov/grants/budgetform.pdf 3.5 Abstract Summarize the proposal in no more than two pages. Give the project objectives (in broad scientific terms), the approach to be used, and what the research is intended to accomplish. State the hypotheses to be tested (if any). At the top of the abstract give the project title, names of all the investigators and their institutions, and contact information for the principal investigator, including e-mail address. 3.6 Narrative (main technical portion of the proposal, including background/introduction, proposed research and methods, timetable of activities, and responsibilities of key project personnel). The narrative comprises the research plan for the project and is limited to 30 pages (maximum), including text and figures, when printed using standard 8.5" by 11" paper with 1 inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) and font not smaller than 11 point. It should contain enough background material in the Introduction, including review of the relevant literature, to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the state of the science. The major part of the narrative should be devoted to a description and justification of the proposed project, including details of the methods to be used. It should also include a timeline for the major activities of the proposed project, and should indicate which project personnel will be responsible for which activities. In addition to the technical description of the proposed work and tasks, include a discussion of the following: plans for comparison between theoretical predictions and experimental measurements where appropriate; plans for verification and validation of computer codes where appropriate; impact of the proposed research on other fields of science, if appropriate; project schedules, milestones, and deliverables. It is important that the 30-page technical information section provide a complete description of the proposed work, because reviewers are not obliged to read the Appendices. Proposals exceeding these page limits may be rejected without review. If any portion of the project is to be done in collaboration with another institution (or institutions), provide information on the institution(s) and what part(s) of the project it will carry out. Further information on any such arrangements is to be given in the sections "Budget and Budget Explanation," "Biographical Sketches," and "Description of Facilities and Resources." Collaborative research projects with institutions that receive grants, such as universities, industry, and non-profit organizations, are allowed under this Announcement. See the section on Collaboration. Further information on collaboration may be accessed at http://www.science.doe.gov/grants/Colab.html. 3.7 Literature Cited Give full bibliographic entries for each publication cited in the narrative. Each reference must include the names of all authors (in the same sequence in which they appear in the publication), the article and journal title, book title, volume number, page numbers, and year of publication. Include only bibliographic citations. Principal investigators should be especially careful to follow scholarly practices in providing citations for source materials relied upon when preparing any section of the proposal. 3.8 Biographical Sketches This information is required for senior personnel at the institution submitting the proposal and at all subcontracting institutions (if any). The biographical sketch is limited to a maximum of two pages for each investigator and must include: Education and Training. Undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral training, provide institution, major/area, degree and year. Research and Professional Experience. Beginning with the current position list, in chronological order, professional/academic positions with a brief description. Publications. Provide a list of up to 10 publications most closely related to the proposed project. For each publication, identify the names of all authors (in the same sequence in which they appear in the publication), the article title, book or journal title, volume number, page numbers, year of publication, and website address if available electronically. Patents, copyrights and software systems developed may be provided in addition to or substituted for publications. Synergistic Activities. List no more than 5 professional and scholarly activities related to the effort proposed. To assist in the identification of potential conflicts of interest or bias in the selection of reviewers, the following information must also be provided in each biographical sketch.
Graduate and Postdoctoral Advisors and Advisees: A list of the names of the individual's own graduate advisor(s) and principal postdoctoral sponsor(s), and their current organizational affiliations. A list of the names of the individual's graduate students and postdoctoral associates during the past five years, and their current organizational affiliations. Facilities to be used for the conduct of the proposed research should be briefly described. Indicate the pertinent capabilities of the institution, including support facilities (such as machine shops), that will be used during the project. List the most important equipment items already available for the project and their pertinent capabilities. Include this information for each subcontracting institution (if any). 3.10 Other Support of Investigators Other support is defined as all financial resources, whether Federal, non-Federal, commercial, or institutional, available in direct support of an individual's research endeavors. Information on active and pending other support is required for all senior personnel, including investigators at collaborating institutions to be funded by a subcontract. For each item of other support, give the organization or agency, inclusive dates of the project or proposed project, annual funding, and level of effort (months per year or percentage of the year) devoted to the project. 3.11 Appendix Information not easily accessible to a reviewer may be included in an appendix, but do not use the appendix to circumvent the page limitations of the proposal. Reviewers are not required to consider information in an appendix, and reviewers may not have time to read extensive appendix materials with the same care they would use with the proposal proper. The appendix may contain the following items: up to five publications, manuscripts accepted for publication, abstracts, patents, or other printed materials directly relevant to this project, but not generally available to the scientific community; and letters from investigators at other institutions stating their agreement to participate in the project (do not include letters of endorsement of the project).
4. Detailed Instructions for the Budget 4.1 Salaries and Wages List the names of the principal investigator and other key personnel and the estimated number of person-months for which DOE funding is requested. Proposers should list the number of postdoctoral associates and other professional positions included in the proposal and indicate the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) person-months and rate of pay (hourly, monthly or annually). For graduate and undergraduate students and all other personnel categories such as secretarial, clerical, technical, etc., show the total number of people needed in each job title and total salaries needed. Salaries requested must be consistent with the institution's regular practices. The budget explanation should define concisely the role of each position in the overall project. 4.2 Equipment DOE defines equipment as "an item of tangible personal property that has a useful life of more than two years and an acquisition cost of $25,000 or more." Special purpose equipment means equipment which is used only for research, scientific or other technical activities. Items of needed equipment should be individually listed by description and estimated cost, including tax, and adequately justified. Allowable items ordinarily will be limited to scientific equipment that is not already available for the conduct of the work. General purpose office equipment normally will not be considered eligible for support. 4.3 Domestic Travel The type and extent of travel and its relation to the research should be specified. Funds may be requested for attendance at meetings and conferences, other travel associated with the work and subsistence. In order to qualify for support, attendance at meetings or conferences must enhance the investigator's capability to perform the research, plan extensions of it, or disseminate its results. Consultant's travel costs also may be requested. 4.4 Foreign Travel Foreign travel is any travel outside Canada and the United States and its territories and possessions. Foreign travel may be approved only if it is directly related to project objectives. 4.5 Other Direct Costs The budget should itemize other anticipated direct costs not included under the headings above, including materials and supplies, publication costs, computer services, and consultant services (which are discussed below). Other examples are: aircraft rental, space rental at research establishments away from the institution, minor building alterations, service charges, and fabrication of equipment or systems not available off- the-shelf. Reference books and periodicals may be charged to the project only if they are specifically related to the research. a. Materials and Supplies The budget should indicate in general terms the type of required expendable materials and supplies with their estimated costs. The breakdown should be more detailed when the cost is substantial. b. Publication Costs/Page Charges The budget may request funds for the costs of preparing and publishing the results of research, including costs of reports, reprints page charges, or other journal costs (except costs for prior or early publication), and necessary illustrations. c. Consultant Services Anticipated consultant services should be justified and information furnished on each individual's expertise, primary organizational affiliation, daily compensation rate and number of days expected service. Consultant's travel costs should be listed separately under travel in the budget. d. Computer Services The cost of computer services, including computer-based retrieval of scientific and technical information, may be requested. A justification based on the established computer service rates should be included. e. Subcontracts Subcontracts should be listed so that they can be properly evaluated. There should be an anticipated cost and an explanation of that cost for each subcontract. The total amount of each subcontract should also appear as a budget item. 4.6 Indirect Costs Explain the basis for each overhead and indirect cost. Include the current rates.
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