RFA Submission Rules

Failure to meet the requirements below will result in rejection of the RFA with no further review. All RFAs are inspected and validated for complete and accurate information before entering the review process.

  1. All RFAs must be submitted electronically before the published deadline by the company and submitted as a package on the INFUSE SharePoint site. All submissions are timestamped and certified by the submitters AZURE AD account to be complete and accurate. E-mailed RFAs are not accepted.
  2. RFAs cannot be modified after submission. They can be withdrawn and resubmitted before the deadline. INFUSE staff cannot modify RFAs other than correcting typos.
  3. The technical narrative has a 10 page maximum excluding references, up to three resumes, and an appendix for images, tables and the PIER plan.  Any pages in excess are truncated and discarded.
  4. The company PI must be a technical staff member and employee of the company submitting the RFA.
  5. Foreign-controlled companies are welcome to participate; however, they must have a legal subsidiary with a U.S. address. All companies must have a valid US DUNS number and be registered in the U.S.
  6. A company must provide a minimum 20% cost share of the total project value as detailed in the required budget estimate worksheet.
  7. Only one partnering public institution is permitted per RFA. However, a laboratory can collaborate with other labs through a Memorandum Purchase Order (MPO). Universities can collaborate with other universities and private companies through subcontracts.  National laboratories are not permitted to be subcontractors on a project awarded to a university/company team.  The institute PI must be a technical staff or faculty member and employee of the partnering institute.
  8. The U.S.-registered company must agree to terms and conditions within either a standard or SBIR DOE CRADA and execute a negotiated agreement before work can commence.
  9. Institute PIs must have the necessary expertise, time and resources to perform the work in an effective manner. The laboratory PI must perform a minimum 25% of the laboratory scope.  The senior faculty member who is the university PI must contribute a minimum 5% of the university labor.
  10. The participating institute cannot subcontract out more than 25% of the work.
  11. A record-of-discussion must be part of the RFA showing mutual agreement between the company and institute PIs regarding the scope of work signed by the PIs. If the RFA requires use of specialized, high-demand laboratory facilities, the institute PI’s supervisor must also sign indicating the resource will be available.
  12. Currently, only accredited U.S. universities and the 17 DOE national laboratories can participate in INFUSE. All institution, company and subcontract budgets must be broken out in the cost estimate spreadsheet.

For any questions concerning the above requirements, companies are encouraged to contact infuse@ornl.gov via e-mail before submitting an RFA.