B2B Network Pilot Federal Funding Opportunity

(2014-NIST-MEP-B2BN-01)

Frequently Asked Questions

1) If MEP centers team up to share resources, does the pot they can pull from 

increase? E.G.: In the FFO, it is stated that up to 10 awards of ~$250k will be 

made. If 3 MEPs team up together for an application, can they apply for up to 

$750k or should they still be focused on the $250k figure in their proposal?

• Answer: As noted in the FFO, “NIST anticipates making up to 10 awards at 

approximately $250,000 per award.” Each applicant for an award, regardless of the 

number of partners, should submit a project proposal and corresponding proposed 

budget based on approximately $250,000 of federal funding. Applications submitted 

in response to the B2B FFO will be evaluated on their individual merits and will not 

be considered as part of, or in conjunction with, other applications. 

2) What is the reason for recommending MEP centers form teaming 

arrangements? Demonstrate their ability to work together so their efforts could 

scale to other organizations and specific efforts are not duplicated? This directly 

correlates to question 1.

• Answer: Teaming arrangements are encouraged by NIST/MEP to help ensure that 

MEP Centers bring together the appropriate resources (technical and business) needed 

to address the requirements of the FFO. It should be noted, that NIST does not 

endorse or support any particular technical or business resource as a subcontractor, 

subrecipient or partner in the development of B2B proposals and that, while teaming 

arrangements are strongly encouraged, they are not required.

3) Is the goal of this project for MEP Centers to define a new product/service offering 

to manufacturers that helps them with Supplier Scouting or is it to prove that they 

have the technical and strategic capabilities to execute Supplier Scouting for a 

myriad of use cases? IE: Is the outcome of this project academic or business 

focused?

• Answer: Many MEP Centers already provide supplier, technology and market 

scouting services. The goal of the project is to expand and enhance those capabilities, 

and to develop various models and techniques that may be deployed throughout the 

MEP network. The outcome should be business focused as the intent is for 
manufacturers to have access to viable buying and selling opportunities, as noted in 

the FFO.

4) What is the desired deliverable from the awardees at the end of the 2 years if the 

desire is not to form the infrastructure required to repeat this process? IE: I 

believe that almost any MEP can demonstrate their ability to source products 

locally and establish case studies of supplier scouting, but putting the infrastructure 

together to be able to repeat the process in a way that makes money for the MEP 

Center is a completely different animal. Please clarify what an ideal deliverable at 

the end of the Period of Performance is.

• Answer: The Program Objectives and Program Priorities discussed in Section I of 

the FFO identify NIST’s goals and expectations relative to the B2B Pilot Program. In 

this respect, the ideal deliverable will depend on the MEP Center and its partners. 

NIST has not established and will not establish an ideal deliverable as these are pilot 

projects that may or may not be scalable, interoperable or usable beyond the region 

that develops the pilot. 

5) Given that the desired deliverables are delivered during FY 2016, what is the follow 

on plan to expand this from a Pilot project? IE: What type of resources and what 

type of timeline will MEP National provide a follow on RFP of sorts? What are the 

planned goals of that RFP (to build the infrastructure required to make this process 

scalable)?

• NIST has not established a follow-on plan at this time Whether a follow-on plan is 

established will depend on the progress and results of the pilots, which NIST will 

consider when determining whether to allocate future resources in this area.

6) Would a non-profit organization dedicated to building community among 

technology entrepreneurs and the organizations, individuals, and institutions that 

support them be eligible to be a proposed subawardee and/or contractor or other 

collaborator in a project proposal? My understanding is that a MEP needs to be the 

lead applicant but others can be part of the proposal.

• Answer: A non-profit that brings relevant skills, knowledge, technologies and/or 

opportunities may be included as a subrecipient or contractor to the lead applicant, as 

long as it is clear in the proposal what roles and responsibilities are to be addressed by 

the subrecipient/contractor along with appropriate budgets.
7) Currently there is not an active center in the State of Florida? What opportunities 

are there to collaborate with an MEP Center if one is not currently available?

Answer: Only existing MEP Centers are eligible to apply for the B2B funding 

opportunity, however MEP Centers may form teaming arrangements with other 

organizations such as non-profits. The FFO for an MEP Center in the State of Florida 

closed on May 14, 2014. MEP is currently evaluating applications and does not 

anticipate announcing a new MEP Center for the State of Florida prior to the close of 

the B2B FFO (August 4th). As such, MEP recommends contacting existing MEP Centers 

(http://www.nist.gov/mep/) to see if they are planning to submit a B2B application and, if 

so, whether they would be interested in forming a teaming arrangement with your 

organization as part of its application.

8) Can you comment further about the energy efficiency piece?

• Answer: The energy efficiency requirement is imposed by the legislation [15 U.S.C. 

278k(f)] being used for this competition. The minimum requirement is that applicants 

must address energy efficiency opportunities among the various business, technology, 

supplier and market scouting activities they propose.

9) Will travel requirements imposed by NIST MEP for successful awards be expected 

such as in previous tcars?

• Answer: Applicants should factor up to 2-3 meetings during the project period of 

performance. The thinking at this point is that there will be face-to-face meetings for 

the project kick-off, followed by semi-annual meetings (at locations to be determined 

based on where the awardees are located) thereafter. Quarterly and monthly progress 

will be done via teleconference or web conference.

10) Do Resumes count in 20 pages?

• Answer: No, Resumes are not included in the page count. 

11) Does NIST anticipate there being additional rounds for proposals in the future (this 

year or next)?

• Answer: At this time, NIST does not anticipate additional competitions for this 

activity.

12) Will the presentation be made available to attendees?

• Answer: The presentation and webinar recording will be available at 

http://www.nist.gov/mep/ffo_b2b.cfm

13)In other words should we budget for meetings with MEP national?
• Answer: See Question #9’s Response

14) Will unsuccessful bids be informed and receive feedback where application was 

lacking?

• Answer: All unsuccessful applicants will be formally notified once all the 

successful applicants have received their awards. NIST MEP will offer a debrief for 

the unsuccessful applicants on an individual basis. The debrief is structured around 

communicating strengths and weaknesses in an effort to help you be more successful 

in future funding opportunities.

15) Are there NIST resources available for the portal such as IELI resources?

• Answer: The only NIST resources available are those that are part of this 

competition. No additional resources are expected to be available to support the 

program, other than the evaluation contractor noted in the FFO. 

16)Is it possible that a partnership of several large centers across several states could 

request more than $250K?

• Answer: The FFO limits the availability of funding “per award” to approximately 

$250K. Applicants who are planning to work with other applicants should so note in 

their proposal that they will do so if both (or more) applicants are awarded funds.

17) Must we have an indirect cost rate agreement to participate?

• Answer: You are not required to have an indirect cost rate. However, if within your 

budget you propose to use an indirect cost rate, you must provide a copy of your 

indirect cost rate agreement. 

18) What are the matching requirements?

• Answer: This funding opportunity does not require cost share.

19) What metrics will be required (# firms, # jobs, sales increased, etc.)?

• Answer: It is up to each applicant to define and describe the metrics they plan to 

use to determine whether the effort is a success. Section IV.2.a.6.d states that the 

project narrative’s Management and Financial Plan includes the following “Identify 

and describe measurable performance outcomes that demonstrate the validity, value 

and success of the network.”

20) We have an existing matchmaking technology but are not an MEP Center. If two 

MEP Centers partner with our organization separately and write two grants that 

use our technology as the base of their grant proposal - will these grants score less 

points because they are using the same technology?
• Answer: It is up to each center to determine the appropriate technology to use for 

their particular network. NIST will not prescribe any particular solution(s) for the 

underlying technology. The intent is to have something that works with minimal to no 

development costs.

21)In the Funding opportunity section of the announcement, you refer to market 

scouting and opportunity scouting. What are these? MEP clearly explains what 

Tech Scouting and Supplier Scouting are on their website, but has no information 

clarifying what these other types of scouting specifically refer to?

• Answer: Opportunity scouting refers generally to a viable sale or purchase of 

technologies, products and/or services. A viable opportunity is one for which there is 

documented or documentable verification of the opportunity. The verification can 

take the form of items such as purchase orders, purchase commitments, letters of 

intent to purchase/sell, etc. 

Market scouting refers generally to a search for or identification of a market where a 

company’s products, services and/or technologies might be a good fit and which the 

company is not currently actively engaged in.