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General Information A. CHIPS Incentives Program Overview The CHIPS Incentives Program aims to catalyze long-term economically sustainable growth in the domestic semiconductor industry in support of U.... General Information A. CHIPS Incentives Program Overview The CHIPS Incentives Program aims to catalyze long-term economically sustainable growth in the domestic semiconductor industry in support of U.S. economic and national security. This is the second Notice of Funding Opportunity under this program. It seeks applications for projects for the construction, expansion, or modernization of commercial facilities for semiconductor materials and manufacturing equipment for which the capital investment falls below $300 million. Additional information can be found at www.chips.gov. B. Program Overview The Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act of 2022 (CHIPS Act), signed into law on August 9, 2022, is designed to boost US competitiveness, innovation, and national security. The law aims to catalyze investments in domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity. It also seeks to jump-start R&D and commercialization of leading-edge technologies, upstream suppliers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and materials used to manufacture semiconductors. The second Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) seeks applications for the CHIPS Incentives Program, authorized by Title XCIX—Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Pub. L. 116-283, referred to as the CHIPS Act or Act), as amended by the CHIPS Act of 2022 (Division A of Pub. L. 117-167). The CHIPS Incentives Program is administered by the CHIPS Program Office (CPO) within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States Department of Commerce (Department). The second NOFO seeks applications for CHIPS Incentives Awards that will support investments in the construction, expansion, or modernization of commercial facilities in the United States for semiconductor materials and semiconductor manufacturing equipment for which the capital investment falls below $300 million. Awards made pursuant to this NOFO will be in the form of direct funding (via grants, cooperative agreements, or other transactions). Phase 1: Concept Plan The concept plan allows the Department to evaluate proposed projects and invite those most likely to receive an award to advance to the full application phase. Each member of a consortium that seeks CHIPS Incentives for a project to construct, expand, or modernize a facility eligible for funding under this NOFO must submit an individual concept plan. Consortium applicants will be required to provide details about their consortium in a separate consortium narrative. The concept plan includes information input via web forms on the CHIPS Incentives Program application portal and the following information: 1. Cover Page 2. Consortium Narrative (as relevant) 3. Concept Plan Details a. Description of Project b. Applicant Profile c. CHIPS Incentives Justification d. Economic and National Security e. Commercial Viability f. Project Feasibility and Readiness g. Availability of Funds For all potential applicants, concept plans will be accepted between December 1, 2023, and February 1, 2024. Each Concept Plan will undergo a review process outlined in the scope section below. An Investment Committee shall use those scores, in addition to any Selection Factors, to make a written determination that: • A concept plan should advance to the full application phase • A concept plan should not advance to the full application phase, which shall be a final and non-appealable decision Phase 2: Full Application For applications that are invited to advance to the full application phase, the CHIPS Program Office will communicate full application submission dates to applicants individually upon notifying them of their advancement. Applicants that advance in the process will be subject to due diligence prior to award. REQUIREMENTS A. Scope CPO is seeking reviewer assistance for concept plan applications to its Dedicated Supply Chain NOFO grant program. These applications consist of proposals to fund operational, programmatic, and construction costs related to developing and supporting semiconductor supply chain initiatives. The contractor must evaluate applications against the evaluation criteria outlined below as specified in Section 5.V.A. of the respective grant programs Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), and as further elaborated on in each stage’s respective scoring rubric to be provided by CPO. CPO anticipates this contract period to begin as soon as possible with training of the contract team at the latest beginning on January 1st, 2024 so the contract team can begin concept plan submissions reviews on February 1st, 2024 onwards. Concept Plan Review Process Each application will be evaluated for initial eligibility and completeness against the criteria set out in the NOFO and only applications meeting the eligibility criteria will be considered for Merit Review. All eligible applications shall be reviewed by at least three Contractor reviewers. The reviewers will evaluate every application against the evaluation criteria set forth in the NOFO. The resulting scores will be compiled, averaged, ranked, normalized, and submitted to CPO for final consideration. Concept plans will be scored based on the point system described below. Subject to the Selection Factors listed in the NOFO, the Department will invite a subset of concept plan submissions to advance to the full application phase. To advance, an applicant must receive a minimum threshold score in each category, to be determined by the Department once concept plans have been received and reviewed. Evaluation Criteria: The extent to which a project strengthens supply chain resilience, advances U.S. technology leadership, and/or supports vibrant U.S. clusters If the project is proposed as part of a consortium, the Department will evaluate the strength of the consortium’s strategic vision and the extent to which the project is necessary to achieve that vision. A project’s long-term commercial viability, including the extent to which the concept plan demonstrates robust customer demand for the proposed project output The strength and plausibility of the applicant’s justification for why the CHIPS Incentives requested will incentivize the applicant to make investments in facilities and equipment in the United States that would not occur in the absence of the incentives The likelihood that the applicant will successfully execute the proposed projects, including an assessment of the experiences of the applicant and the extent to which the applicant has a viable plan to complete the required construction and manage the environmental review process The availability and credibility of non-CHIPS funding sources for the project Technical and Merit Review Services Overview CPO seeks a contractor to assist with the technical evaluation of Concept Plan for applications submitted under the Dedicated Supply Chain NOFO. The contractor must evaluate Concept Plan for applications against the evaluation criteria specified in the respective NOFO. CPO, in its sole discretion, may use a statistical technique to normalize and aggregate the contractor’s quantitative evaluations (i.e., scores based on each evaluation criterion) and may consider qualitative contractor evaluation information. The scores are part of a process that CPO will use to rank Concept Plans. Contracting Office Address Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B121, Mail Stop 1640, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1640 NIST is seeking responses from all responsible sources. Small businesses are defined under the associated NAICS code for this effort, 541611 Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services as those domestic sources having $24.5M. Please include your company’s size classification and socio-economic status in any response to this notice. Instructions to Responders: Interested parties that have the capabilities to meet the Government’s basic requirements are requested to email capabilities statement of no more than 30 pages, describing their abilities to meet all requirements to monica.brown@nist.gov no later than the response date of September 12, 2023, 12:00 p.m. EST for this sources sought notice. Also, please provide a copy to Tiffany.Johnson@nist.gov and daniel.manning@chips.gov. The report should include relevant information to your capabilities including any requirements that cannot be met or is deemed close to but not meeting an identified requirement. Also, the following information is requested to be provided as part of the response to this sources sought notice: Name of company(ies), their addresses, and a point of contact for the company (name, phone number, fax number and email address) that provide the services for which specifications are provided. Indication if the company(ies) are small business and/or any other social economic category(ies). Please highlight if company is an 8(a) and/or owned by an Alaska Native Corporation, Indian Tribe, Native Hawiian Organization, Community Development Corporation; HUBZONE, SDVOSB, EDWOSB or WOSB. Indication of whether the services required are currently on one or more GSA Schedule (i.e. Multiple Award Schedules [MAS]) contracts and, if so, the GSA MAS contract number(s). Indication if the company(ies) can provide all, or some, of the services. Any other relevant information that is not listed above which the Government should consider in developing its minimum specifications and finalizing its market research.