TIPS for Writing a Successful GAIN NE Voucher Request

• The GAIN team offers assistance for all applications. If you do not have a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory Point of Contact (POC), please contact the GAIN team immediately. The POC can assist you in refining research needs, schedules, and cost estimates.

• Identify your DOE national laboratory POC in the appropriate section in the electronic application system. Do not include the POC as part of the proposing team in your proposal, since they are part of the resource you are requesting.

• Your voucher proposal will be reviewed and evaluated using only the information provided in the proposal itself. No additional research will be performed to supplement or enable the review. If you want the reviewers to know something, include it. Please keep in mind the page limit of the Request for Assistance (RFA) (5 pages of text and 2 additional pages for graphs, tables, and images. Refer to this link for the full RFA.)

• Make sure the assistance you are requesting can reasonably be completed within one year with a clearly articulated, well-defined and meaningful goal.

• Articulate your need for assistance as clearly as possible. Keep in mind this question: Why do I specifically need the DOE national laboratory or resource?

• DOE national laboratories are prohibited by law from competing with the private sector, thus a voucher asking for general services will not be considered (e.g., structural analysis of a reactor building using commercial finite element analysis software is a general service).

• In general, a voucher that asks a DOE national laboratory to complete general design work or make decisions on a design will not be awarded. The laboratories’ role is to provide you with the data necessary to make those decisions on your own. If you need assistance with a specific design aspect or component of your technology, you must be clear about the requirements and constraints that apply to this component.

• Vouchers are not an appropriate mechanism for tackling multi-year, sustained research and demonstration (R&D) projects. A voucher will not generally be awarded for continuation of a previously awarded voucher, or for the first year of a multi-year effort.