High Energy Laser Educational Initiative | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The High Energy Laser Educational Initiative (Funding Opportunity Number FA9451-09-1-0347) is an Air Force Research Laboratory, High Energy Laser Joint Technology Office (HEL JTO) grant opportunity intended to build and run a long-term education and workforce development program focused on high energy laser (HEL) science, engineering, and related technologies. The HEL JTO, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is looking for one organization to develop, implement, and operate an educational initiative that grows interest in HEL fields across the pipeline, with the strongest emphasis on undergraduate and graduate education as well as professional and technical development for people already in the workforce. The underlying motivation is a workforce shortage concern: fewer students are moving into the scientific and engineering disciplines that feed HEL research, development, integration, and test and evaluation for military laser systems.

The solicitation anticipates making a single grant award under 10 USC 2358, with a five-year period of performance. The expected funding level is about $700,000 per year, up to a total estimated value of $3.5 million, and proposals that exceed the $700,000 per year cap are excluded from consideration. Cost sharing is not required, and the program is listed under the Education activity category. Importantly, this is an assistance award (a grant), and the government emphasizes that only an authorized Grants Officer can bind the government or negotiate terms. Also, no profit or fee will be paid under the grant, which affects how applicants should structure their budgets.

Programmatically, the initiative is expected to do more than run a single course or fund a narrow campus effort. At a minimum, applicants must propose credible, effective ways to: (1) foster and expand undergraduate and graduate student interest in HEL sciences, technology, and engineering, building a future recruiting pool for government and industry; (2) create educational opportunities for an existing or incoming workforce that may be new to HEL, so that engineers and technical staff can gain professional grounding in the field; (3) provide a mechanism for publishing technical papers related to HEL technology, system integration, and test and evaluation so that advances are shared within the HEL community and beyond; and (4) organize conferences and workshops where practitioners and educators can exchange issues, concepts, and best practices tied to HEL education. The announcement also signals that proposals that merely meet these baseline requirements are considered only minimally acceptable, while approaches that go beyond the minimum with additional effective methods may be viewed more favorably.

A key compliance and ethics point in the solicitation is the requirement that the effort cannot be "self serving" for the awardee. The program is meant to expand the broader HEL ecosystem, not just benefit the grantee or steer resources to a single institution. Amendment language clarifies what that means in practice, especially for educational institutions: if scholarships, financial aid, or similar benefits are part of the program, applicants must show a plan to advertise those opportunities broadly across academia to attract a diverse and deserving applicant pool, and they must include an independent evaluation and selection process that avoids conflicts of interest or even the appearance that the proposing institution is preferentially awarding aid to its own students. In other words, the initiative should operate like a field-building program with transparent outreach and neutral selection, rather than an internal pipeline reserved for the grantee.

On eligibility and administrative requirements, the opportunity is broadly open (unrestricted eligibility, subject to any clarifications in the text), but offerors must be properly registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) system as a condition for receiving DoD awards (unless an exception applies). Applicants also have to submit required non-FAR certifications tied to government-wide policy mandates, including certifications related to debarment and suspension, drug-free workplace, and lobbying. The announcement includes an administrative access to proprietary information consent provision and instructs applicants to clearly mark any proprietary disclosure limitations. It also notifies applicants that the government intends to use support contractors (including Schafer Corporation, CCG, and Contract Allocation Services) for administrative functions, with nondisclosure agreements in place to restrict use of proposal information to grant administration.

From a proposal submission standpoint, the package must include three main components: a technical proposal, a statement of work (SOW), and a budget proposal, along with a completed SF-424. The technical proposal is capped at 10 pages (excluding the title page and attachments), must use at least 12-point Times New Roman, and should explain the applicant's approach to meeting the objectives as well as the qualifications and experience of the team. The SOW must be suitable for incorporation into the grant, must not contain proprietary information, and must identify planned reviews and when they occur (by milestone, event, or task). The budget is not page-limited but must be detailed and structured, including labor hours and skill mix, direct and indirect rates, other direct costs, travel, materials, equipment, and any applicable taxes, with multi-year rollups. The budget should clearly distinguish between costs internal to the offeror and costs that directly support program objectives such as scholarships, course development, educational materials, and other outward-facing initiative components. Proposal preparation costs themselves are not allowable as a direct charge to the resulting grant.

Evaluation is based on three criteria in descending order of importance: first, the innovativeness, merit, and soundness of the proposed approach; second, the offeror's capabilities, including the qualifications, experience, competence, and availability of personnel; and third, the overall value and realism of the proposed effort. The government evaluates technical and budget proposals concurrently, may choose to fund all, part, or none of the proposals received, and will make an award to the proposal that best conforms to the announcement and is considered most advantageous to the government under the stated criteria. Communication and official actions run through the designated Grants Officer, with a separate technical point of contact for program questions.

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