Ohio Federal Research Network FAQs

You can join the Ohio Federal Research Network mailing list by signing up via the official website on the homepage, at: ohiofrn.org

You can find information on past and upcoming funding rounds by visiting the “solicitations” tab on our website, at ohiofrn.org. Within the “solicitation” tab are subtabs for each round (currently, Rounds 1 through 5) of Ohio Federal Research Network funding.

You can find information on the Ohio Federal Research Network awarded projects by visiting our news tab on our official website, here https://ohiofrn.org/news. You can follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up to date on client success stories and R&D updates in real-time.

You can contact our Ohio Federal Research Network team by dropping us a message via our website’s contact page, or by calling us at +1 (937) 705-1000.

We maintain consistent communications with our federal partners and support them in the process to develop the OFRN Areas of Interest. Further, OFRN funded teams have a standing relationship with a federal subject matter expert who has technical expertise and interest in the project’s research and output. The OFRN engages with its partners via meetings and quarterly briefings.

Yes, the Ohio Federal Research Network provides proposal navigation to universities and companies throughout Ohio. Learn more about our proposal assistance and navigation service here.

The OFRN areas of interest are aligned with the mission-critical needs of the OFRN’s federal partners. These areas of interest vary, but you can learn more about them by viewing our solicitation page, here.

The OFRN focuses its efforts on Ohio. Nonetheless, our program does work with other states, such as West Virginia, on academic and industry collaboration to innovate science and technology that fulfill mission-critical needs. If there are other states interested in expanding their federal research in collaboration with academia and industry, then we may be able to assist and are available to discuss such efforts. Contact us here.

Yes, Round 6 was released on March 1, 2023. There will be additional future rounds of funding managed by the Ohio Federal Research Network. You can stay up to date with announcements of future OFRN funding rounds by joining our mailing list via our website homepage, here.

Yes, the Ohio Federal Research Network participates in, hosts, and/or cross-promotes various events occurring within the small business, academic, and federal agency networks. OFRN events cover a range of topics, from federal and state funding opportunities to colliders centered around a specific R&D topic, to OFRN solicitation webinars, and the list goes on. Please view our event page, here.

To achieve the Ohio Federal Research Network mission, we catalyze federal, academic, and commercial collaborations to support the future growth of Ohio’s workforce with a focus on the priority research initiatives of Ohio-based federal and state partners, including:

Air Force Research Lab (AFRL)

Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton (NAMRU-D)

National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC)

National Aeronautical and Space Administration’s Glenn Research Center (NASA-GRC)

Ohio National Guard

The Ohio Federal Research Network partners with 21 Ohio universities and colleges. Please view our complete university and college partner list on the “Our Partners” webpage, here.

The Ohio Federal Research Network partners with 97 Ohio industry businesses and growing. Please view our complete industry partner list on the “Our Partners” webpage, here.

Each request for proposal defines specific requirements. Additionally, we provide training on proposal development during proposers’ days as part of the pre-solicitation process. Please stay connected with OFRN by attending OFRN events and signing up for OFRN newsletters and announcements to receive the timing of future opportunities. You can join the Ohio Federal Research Network mailing list by signing up via the official website on the homepage, at: ohiofrn.org

Yes, the Ohio Federal Research Network provides team matchmaking services to support industry and academic applicants applying for federal and state R&D funding.

The Ohio Federal Research Network team matchmaking service entails locating and connecting potential collaborators within the Ohio Federal Research Network to pursue federal and state R&D funding opportunities through collaborative innovation.

The OFRN utilizes networking and collaboration as solutions to innovation gaps present within Ohio-based federal entities. The OFRN’s networking and collaboration service identifies science and technology capabilities across academia, industry, and the government and builds strategic partnerships between each group to support federal missions. To achieve this objective, the OFRN has identified a key suite of networking and collaboration services that are available to our network partners:

Federal agency and congressional engagement strategies

Planning and execution of industry outreach events, communication, and PR for OFRN and its funded research projects

Team matchmaking to help those that need to find a required partner for a solicitation submission

Ohio industry, academia, and government collaboration on Advanced Air Mobility research and transition

Yes, you are still eligible for assistance from the Ohio Federal Research Network if you’ve worked with us in the past and/or have won an OFRN-funding round.

The SEE program is the Student Experiential Engagement (SEE) program, which entails recruiting and hiring student interns to work and learn throughout an OFRN-funded R&D project. Learn more about the OFRN SEE program on our services page, here.

Aside from our OFRN-funding opportunities, the OFRN also assists small businesses and startups with commercialization/technology transfer & transition, workforce development, networking, collaboration and team matchmaking, and education and training as well as state and federal proposal navigation and support. Please visit us on the services page to learn more.

Contact our team at using our contact form for an introduction to members of our network.

The OFRN Opportunity Day events are organized by Parallax Advanced Research in collaboration with The Ohio State University and the Ohio Department of Higher Education. OFRN Opportunity Days are geared toward government, academic, and industry innovators and researchers in Ohio as well as anyone interested in collaborating on innovative ideas to solve government challenges. The OFRN Opportunity Day features networking, an OFRN program overview by Parallax Advanced Research leadership, presentations from government thought leaders (speakers and topics change per event), and a discussion with Q&A on state and federal R&D funding opportunities.

If you are an academic or industry innovator with promising ideas or intellectual property you'd like to commercialize, are interested in collaborating with our network on research projects or need assistance and/or academic or industry partners in pursuit of federal funding opportunities, then you should consider working with OFRN.

The OFRN offers Education, Training & Proposal Navigation for SBIR & STTR proposal teams.

The OFRN education and training service offers in-person mentoring, training programs, and educational content that is focused on increasing academic and industry engagement and partnerships with federal and state agencies for science and technology research and development. The curriculum covers:

(1) How to apply for a current OFRN solicitation round SBIR/STTR Proposal Process Navigation

(2) Workforce development for meeting federal and state priorities reflected in a current solicitation

Each OFRN-funded R&D project is aligned with federal requirements, has a clear path to job creation, and capitalizes on Ohio’s investment involving multiple Ohio research universities and firms that provide cost-share to further leverage the Ohio investment and attract other Department of Defense and industry funding in Ohio. Therefore, each OFRN-funded R&D project inherently contributes to workforce development and has resulted in spinouts, the creation of high-quality jobs in Ohio, and commercialized technologies.

The achieve these workforce development objectives, the OFRN offers the following services:

1) Funding for R&D projects that lead to high-quality job creation and spinouts

2) Student Experiential Engagement (SEE) program, which recruits and hires student interns to work and learn throughout an OFRN-funded R&D project

Yes, you can have as many as you want. Minimum is 2.

A minimum of one team member has to attend. An administrative manager would be perfectly fine.

All questions regarding the Round 6 Solicitation should be submitted via our website's contact form.

FAQ will be updated as questions come in https://www.ohiofrn.org/faq

The only requirement for the industrial partner is that the company has to have a physical presence in the State of Ohio. As long as the organization has an office of some type – it doesn’t have to be headquarters for the company, but you do have to have some kind of a physical presence in the state of Ohio to participate in the program. There is no limit on number of employees.

The OFRN Round 6 Solicitation does not contain a general topic area of interest (AOI)

Recordings of the information sessions can be accessed from the OFRN Round 6 solicitation site https://www.ohiofrn.org/solicitations/ohio-federal-research-network-round-6-solicitation

Either method would be fine. I would suggest that you pursue what is best for you. The Matchmaking tool can be found at https://ohiofrn.org/matchmaking

Yes, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation would be acceptable as an industrial partner.

No, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation is a non-profit and would not be counted as a university partners. CCF would be counted as an industry partner.

AFIT is considered an Ohio university and yes they can be considered part of the proposal team.

The OFRN Round 6 Solicitation site has a Matchmaking tool that you can utilize for finding a Round 6 partner. https://ohiofrn.org/matchmaking.

SIGN-UP to list skills sought for a required partner or to list your skills to join a team for an OFRN proposal.

To request an introduction, select PARTNER INQUIRY. Then 1) Check the ID# for the organizations with which you would be interested in meeting. As you make selections, the Partner IDs are automatically entered into the form at the bottom of the screen (note: the list is on multiple pages, apply the filter to view more than 3 pages at a time). 2) At the bottom of the screen, Enter your contact information and select Get Started. 3)

We will review your request and send an email to connect you with the selected organization.

If the proposal leads to develop a physical sensor with a commensurate model or technology that addresses quantum communication or processing then it is considered an appropriate TRL.

Yes, you can if you meet the requirements for each submission.. In your submission, if listing multiple AOIs in the header of the document you will want to list the primary AOI first.

Having 2 separate colleges that are part of The Ohio State University would count as 1 Ohio university partner. (i.e., The Ohio State University College of Medicine and The Ohio State University College of Engineering are both considered part of The Ohio State University and would count as only one of the Ohio university requirements). You will need to have a totally separate Ohio university or college for the second university partner.

Anticipated awards range from $750,000 to $1,500,000 each, exclusive of any cost share proposed. Proposed total costs target should be between $750,000 to $1,500,000 excluding cost share.

There may be certain opportunities for non-U.S. citizens to participate on the project teams, however any exceptions will need to be highlighted in the team’s proposal for the federal partner to review and approve. Primary Applicants are responsible for export control compliance, including identifying the export control classification(s) of any projects and only utilizing employees that are U.S. persons or eligible to obtain the necessary export license to participate in the project.

As mentioned in the 3/14/23 training regarding facilities and equipment, equipment purchases need to be realistic, supportable, essential to your research and fully utilized during your period of performance. If there is an essential need for equipment, it can be proposed but the point of this program is not to buy equipment. You are encouraged to look for alternative ways to get the capability so your funding can support your research.

Federal institutions can have either role that you described. Most take the supervisory role and their contribution is oversight/review of the work being completed by the company and academic partners.

The matchmaking tool was meant to assist an organization in finding university and/or industry partners. If you DO NOT have an established relationship with an Ohio-based Federal lab, have exhausted your resources, and need assistance with connecting with one you can reach out to OFRN for assistance by submitting our contact form and putting in body field (FEDERAL PARTNER NEEDED and the AOI SUBTOPIC) with a request that includes the AOI subtopic. OFRN will reach out to the Federal SMEs to facilitate finding a Federal Government Sponsor. Do not use the Matchmaking tool for finding a government sponsor.

No, a university partner retains the classification of university partner regardless if the lead organization is an academic or industry organization.

They can be involved, but cannot be a recipient of funds.

Whether you are a past awardee is not going to hurt or help you.

Yes it does need to be Ohio based Universities and Industry partners with offices in Ohio. Work needs to be done in Ohio.

Yes, Sinclair and other associate colleges in Ohio can be a university partner in the OFRN proposal

No they are all important.

Student names are not expected in the proposal. Intern names can be confirmed after awards are made. The information to include in the proposal should be focused on your plan for a student intern. Include the following information as referenced in Appendix 1 and the March 14 Bidders Conference and Proposal Training:

Student’s core curriculum should be STEM focused with student recruitment limited to Ohio Universities and Community Colleges.
Create a purpose statement defining the nature of the internship work and how it will benefit the proposed project outcome.
Describe the Innovation opportunities the Student will be exposed to and how their participation will enhance their learning and benefit their individual career path.
Describe the Project Team’s mechanisms for interacting with Students and providing an inclusive environment.
Develop a timeline, budget and oversight structure for the program along with a mechanism for the Student to provide their own assessment of the experience.
Project Teams are encouraged to investigate and utilize existing academic and State programs currently in operation.

OFRN does not need to approve your federal partner. However, if you want to pass on their name, we will forward to our Federal partner POC.

If you have established connections, you are welcome to reach out to those Federal partners directly. Anyone at an Ohio-based Federal lab listed in the solicitation can participate (AFRL, NAMRU-D, NASA GRC, NASIC).

The primary industry participant has to have a physical location in Ohio

Federal sponsors need to be from one of the Federal labs in Ohio (AFRL, NAMRU-D, NASA GRC, and NASIC). The individual does not have to be the persons who spoke for the topic areas at the information webinars. If you have an existing relationship with someone at one of the Federal labs list, you can use them as a Federal partner for your proposal as appropriate.

Yes, the team can have multiple partners in different branches from the same federal lab organization.

There is no minimum requirement for the level of effort from an Industry partner in terms of budget or number of hours. Section 3.2.12 states “In accordance with OFRN Round 6 eligibility requirements, proposals must include a minimum of two Ohio public or private universities or colleges and one industry partner (with a location in Ohio) each with significant contribution to the proposed effort.”

The industry partner can play a consultant role, e.g., providing consulting to the team and sharing experiment data, with potential commercialization but without performing substantial research and demonstration activities. The Ohio industry partner must have a quantifiable contribution to the project and it must be at a comparable contribution level as the academic partners.

There can be multiple Federal partners listed on an OFRN Round 6 proposal submission; however, at least one Federal partner needs to be from one of the Federal labs in Ohio (AFRL, NAMRU-D, NASA-GRC, and NASIC) in order to meet the Federal partner requirement listed in section 2.5 of the OFRN Round 6 Opportunity Announcement.

A bibliography is not required as part of the OFRN Round 6 proposal submission. If a bibliography is included in your proposal, it will count in your page limit. Similarly use your judgment regarding use of references. You can make a statement without relying on a reference; however, if it is helpful then include it. References will count in your page limit.

Use your judgment regarding use of references. You can make a statement without relying on a reference; however, if it is helpful then include it. References will count in your page limit.

Yes, the indirect cost should be included in the total budget $750K to $1.5M.

See Section 3.2.14.2 Resumes. “Full length resumes referenced in sections 3.2.10 and 3.2.12 should be abbreviated (maximum 5 pages) and submitted as an appendix.” Items in the appendices do not count towards the page limit. There is a checklist that may be helpful regarding page counts, etc. https://ohiofrn.org/sites/ofrn/files/attachments/cms_blog/ofrn_round_6_opportunity_announcement_submission_checklist.pdf

Yes, you can count that as cost share. If for some reason the cost share cannot count, you can still partner with them for this proposal

Yes, you can submit NIH or NSF Biosketches in place of full resumes – maximum of 5 pages.

As long as you have 1 Ohio industry partner, then the non Ohio company can be involved

Response: there are a couple of ways to access the FAQ on the OFRN Round 6 solicitation site:

Go to https://www.ohiofrn.org/solicitations/ohio-federal-research-network-round-6-solicitation and select “View FAQ”
Use this direct link https://www.ohiofrn.org/faq
Go to the bottom of the webpage https://www.ohiofrn.org/solicitations/ohio-federal-research-network-round-6-solicitation and select “FAQ” located in the bottom left of the site.

You do not need to attach the communications with Federal Sponsor as the record. Providing their name, title, department, agency, phone and email on the cover page of the proposal (item #3 Government POC) is sufficient. In sections 3.2.6 (Identification and significance of the Problem or Opportunity) and 3.2.8 (Federal Partner Applications) you have the opportunity to provide information about the Federal Partner contact and identified needs as appropriate for the section.

The communication developed for the purpose of the OFRN proposal submission is acceptable as a start of a relationship.

Yes, for Section 3.2.10 Key Personnel, include a couple of sentences about each in the Technical Proposal. Identify all key personnel involved in the project. Include information directly related to education, experience, and citizenship. The fine details can be in the Resume which will be in the Appendix: Resumes.

In the Cost Proposal, the narrative rationale for the labor categories including job duty does not need to be on a separate page.

Yes you can leave the name blank. In the proposal where appropriate, provide a description of the role/qualifications and that a person will be hired upon award.

Appendix 4 – excel cost worksheet tab for ODCs has a line at the end of the table “Indirect Cost Factor (If Applicable)”. Insert the indirect ODC cost factor on that line. If you are referencing how this is transferred to the total summary tab, you can do the following as appropriate: in the ODC tab, for each category (i.e., Supplies) insert a line for the indirect costs before the subtotal line (to add the indirect costs to the subtotal). This will transfer the category subtotal including indirect costs to the Total Summary sheet.

Travel justification should be included in 2 places: 1) Cost Proposal, Section 2 Cost Narrative - Travel. Provide the narrative as indicated. This does not have to be on a separate page. 2) “Travel” tab of Appendix 4 – excel cost worksheet. There is a box for Travel Justification.

All items listed in Section 3.1.1 are due by the April 28, 2023 submission deadline. The items listed are:

Technical Proposal with appendix containing:
- Student Experiential Engagement
- Full Length Resumes
- Subcontractor Letter of Intent
Technical Proposal Supplement
Cost Proposal (Business & Cost Proposal template)
Vendor Profile
Quad Chart
Technical Readiness Level (TRL)

Private practice clinics would be classified as an industry partner.

The three (3) allowable appendices for the Technical Proposal that do not count towards the 8 page limit are: 1) SEE, 2) Resumes, and 3) Letters of Intent. If there are additional Appendices in the submission other than those listed in section 3.2.14.2 then those appendices will be removed. If you add the paper to your proposal, it would need to be in the body of the proposal and count towards the page limit. Content that goes beyond the page limit will be ignored. You could include a link and reference to the paper (assuming it’s been published somewhere) in your proposal.

Question: The Cover Page template is requesting a section of “Funding requested by calendar year.” Since this is expected to start September/October, this would run 3 calendar years. Unless I am missing something this is the only item that I found noting the budget needs to be separated out by calendar year. Is this correct?

Response: That is correct. However, if you want to split it by month (i.e., "1^st 6 months" and "months 7-18", and label as such, that would be fine. They key is to label the time period.

OCT is indeed a method that is currently in use by the ISS astronauts to diagnose/monitor Spaceflight Associated Neuro Ocular Syndrome. I believe it has also been used in eye tracking, but I don’t know how it could be utilized operationally in that capacity for some of the human performance metrics we’re looking for (cognitive state/fatigue while operating an aircraft/spacecraft).

In terms of health monitoring, advances in OCT and/or fundus photography technology to make it smaller, lighter, easy to use, and require less power would always be beneficial in a space environment.

Question: In the Cost Proposal Template in the Cost Worksheet would the performance period be the calendar year? If the performance period is different than calendar years, could we change the wording on the Cover Sheet from calendar year to “1^st 6 months” and “months 7-18” even if that is not by calendar year?

Response: Yes, it would be appropriate to be consistent and use the performance period that is used on the cover sheet.

Table of contents and glossary are included in the Technical Proposal 8 page count. All items listed in section 3.2 of the solicitation count towards the 8 page limit of the Technical Proposal with the exception of the cover page and items residing in the Appendix. Appendix items are listed in section 3.2.14 and include: SEE, resumes, and Letters of Intent). There is a checklist that may be helpful regarding page counts, etc. https://ohiofrn.org/sites/ofrn/files/attachments/cms_blog/ofrn_round_6_opportunity_announcement_submission_checklist.pdf

There is no page limit to the cost proposal.

Modifications to the templates provided can be made as needed -- as long as you adhere to the formatting requirements; as well as provide the requested information in the same order as in the template. Minimal modifications can be made to the Cover Page table to maintain uniformity of the information. Modifications to Appendix 4 – Cost Worksheet can be made as appropriate for your organization and team structure. If modifications beyond formatting are made in the excel file, confirm that impacted formulas and links are correct.

OFRN Opportunity Announcement Section 3.2.12 (Subcontractors) states that consultants are considered as Subcontractors. If the consultant has a significant contribution to the project, then they should be listed as a subcontractor.

Question:

Clarification on Appendices and how they are numbered/what goes where? Instructions say to add Resumes and LOIs to the appendix, but it doesn’t say which number, is there a certain place these need to go/way these need to be labeled?

Response:

The order of documents in the Appendices should be:

Student Engagement Experience (SEE)
Resumes
Letters of Intent

There is a checklist that may be helpful regarding content order, etc. https://ohiofrn.org/sites/ofrn/files/attachments/cms_blog/ofrn_round_6_opportunity_announcement_submission_checklist.pdf

Question: We are particularly interested in AOI 4.2, and during the 3/7 info session the SME mentioned that he would share a list of current metrics used for measuring digital maturity of organizations that are currently used by Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA Glenn Research Center. Do you happen to have that information available yet?

Response: Below are links to distribution A versions that can be shared. The links below are found on the Digital Transformation Office (DTO) Digital Maturity Assessment website https://guide.dafdto.com/2023/01/04/digital-maturity-assessment/

DAF Maturity Guide pdf Version https://guide.dafdto.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/DAF-Digital-Maturity-Guide_v2.0_PA.pdf
DAF Digital Maturity Assessment Spreadsheet https://guide.dafdto.com/2023/01/04/digital-maturity-assessment/

Question: During the 4/17 information session, it was mentioned that we could list down multiple potential federal partners. With tomorrow being the last day to ask any further questions, and since I'm unsure of how long the matchmaking tool/process will take to contact our prospective partners, how else would I get the point of contact information for both NASA and NASIC?

Response: The matchmaking part of OFRN Round 6 can continue past the OFRN Round 6 Solicitation questions April 18^th deadline.

Email OFRN-question@parallaxresearch.org if you are in need of connecting with a Federal point of contact. It can take some time to make a connection so it is advised that you not wait too long to make a request.

Question: We were hoping to learn more about the nature of the OFRN funds and their permissible utilization. Specifically, we would like to know if the funds can be used for equipment procurement or construction-renovation purposes, such as designing a specific educational lab to enhance Student Experience and Engagement related to this project?

Response: As mentioned in the March 14 training session regarding facilities and equipment, equipment purchases need to be realistic, supportable, essential to your research and fully utilized during your period of performance. If there is an essential need for equipment, it can be proposed but the point of this program is not to buy equipment. You are encouraged to look for alternative ways to get the capability so your funding can support your research.

When someone agrees to “sponsor” a team, they are not making any commitment to the team. All they are saying is that they have talked to you and they find your proposal “interesting”

In the Tech proposal, you will need to identify all key milestones. There is no minimum/maximum. In the quad chart, you will want to use the most important milestones – up to 4 as space permits.

Question: On page 12 of the Opportunity Announcement, the document has the two bullets at the end of the Submission Guidelines. Can you confirm these two bullets are a guideline and not a required document for submittal?

Reasonableness of the proposed project schedule, budget, and SOW
In the sole determination of OFRN, Proposals that exceed this page limitations may be disqualified from further review.

Response: The 2 bullets you referenced are guidelines. They are contained in the bulleted list contained in section 3.1.1 Submission Guidelines.

Lines for the Lead Organization Tuition and Direct labor are in the Total Summary worksheet, but do not have direct links from the individual worksheets. There is a line at the bottom of the Total Summary worksheet for Total Cost Share.

Make adjustments to the form as needed. Many of these are copy/paste because of different needs of various organizations that don’t transfer neatly with formulas/links.

Recommended adjustments:

Direct Labor: Copy / paste columns from the Lead Organization’s Direct Labor worksheet to the Total Summary worksheet as needed

Tuition: copy / paste Tuition total from the Lead Organization’s ODC worksheet into the Total Summary worksheet as needed

Cost Share: insert the total cost share of Lead Organization and Subcontracts into the Total Proposed Cost Share line in Total Summary worksheet

Question:

We noticed that the proposal cover sheet (item 9) asks for “New jobs created by the end of State Fiscal Year 2025.” Can you clarify whether 2025 is the correct year? (We were wondering whether this might be an accidental holdover from an earlier version of the template from prior funding rounds). Similarly, the tables in the Technical Proposal Supplement require that we estimate new jobs created (and follow-on federal funding, etc.) both at project end and by 2025. However, it would seem that “project end” and “2025” are basically the same thing, since projects will be winding down circa Q1/Q2 2025. Can you please clarify if 2025 is the correct year?

Response: The dates in the Cover sheet and in the proposal are correct. The state fiscal year begins on July 1 and runs through June 30 of the following year. State Fiscal Year 2025 ends June 30, 2025.

It is not anticipated that the OFRN Round 6 solicitation submission deadline will be extended beyond 4/28/23 5:00 pm ET.

Question: In section 3.2.12 Subcontractors, the opportunity announcement says “All should be described in detail and also included in the cost proposal.” Do you want the detailed description of subcontractors in the Tech Proposal or the Cost Proposal or both?

Response: The detailed description of subcontractors should be in the Tech Proposal as indicated. The subcontractors listed in the Tech proposal should also be included in the Cost proposal – providing the information indicated in the Cost proposal.

They can be involved, but cannot be a recipient of funds. If they have significant involvement, they can contribute to cost share of the project and the individual(s) involved need listed in Key Personnel.

You are permitted to use a subcontractor located outside of Ohio as long as you meet the OFRN eligibility requirements that proposals must include a minimum of two Ohio public or private universities or colleges and one Ohio industry partner each with significant contribution to the proposed effort. Also, keep in mind that the OFRN Round 6 Opportunity Announcement is focused on expanding Ohio’s research and development capabilities across the state’s academic institutions and business in support of Ohio-based federal partner needs, which ultimately promotes Ohio’s economic growth; additionally, this may be a consideration of the Technical Review Council.

The solicitation states in section 3.2.12 “Private companies, consultants, or universities, all considered herein as subcontractors, may be involved in the project.” The physician can be a consultant and would be considered a partner/subcontractor.

Question: For the proposals, can we just include rolled up rate information for industry subcontractors? Usually, rate breakdown information is highly sensitive and only provided on certain government proposal directly to the federal agencies in sealed bid packages. Federal SBIR/STTR do not currently require sub breakdowns in labor costs (e.g. Fringe, OH, G&A).

Response: As long as we get the breakout of the rates for our analysis. Subcontractor should send an unsanitized version directly to Parallax for review if they don’t want to share with the lead organization IAW B.2 Subcontractor instructions of Business and Cost Proposal Template.

No, this is intended to display the viability of the project and outline interest in the technology. 3.2.13 is additional required information if the technology has been proposed to the Government. They are complementary.

If a teammate has a previous federal award or has submitted a proposal for the technology/solution being proposed under round 6, it should be listed in the Lead’s proposal.

Yes, you can include someone who would help on business development and commercialization of the technology. That would be included in your proposal budget.

At Project End = 30 Jun 2025

By 2025 = 1 July 2024 (SFY 25)

Question:

OFRN pays sub-contractors directly or the prime awardee pays them and invoices parallax for it… the text on the solicitation is quite confusing about this.. as it seems you call the prime awardee and the subcontractors both subcontractors…

Response:

OFRN pays the lead organization (prime awardee) only. In the terms of the question above, the prime awardee is a subcontractor to Parallax. The lead organization (prime awardee) would pay their subcontractors from the OFRN payment.

If you are asking if you can include legal and related costs for patenting/trademarking IP, then it depends what specifically is needed. Intellectual property costs are allowable as specified in 2 CFR 200.448. Some related costs may fall under 2 CFR 200.459. You will need to check the rules to see if a specific cost or portion of the cost is allowed, before including it in the budget.

Question: We provide cost share to the OFRN -6 project using faculty Academic Year time, and graduate student partial tuitions. Since we are a State University, this is technically funded by the State of Ohio General Revenue Funds (GRF). Would it be possible to clarify this? Are we still allowed to provide faculty AY time as a cost share from the State University?

Response: to the extent the AY time is not GRF, it should be fine.

It is preferred that you submit the following in separate pdfs (detailed list of elements in each can be found in Resource document OFRN Round 6 Opportunity Announcement Submission Checklist found on the OFRN Round 6 Solicitation website in the Resources section).

DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED

1, Technical Proposal (8 pages max) – includes Appendices

2. Technical Proposal Supplement

3. Business & Cost Proposal

4. Budget for the project

5. Vendor Profile

6. Quad Chart

7. Technical Readiness Level (TRL)

Follow up question: If so, do we need to mention all of them in the table of contents and accordingly provide page numbers?

Response - Table of contents applies to the Technical Proposal only.

The solicitation asks for letters of intent only. If the letters of support are different than the letters of intent then they should not be included

Each LOI should be signed and ideal length would be no more than 1 page.

Q. How can I get added to the Ohio Federal Research Network distribution list to receive newsletters and announcements?

Q. Where can I find information on past Ohio Federal Research Network funding rounds?

Q. Where can I find information on Ohio Federal Research Network awarded projects?

Q. How can I contact someone at Ohio Federal Research Network?

Q. How does Ohio Federal Research Network engage & collaborate with federal partners?

Q. Does the Ohio Federal Research Network provide proposal assistance to universities?

Q. What are the Ohio Federal Research Network’s areas of interest?

Q. Does the Ohio Federal Research Network have plans to expand or provide services beyond Ohio?

Q. Will there be an Ohio Federal Research Network Round 6 and/or additional rounds of funding?

Q. Does the Ohio Federal Research Network have upcoming events or webinars covering OFRN services?

Q. What federal agencies does Ohio Federal Research Network partner with?

Q. What universities does Ohio Federal Research Network partner with?

Q. What industry companies do Ohio Federal Research Network partner with?

Q. Does the Ohio Federal Research Network have examples of good proposal layouts?

Q. Does the Ohio Federal Research Network help with matchmaking for federal and state proposals?

Q. What does the Ohio Federal Research Network team matchmaking service entail?

Q. If I’ve worked with the Ohio Federal Research Network in the past, am I still eligible for assistance?

Q. What is the Ohio Federal Research Network SEE program?

Q. How does the Ohio Federal Research Network assist small businesses or startups?

Q. How can I contact or collaborate with an Ohio Federal Research Network-funded project team?

Q. What are OFRN Opportunity Days?

Q. Why work with OFRN?

Q. What SBIR/STTR support does OFRN provide innovators from industry and academia?

Q. What workforce development efforts does the OFRN do?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Can the team have more than 2 Ohio Universities?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: How are you defining team member for the mandatory meetingon 3/14/23? Can administrative proposal managers attend for the team?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Who do I contact if I have a question regarding the solicitation?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Where can I find the Q&A for the solicitation?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Are there requirements for industrial partner other than location in Ohio, such as number of employees?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Is there a "general" topic in this round?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: I missed the webinar on the Information Session and Q&A with AOI SMEs

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: I have not yet formed a team and was wondering if you could provide some guidance. Should we form a team by ourselves, or can we utilize the team matchmaking service?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Would the Cleveland Clinic Foundation be acceptable as an industrial partner?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Can the Cleveland Clinic Foundation be counted as a university partner?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Is AFIT considered an Ohio university, and can they be considered part of the proposal team and receive OFRN funding?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: I’m looking for teaming opportunities. Is there a way to find out who else is interested/looking for teams in this area, especially industry partners?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: AOI Quantum Sensing Technologies - Given it would be very difficult in Ohio to get to TRL 3, would you offerors clarify what is expected? In Round 5 they got comments that they were not high enough TRL

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Can we submit packages against multiple topics?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Would having The Ohio State University and having 2 separate colleges that are part of The Ohio State University be acceptable as 2 university partners?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: What is the proposal budget size?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: I‘m a permanent resident (a Green Card holder) but not a US citizen yet. I would like to know whether I will be eligible for applying for this funding opportunity.

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Question about allowable expenditures. We’d like to refit unique instrumentation at our organization for use in this project. There would be expenditures assoicated with making it compatible with this project.

Q. OFRN Round 6: Do employees of the Federal institution (i.e., AFRL), have to have defined tasks with dedicated manhours, or can role be supervisory, and their contribution be oversight/review of the work being completed by industry and academic partners?

Q. OFRN Round 6: Is the matchmaking tool only applicable for finding federal partners, or does that also include University and/or industry partners?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Can a university partner double as an industry partner if the company employs them?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Can a federal partner be a sub-awardee for any work they will execute? Is there a funding limit for the federal awardee?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Companies those have been already funded in the past by OFRN, do they have less chances to get funded in other projects?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Do the University partners have to be Ohio based Universities?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Can Sinclair, or other associate colleges, be a university partner in the OFRN proposal?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Are there funding priorities on these AOIs?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Do we need to have interns selected before the April 28th deadline, or do we simply need to show the mechanisms for our SEE program are in place and confirm interns after awards are made?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Does OFRN have to approve our Federal Partner?

Q. OFRN Round 6: Is it ok for us to reach out to potential Federal partners directly?. Are there specific people at the Federal partners who should serve as points of contact or can anyone at these organizations participate?

Q. OFRN Round 6: I'm seeking to clarify the definition of an industry partner. Our team is not based in Ohio, nor do we have any employees who live/work there. Would this automatically disqualify us from applying for Round 6 and other OFRN opportunities?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Will the federal sponsors have to be the persons who spoke for the topic areas at the information webinars?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Can the team have multiple partners in different branches from the same federal lab organization?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Are there minimum requirements for the level of effort (in terms of budget or number of hours) from an Industry partner?

Q. OFRN Round 6: Can the industry partner play a consultant role, e.g., providing consulting to the team and sharing experiment data, with potential commercialization but without performing substantial research and demonstration activities?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Could we add someone in NASA who is not in OHIO as the Federal partner?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: I am wondering about adding a bibliography to my OFRN proposal. Is a bibliography needed? Does it become part of the page limit?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Do references count towards the page count of the technical proposal?

Q. OFRN Solicitation 6: Should the indirect cost be included in the total budget 750K to 1.5 M?

Q. OFRN Round 6: Opportunity Announcement reads: “Key Personnel: … A technical resume (maximum 5 pages) for the Principal Investigator (PI), including publications, if any, must also be included.” Does this count towards the 8 page Tech Proposal page limit?

Q. OFRN Round 6: We are working with a company who we would like partner with. They cannot provide monetary support, and want to work in an advisory capacity and provide a letter of support. Can they count employee time as cost share?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Can we submit NIH or NSF Biosketches in place of full resumes?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: We have a team working on the OFRN round 6 proposal. Our team has 2 Ohio industry partners and needs assistance from a non Ohio company. Is it OK that the non Ohio company is involved in tasks for the Ohio company?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: The FOA says the questions and answers will be posted on OFRN’s website. I didn’t find where the questions are posted. Could you advise how I can find all the questions and answers?

Q. R6 - Go/NoGo Criteria Fed Alignment - demonstrated relationship with the Fed Sponsor and Project Lead, as result of documented development meetings or previous relevant working engagements. Do we need to attach communications w Fed Sponsor as the record

Q. R6-Go/No Go Criteria Fed Alignment- demonstrated relationship w/ Fed Sponsor and Project Lead, as result of development mtgs or previous relevant working engagement. Is communication developed after OFRN enough? or need long-term historical collaboration?

Q. OFRN Round 6: For Key Personnel, will there be a couple of sentences about each in the Technical Volume or will this section read “See Appendix”?

Q. OFRN Round 6: Should the primary applicant provide a separate page for the narrative rationale for the labor categories including job duty?

Q. OFRN Round 6: If a person will be hired but the name is not known right now, could leave the name blank?

Q. OFRN Round 6: Appendix 4 excel cost worksheet - for ODC part, the form only accounts direct costs. How to count indirect costs into the total summary?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Proposal: Do we need a separate page for travel justification?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: In section 3.1.1 of the RFP, Submission Guidelines, there's a list of items to submit by the April 28, 2023 deadline. Are the SEE and Cost Proposal due on April 28?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Can any private practice clinics count as an industry partner?

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Is it possible to add an Appendix that includes our paper on which the proposal is based? This paper demonstrates scientific and technical merit, demonstrating that feasibility has been established as required by OFRN.

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: The Cover Page template is requesting a section of “Funding requested by calendar year.” Since this is expected to start September/October, this would run 3 calendar years. Unless I am missing something ...

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: I am very interested in AOI #2 Physiological and environmental monitoring for ocular health and human performance. My research focuses on developing OCT. I wonder if I can make some contribution to the project.

Q. OFRN Round 6 Solicitation: Cost Proposal Template in Cost Worksheet- would performance period be the calendar year? If performance period is different than calendar years, could we change the wording on the Cover Sheet from calendar year to: 1st 6 mo...