Technical/Scientific Program Contact for this program is:

Program Manager: John Panteleo
Phone: (301) 903-2525
Fax: (301) 903-3833
E-Mail: John.Pantaleo@hq.doe.gov

Projects under this Announcement will be funded, in whole or in part, with funds appropriated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. 111-5, (Recovery Act or Act). The Recovery Act's purposes are to stimulate the economy and to create and retain jobs. Accordingly, special consideration will be given to projects that promote and enhance the objectives of the Act, especially job creation, preservation and economic recovery, in an expeditious manner.

Be advised that special terms and conditions may apply to projects funded by the Act relating to:

• Reporting, tracking and segregation of incurred costs;
• Reporting on job creation and preservation;
• Publication of information on the Internet;
• Access to records by Inspectors General and the Government Accountability Office;
• Prohibition on use of funds for gambling establishments, aquariums, zoos, golf courses or swimming pools;
• Ensuring that iron, steel and manufactured goods are produced in the United States;
• Ensuring wage rates are comparable to those prevailing on projects of a similar character;
• Protecting whistleblowers and requiring prompt referral of evidence of a false claim to an appropriate inspector general; and
• Certification and Registration.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued Initial Implementing Guidance for the Recovery Act. See M-09-10, Initial Implementing Guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. OMB will be issuing additional guidance concerning the Act in the near future. Applicants should consult the DOE website, http://www.energy.gov, the OMB website http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/, and the Recovery website, http://www.recovery.gov regularly to keep abreast of guidance and information as it evolves.

Recipients of funding appropriated by the Act shall comply with requirements of applicable Federal, State, and local laws, regulations, DOE policy and guidance, and instructions in this Announcement, unless relief has been granted by DOE. Recipients shall flow down the requirements of applicable Federal, State and local laws, regulations DOE policy and guidance, and instructions in this Announcement to subrecipients at any tier to the extent necessary to ensure the recipient's compliance with the requirements.

Be advised that Recovery Act funds can be used in conjunction with other funding as necessary to complete projects, but tracking and reporting must be separate to meet the reporting requirements of the Recovery Act and related OMB Guidance. Applicants for projects funded by sources other than the Recovery Act should plan to keep separate records for Recovery Act funds and to ensure those records comply with the requirements of the Act. Funding provided through the Recovery Act that is supplemental to an existing grant is one-time funding.

Applicants should begin planning activities for their first tier subawardees, including obtaining a DUNS number (or updating the existing DUNS record), and registering with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). The extent to which subawardees will be required to register in the CCR will be determined by OMB at a later date.

ADDITIONAL SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Frontiers of Nuclear Science-a Long Range Plan, DOE/NSF Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (December 2007) http://www.sc.doe.gov/np/.

Workshop on the Nation's Needs for Isotopes: Present and Future (DOE/SC-0107, August 2008) http://www.sc.doe.gov/np/

Charge letter to the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee concerning the National Isotope Production and Applications Program (August 2008) http://www.sc.doe.gov/np/nsac/nsac.html

Advancing Nuclear Medicine Through Innovation, National Academy of Sciences (2007) http://www.sc.doe.gov/np/.

Program Objective:

The mission of the Office of Nuclear Physics Isotope Development and Production for Research and Applications Program is to develop, produce and distribute stable and radioactive isotope products that are in short supply. Isotopes are high-priority commodities of strategic importance for the Nation and are essential for energy, medical and national security applications, and basic research; a goal of the program is to make critical isotopes more readily available to meet domestic U.S. needs. Community-sponsored studies and workshops have identified a number of stable and radioactive isotopes in short supply that are needed by the research and applied sciences communities. The reliable availability of isotopes for research is crucial for U.S. scientists to stay engaged at the forefront of scientific advances and discoveries in isotope-using sciences.

The Program is steward of the Isotope Production Facility (IPF) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the Brookhaven Linear Isotope Producer (BLIP) facility at BNL, and hot cell facilities for processing isotopes at ORNL, BNL and LANL. The Program also coordinates and supports isotope production at a suite of university, national laboratory, and commercial accelerator and reactor facilities throughout the Nation to promote a reliable supply of domestic isotopes.

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the Office of Science provides support for initiatives for R&D on alternative isotope production techniques, which will be dedicated to the development of and production of stable and radioactive isotopes in short supply. To that end, the Office of Nuclear Physics solicits innovative research and development applications to significantly strengthen our capabilities to produce stable and radioactive isotopes. Research at universities, national laboratories or private companies should focus on the development of advanced, cost-effective and efficient technologies for producing, processing, recycling and distributing isotopes in short supply. The successful research programs should lead to breakthroughs that will facilitate an increased supply of isotopes and complement the existing portfolio of isotopes produced and distributed by the Isotope Development and Production for Research and Applications Program. Of interest also is the training of the next generation of nuclear scientists and engineers in areas related to isotope production. The following areas are among the many potential research and development topics of interest to this announcement:

• Development of alternative methods to produce reactor and accelerator isotopes crucial for research in medicine, materials, physics, chemistry, energy, environment, and national security.

• New and innovative approaches to produce or enhance the supply of alpha-emitting radionuclides that are critical to advance nuclear medicine applications.

• Research and development of new and innovative production methods for stable isotopes, including electromagnetic and non-electromagnetic separation methods.

• Innovative approaches to model and predict behavior and yields of targets undergoing irradiation in order to minimize target failures during routine isotope production.

Applications requesting support for research and development in one or more areas should include a separate task for each area. For each task the application should address the goal of the effort; the method or approach to be taken; a cost-breakdown of the effort; the workforce to carry out the effort; the deliverable result of the work; and the performance, cost, schedule, impact and benefit for producing the isotope. Each task should describe a realistic schedule, which includes a minimum of one milestone per quarter. Facility upgrades required to accomplish the proposed tasks must be identified and detailed costs and schedule shall be provided. Applicants should note that they will be required to report formally on a monthly basis regarding R&D expenditures and progress towards achieving the milestones and deliverables of the proposed effort. Institutional contributions to the effort should be clearly indicated.

ESTIMATED FUNDING

It is anticipated that a total of up to $4,750,000 will be available from ARRA funds over a period of up to four years for multiple awards starting as early as Fiscal Year 2009. The number, duration and size of awards will depend on the number of applications selected for award, and the availability of ARRA funds.

DOE is under no obligation to pay for any costs associated with preparation or submission of applications. DOE reserves the right to fund, in whole or in part, any, all, or none of the applications submitted.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

The instructions and format described below must be followed. You must reference Program Announcement LAB 09-14 on all submissions and inquiries about this Program Announcement.

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. Included with each criteria are the detailed questions that will be asked of the reviewers.

1. Scientific and/or Technical Merit of the Proposed Research
2. Appropriateness of the Proposed Method or Approach
3. Competency of Applicant's Personnel and Adequacy of Proposed Resources
4. Reasonableness and Appropriateness of the Proposed Budget
5. Other Appropriate Factors

2. Summary of Proposal Contents

• Field Work Proposal (FWP) Format (Reference DOE Order 412.1A) (DOE ONLY)
• Proposal Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Budget (DOE Form 4620.1) and Budget Explanation
• Abstract (one page)
• Narrative (main technical portion of the proposal, including background/introduction, proposed research and methods, timetable of activities, and responsibilities of key project personnel)
• Literature Cited
• Biographical Sketch(es)
• Description of Facilities and Resources
• Other Support of Investigator(s)
• Appendix (optional)

Please have your lab administrator submit the entire lab proposal and FWP via Searchable FWP (https://www.osti.gov/fwp). If you have questions about who your lab administrator is or how to use Searchable FWP, please contact the Searchable FWP Support Center.

Also, to assist in expediting the review process, please submit via federal express, a single PDF file of the entire LAB proposal and FWP on a CD along with two hard copies to the address below.

Please send the CD and 2 hard copies via Federal Express to:

Chris Izzo
Office of Nuclear Physics, SC-26
Office of Science
19901 Germantown Road
Germantown, MD 20874-1290
ATTN: Program Announcement LAB 09-14

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.

Title of proposed project
SC Program announcement title
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:
If activities involving human subjects are not planned at any time during the
proposed project period, state "No"; otherwise state "Yes", provide the IRB
Approval date and Assurance of Compliance Number and include all necessary
information with the proposal should human subjects be involved.
Use of vertebrate animals in proposed project:
If activities involving vertebrate animals are not planned at any time during this
project, state "No"; otherwise state "Yes" and provide the IACUC Approval date
and Animal Welfare Assurance number from NIH and include all necessary
information with the proposal.
Signature of PI, date of signature
Signature of official, date of signature*

3.3 Table of Contents

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. 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.

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.

Collaborators and Co-editors: A list of all persons in alphabetical order (including their current organizational affiliations) who are currently, or who have been, collaborators or co-authors with the investigator on a research project, book or book article, report, abstract, or paper during the 48 months preceding the submission of the proposal. Also, include those individuals who are currently or have been co-editors of a special issue of a journal, compendium, or conference proceedings during the 24 months preceding the submission of the proposal. If there are no collaborators or co-editors to report, this should be so indicated.

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
(DOE Form 4620.1 "Budget Page" may be used).

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 $50,000 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.