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 7 was released on February 4, 2025. 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 23 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 106 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 Offerors 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 proposal team member has to attend. An administrative manager would be perfectly fine.

All questions regarding the Round 7 Solicitation should be submitted via email to ofrn-question@parallaxresearch.org.

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. This organization must be incorporated in the U.S. and be at least 51% owned and controlled by U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens. There is no limit on number of employees.

The OFRN Round 7 Solicitation does not contain a general topic area of interest (AOI)

Recordings of the information sessions can be accessed from the OFRN Round 7 solicitation site https://ohiofrn.org/solicitations/ohio-federal-research-network-round-7-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. AFIT cannot be considered as a Federal Collaborator.

The OFRN Round 7 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.

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 $800,000 to $1,250,000 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.

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 a request to OFRN-question@parallaxresearch.org and putting in the subject line: "Federal Collaborator needed" and the AOI number) with a request that includes the AOI subtopic. You can include any additional information that would assist OFRN when reaching 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. This also includes community colleges.

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 2 and the March 6 Offerors 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 person 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. Proposals must include a minimum of two Ohio public or private universities or colleges and one industry partner (with a physical presence in Ohio) each with significant contribution to the proposed effort. Appendix 3A states in Section A.12 "In accordance with OFRN Round 7 eligibility requirements, proposals must include a minimum of two Ohio public or private universities or colleges and one industry partner (working from 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 7 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 7 Opportunity Announcement.

A bibliography is not required as part of the OFRN Round 7 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 $800K to $1.25M.

See Appendix 3 Section G.1 Resumes. “Full length resumes referenced in sections A.10 and A.12 should be abbreviated (maximum 5 pages) and submitted as an appendix.” Items in the appendices do not count towards the page limit.

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 that meets the requirement, then the non Ohio company can be involved

Response: there are a couple of ways to access the FAQ on the OFRN Round 7 solicitation site:

Go to https://ohiofrn.org/solicitations/ohio-federal-research-network-round-7-solicitation and select “View FAQ”
Use this direct link https://www.ohiofrn.org/faq
Go to the bottom of the webpage https://ohiofrn.org/solicitations/ohio-federal-research-network-round-7-solicitation and select “FAQ” located in the bottom left of the site.

You do not need to attach the communications with Federal Collorbator 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 Appendix 3A Technical Proposal Template, sections A.5 (Identification and significance of the Problem or Opportunity) and A.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 Appendix 3A Section A.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.

Travel justification should be included in 2 places: 1) Appendix 4 Cost Proposal, Section C.5 Cost Narrative - Travel. Provide the narrative as indicated. This does not have to be on a separate page. 2) “Travel” tab of Attachment 2 – excel cost worksheet. There is a box for Travel Justification.

Private practice clinics would be classified as an industry partner.

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.

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. See Appendix 3A for a template. All items in the template section A count towards the 8 page limit of the Technical Proposal with the exception of the cover page and executive summary as noted. See the Round 7 Opportunity Announcement section 3.2 Submission Guidelines for page limited for the remaining sections of the Technical proposal:
-    Proposer Prepared Statement of Work (no page limit);
-    Student Experiential Engagement (2 pages);
-    Technical Proposal Supplement (2 pages);
-    Quad Chart (example/template (1 page);
-    Technology Readiness Level (1 page);
-    Full Length Resumes (max 5 pages each): principal investigator, subcontractors and consultants, if any; and
-    Subcontractor Letters of Intent (LOI).

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. The Cover Page should be 1 page. Modifications to Attachment 2 – 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 Appendix 3A Section A.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:

Resumes
Letters of Intent

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: 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 be a Federal collaborator for a project, 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.

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

It is not anticipated that the OFRN Round 6 solicitation submission deadline will be extended beyond 4/28/25 5:00 pm ET.

Question: In Appendix 3A section A.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 7 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 Appendix 3A states in section A.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. A.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.

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 -7 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

DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED

1. Appendix 3A (1 file pdf format)

2. Appendix 4 Business & Cost Proposal (1 file pdf format)

3. Attachment 2: Excel Cost Worksheet (1 file excel format)

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.

Proposals can be for one or the other subtopic.

We're looking for AI-based solutions for this call.

The topics were written with real-time use in mind, but I think a training focus could be considered. It would likely depend on the details and how much of the described target capabilities can be incorporated.

Human-AI teaming would certainly be a component, but likely would not be the main focus.

No

Absolutely

both air and space; part might involve terrestrial applications

No on training. What was described fits subtopic 2. Yes, this fits in subtopic 2.

AFRL

Yes

You can submit more than one proposal; but each proposal must address one subtopic.

Yes, it is on the OFRN website https://ohiofrn.org/ - in the solicitation round 7 tab. All solicitation documents are at the end of the webpage and can be downloaded.

If you need an introduction to a federal lab POC for your project, email ofrn-question@parallaxresearch.org with your request. Include the following: AOI and subtopic, and some information about what you are proposing (this will assist in finding an appropriate TPOC)

Yes, the Government POC in the cover page table (box 3) is the same as the Federal Collaborator/Sponsor.

The Federal collaborator cannot be considered one of the university team members. AFIT would be considered a university partner.

Question: OFRN R7 Solicitation: “In accordance with OFRN Round 7 eligibility requirements, proposals must include a minimum of two Ohio public or private universities or colleges and one industry partner (working from a location in Ohio) each with significant contribution to the proposed effort.” If a company proposes, then it seems there has to be two industry companies in Ohio, the one proposing and the industry partner. If a university proposes, maybe only one company has to be involved. We will probably have at least 2 companies anyway, but want to understand the ground rules.

Response: Regardless if the lead organization of the proposal submission is an Ohio university or an Industry company in Ohio, a project team should consist of 2 Ohio universities and 1 industry partner with a presence in Ohio. If a company proposes as the lead organization, then that company needs to have an office in Ohio. That meets the industry partner requirement. You can have additional industry partners, but the requirement has already been met.

Yes, a collaboration with an industry partner with a presence in Ohio is required.

Parallax does not own the IP. It is up to the project team and their teaming agreements.

The company does have to be headquartered in Ohio, an office in Ohio will suffice. We have had companies open an office in Ohio to participate in a project.

You can, but you have to meet the basic requirements: 2 universities from Ohio and 1 industry partner with a physical location in the state of Ohio and work should be done there.

Once you complete the partnership form -- whether you are looking for a partner or have capabilities to offer, we will post that to the OFRN Partner Inquiry section in the Matchmaking site.

There is a matchmaking option at the bottom of the round 7 solicitation site ohiofrn.org

Question: OFRN R7 Solicitation: I’m working on a proposal idea for round 7. Our concept might benefit from having a partner who is involved in educating robotics technicians (as opposed to robotics engineers). Therefore, we are wondering if Ohio Technical Centers (OTCs) are considered “Ohio colleges and universities” for the purposes of OFRN Round 7 or not.

Response: OTCs are not considered Universities or colleges but could easily be a partner on the project. If you need help locating two university/college partners, don’t hesitate to use the matchmaking process on the OFRN website.

You will need to have your team put together for the proposal submission.

Question: OFRN R7 Solicitation: Language on industry organizations in the Eligibility Information section (2.5). The requirement indicates that, “At least one commercial/ industry organization with a physical presence in Ohio (either for-profit or not-for-profit); this organization must be incorporated in the U.S. and be at least 51% owned and controlled by U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens.” We’ve participated in previous Opportunities and haven’t seen this requirement before. Is this a flow-down from the Ohio Dept of Higher Ed funding, or is it a requirement imposed by one of the Federal participants in the program? Most of the agencies have recently established some type of requirement with regard to foreign ownership or involvement…They’re all different.

We are US non-profit…We have an affiliation with a Canadian non-profit, but we’re not owned by them. We’ll want to touch on that in our proposal, and it would be useful for us to know that the origin of the requirement is, so we can be as clear as possible. Any guidance you can provide would be helpful

Response: The eligibility requirement regarding U.S. ownership and control is rooted in the guidelines established by the Small Business Administration (SBA) for the SBIR/STTR programs, which OFRN aims to mirror as closely as possible. The specific clause regarding 51% U.S. ownership and control is not a flow-down from the Ohio Department of Higher Education, but rather a standard federal eligibility criterion that is typically imposed by the SBA and other federal entities participating in similar programs.

Regarding your affiliation with the Canadian non-profit, we understand that many organizations have international partnerships. As long as your company meets the solicitations requirements for U.S. incorporation and 51% ownership/control by U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens, you should be eligible to participate. It would be helpful to clearly outline this in your proposal to avoid any confusion, noting the distinction between your U.S. status and the affiliation with the Canadian organization. This ensures entities will be eligible for follow-on SBIR, STTR funds.

The leading PI can be from academia or industry.

There should be at least 1 student participating in the project's SEE.

Your entire team does not need to be formed by the training.

Question: OFRN R7 Solicitation: Attachment 1A subcontract terms) and wanted to validate that this is truly considered a No Fee activity for industry leads (or if that was intended for academic organizations only). I see section 3.9.5 is for exceptions, but wanted to cross-check if fee is something that Parallax will consider for industry led programs.

Response: That is correct, this is a cost reimbursement subcontract. There is no fee.

UDRI would count as a university

Yes

reach out the OFRN-question@parallaxresearch.org with your request.

Co-PIs are allowed

Consult attachment 5. If you have a question about a specific example, send to ofrn-question@parallaxresearch.org

No, cost-share is not required for the proposal but is encouraged.

Our federal partners are AFRL, NASA-GRC, NASIC and NAMRU-D. Your partner must come from one of these four.

Yes, email OFRN-question@parallaxresearch.org. Be sure to include AOI and subtopic, and information about your proposed project that would assist in finding the appropriate federal partner.

Email OFRN-question@parallaxresearch.org with your request. Be sure to include AOI and subtopic as well as information that would assist in making a federal connection.

Federal partner/collaborator is required

That is correct.

No - However, identifying follow-on funding is encouraged.

Do not obtain/submit a support letter from the federal partner. We require their name and contact information in the cover page line 3.

You are welcome to reach out to your established contacts from AFRL and NASA.

The OFRN awarded funds will be filtered/distributed through the lead/primary organization.

Yes - follow-on funding can come from anywhere, i.e., federal as part of the SBA program or VC and other state funding is great.

Correct

They need to be U.S. citizens, legal permanent resident, or eligible to obtain the necessary export license to participate in the project. Foreign nationals are strongly discouraged from involvement in the performance of work on this opportunity.

Do not go below 10 size.

The application cover page does not count in the page limit. You can start page numbering after that page.

The table of contents and glossary do not have to be on their own separate pages. You can run them together.

Yes

Having an office is fine. We have had companies open an office in Ohio to participate in a project.

Yes, but you must first meet the team requirement of 2 universities in Ohio. It is recommended that the majority of the funding be within the state of Ohio.

No, you just need to make sure it is disclosed in the proposal.

No - in fact your federal partners can help with publishing and connections if needed. We encourage publishing results throughout the POP.

A technical resume (maximum 5 pages) for the Principal Investigator (PI), including publications, if any, must also be included. Concise technical resumes for subcontractors and consultants, if any, are also useful.

There are templates for the technical and business proposals to follow that includes additional guidance (Appendices 3A and 4).

They need to be U.S. citizens, legal permanent resident, or eligible to obtain the necessary export license to participate in the project. Foreign nationals are strongly discouraged from involvement in the performance of work on this opportunity.

Foreign nationals are strongly discouraged from involvement in the performance of work on this opportunity.

The Lead organization is not considered as a subcontractor.

Finalists - i.e., proposals that will continue to the Technical Review Council for ranking in each AOI. Awardees will be notified in July/August.

The plan for OFRN is to have the awardees selected NLT August. At that point the timeline shifts to the academic/industry partners and our contracting to get the project started. For our academic partners, getting your university to expedite the contracting process is critical.

A pdf of the slides will be emailed to participants after the session. If you don't receive a copy of the slides, please email ofrn-question@parallaxresearch.org

Yes, UDRI is considered as a university partner.

OFRN does not provide examples of successful proposals. Tips for success have been provided throughout the information sessions an proposal training. Recordings of the information sessions can be found on the OFRN Round 7 Solicitation website Key Dates and Events: https://ohiofrn.org/solicitations/ohio-federal-research-network-round-7-solicitation. To view a recording of the March 6th proposal training webinar, email ofrn-question@parallaxresearch.org to request a link for access.

Award amounts from previous rounds fall in the range of $800K to $1.5M. The range for OFRN Round 7 is $800K to $1.25M.

Yes, AFIT would be considered a university partner.

AFRL

The AOIs are listed in detail in the solicitation. You may also want to review the recordings of the information sessions on Feb. 10 and 25. They can be found on the Round 7 solicitation website https://ohiofrn.org/

It all depends on how much OFRN receives from the State in the State's 2 year budget that will be released by June 30, 2025. Other factors include the number of proposals submitted.

No, the team lead generally negotiates with the team members on the split of work and consequently the split of the overall award. OFRN has no part in that determination.

No, federal partners do not share funding and should not be built into your budget. The program is funded by the State of Ohio and the funding cannot go to a federal entity.

No, that is up to the agreements between all of the parties/organizations that are part of the proposal.

Yes, you will want to include indirect costs in your budget.

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

Yes, recordings of the information sessions can be found on the OFRN Round 7 Solicitation website Key Dates and Events: https://ohiofrn.org/solicitations/ohio-federal-research-network-round-7-solicitation.

No restrictions. Just make sure you have a POC from one of our federal partners that supports your proposal.

There is no requirement/deadline to disclose intent to submit a proposal and the team on the proposal prior to the proposal submission; however, your proposal must meet the team requirements when it is submitted; although team members can be added or subtracted at a later date with OFRN concurrence.

The OFRN Round 7 Offeror Conference and Proposal Training held on 3/6/25 is mandatory for each proposal submission. At a minimum, one member from each proposal team needs to attend the webinar. The webinar was recorded and is available to those who were unable to attend and plan to submit a proposal. Email OFRN-question@parallaxresearch.org and indicate the reason for why you would like to view the recording. Provide a name and email of the person who needs to access the recording. Attendance as a session in a previous round does not satisfy this requirement.

Anyone can view the recording of the March 6th training. They will need to email OFRN-question@parallaxresearch.org and indicate the reason for why they would like to view the recording. Provide a name and email of the person who needs to access the recording.

If you are referring to the Statement of Work (SOW), Follow the recommended format on page 3 and provide the information requested.

Appendix 2 contains information regarding the SEE. In Appendix 3A (Technical Proposal Template) – information regarding your SEE should include an overview of the project that outlines the purpose, expectations, innovation opportunities, team members, timeline, and budget. (Maximum 2 pages). There is no additional documentation for the proposal required for this section.

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 7 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 7 Solicitation: Can the team have more than 2 Ohio Universities?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: How are you defining team member for the mandatory meeting on 3/6/2025? Can administrative proposal managers attend for the team?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Who do I contact if I have a question regarding the solicitation?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Where can I find the Q&A for the solicitation?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Are there requirements for industrial partner other than location in Ohio, such as number of employees?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Is there a "general" topic in this round?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: I missed the webinar on the Information Session and Q&A with AOI SMEs

Q. OFRN Round 7 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 7 Solicitation: Would the Cleveland Clinic Foundation be acceptable as an industrial partner?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Can the Cleveland Clinic Foundation be counted as a university partner?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Is AFIT considered an Ohio university, and can they be considered part of the proposal team and receive OFRN funding?

Q. OFRN Round 7 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 7 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 7 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 7 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 7: 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 7: Is the matchmaking tool only applicable for finding federal partners, or does that also include University and/or industry partners?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Can a university partner double as an industry partner if the company employs them?

Q. OFRN Round 7 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 7 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 7 Solicitation: Do the University partners have to be Ohio based Universities?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Can Sinclair, or other associate colleges, be a university partner in the OFRN proposal?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Are there funding priorities on these AOIs?

Q. OFRN Round 7 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 7 Solicitation: Does OFRN have to approve our Federal Partner?

Q. OFRN Round 7: 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 7: 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 7 Solicitation: Will the federal sponsors have to be the persons who spoke for the topic areas at the information webinars?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Can the team have multiple partners in different branches from the same federal lab organization?

Q. OFRN Round 7 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 7: 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 7 Solicitation: Could we add someone in NASA who is not in OHIO as the Federal partner?

Q. OFRN Round 7 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 7 Solicitation: Do references count towards the page count of the technical proposal?

Q. OFRN Solicitation 7: Should the indirect cost be included in the total budget 800K to 1.25 M?

Q. OFRN Round 7: 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 7: 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 7 Solicitation: Can we submit NIH or NSF Biosketches in place of full resumes?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: We have a team working on the OFRN round 7 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 7 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. R7 - Go/NoGo Criteria Fed Alignment - demonstrated relationship with the Fed Sponsor and Project Lead, as result of documented development meetings or previous relevant working engagement. Do we need to attach communication w Fed Collaborator as record

Q. R7-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 7: 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 7: Should the primary applicant provide a separate page for the narrative rationale for the labor categories including job duty?

Q. OFRN Round 7: If a person will be hired but the name is not known right now, could leave the name blank?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Proposal: Do we need a separate page for travel justification?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Can any private practice clinics count as an industry partner?

Q. OFRN Round 7 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 7 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...

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Since the technical proposal is limited to 8 pages, please clarify if the following items count towards the page limit: table of contents and glossary.

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Is there a page limit to the cost proposal?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Are applicants allowed to modify the templates, if necessary?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: Consultants- how do we add them to the budget form? Do they need to be listed as direct labor or can we add them as a line item under direct costs?

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: 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 ...

Q. OFRN Round 7 Solicitation: 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, ...