Q. Help! I need help!
A. The Office of Science has a number of resources available to help you.
| For help with |
Please contact |
| The administrative, financial, or regulatory aspects of your award |
The Contracting Officer or Contracting Specialist identified in the Assistance Agreement |
| The scientific or technical aspects of your award |
The SC Program Manager identified in the Assistance Agreement |
| Deciding if you should apply to an FOA or a Lab Announcement |
The SC Program Manager identified in the FOA or Lab Announcement |
| Submitting a grant application |
Your Sponsored Projects Office
The grants.gov helpdesk at 800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov
|
| Registering in SAM.gov |
The Federal Support Desk at 866-606-8220 |
| PAMS |
The PAMS helpdesk at 855-818-1846 or sc.pams-helpdesk@science.doe.gov |
Q. How can I get a grant?
A. Go to Grants.gov
, search for currently available funding opportunities, complete all necessary registrations, submit an application, and wait for the agency to review your application. Submitting a grant application does not guarantee funding.
Q. Can I get more time?
A. Sometimes. If you are encountering technical difficulties in submitting an application, a letter of intent, or a pre-application, the Office of Science may extend the deadline if the problem was caused by a Government computer system or was otherwise beyond your control. A Funding Opportunity Announcement will contain details. If you need an extension to a currently active grant or cooperative agreement, please follow the instructions in the Notice of Financial Assistance Award. Extensions are not granted for the sole purpose of using unspent funds. Please see 2 CFR 215.25 and 10 CFR 600.125. Progress reports, final reports, and financial reports are due on the assigned date. Timely submissions ensure timely decisions.
Q. Can I find information about SC's awards?
A. The Office of Science maintains a searchable list of all active awards here. You can also find information about the results of SC awards through the Office of Scientific and Technical Information. You can find information about Federal spending here.
Q. What types of awards does SC make?
A. The Office of Science makes grant awards, cooperative agreement awards, interagency awards, and task authorizations under management and operations contracts to the DOE National Laboratories. SC also enters into procurement contracts. Unlike other agencies, SC does not differentiate between different types or "mechanisms" of grants or cooperative agreements.
Q. Who is eligible to receive an SC award?
A. In general, any organization capable of performing the work is eligible to apply. Funding Opportunity Announcements will describe any limitations on eligibility, and Program Announcements to the DOE National Laboratories are only available to DOE National Laboratories. Note that SC's awards are almost always made to an organization: SC does not usually make awards directly to an individual.
Q. Are there limits to what I can request in an application?
A. If there are limits on the costs that can be requested or the type of research that will be supported or the number of personnel, the limitations will be described in the Funding Opportunity Announcement or the Program Announcement to the DOE National Laboratories. Please read the announcement carefully.
Q. What should I do if my application wasn't accepted for funding?
A. The best course of action is to discuss your application with the relevant SC program manager and to respond to the merit reviewer's critiques in a new application. DOE has a dispute and appeal process detailed in 10 CFR 600.22; however, the appeal process does not apply to preaward disputes. Re-applying after addressing the reviewers' comments is more likely to result in an award being made.
Q. How do I get paid?
A. Organizations receiving an SC grant or cooperative agreement award will normally receive funds through the Department of Treasury's Automated Standard Application. A wide array of information is available here.
Q. What unique computer systems does SC require me to use?
A. There are two unique systems that you will need to use for SC's research awards. The Portfolio Analysis and Management System (PAMS) is used for submitting preapplications, letters of intent, revised budgets, and receiving merit reviewers' comments. DOE National Laboratories will submit their applications in PAMS. Over time, more functions to manage an award will be conducted in PAMS. Applicants from organizations other than DOE National Laboratories will need to use FedConnect, where SC posts the full version of Funding Opportunity Announcements and Notices of Financial Assistance Award.
Q. Is there a salary cap on Office of Science grants?
A. No. Neither the Office of Science nor the Department of Energy have a salary cap that applies to grants. This is markedly different from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), whose grants and cooperative agreements are subject to a statutory salary cap.
Note that the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act as amended requires reporting the total compensation of the five highest-paid executives of any recipient of an award of $25,000 or more. Additional information is contained in 2 CFR 170, the System for Award Management, and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Subaward Reporting System.