SPECIAL NOTICE
R -- Innovation Crossroads: Business Mentoring Services for Energy Technology Innovation
- Notice Date
- 2/15/2017
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory - UT Battelle LLC (DOE Contractor), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Bethel Valley Road, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37831-6192
- ZIP Code
- 37831-6192
- Solicitation Number
- ORNL-IC-2017-02
- Archive Date
- 9/2/2017
- Point of Contact
- Tom Rogers, , Beth Conerty,
- E-Mail Address
-
rogerstc@ornl.gov, conertyba@ornl.gov
(rogerstc@ornl.gov, conertyba@ornl.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Background The U.S. and the world require new approaches to energy that are reliable, affordable, and carbon neutral. While important progress has been made in cost reduction and deployment of clean energy technologies, the pace of innovation and the scale of transformation and dissemination remains significantly short of what is needed. Innovation Crossroads was established by the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to provide entrepreneurs with a unique support system to enable them to transform their early stage ideas into scalable companies that can address solutions in clean energy. This is not an easy journey. It usually requires extensive R&D work and the development of business models, partners, and financing mechanisms, often simultaneously. Through an annual call, Innovation Crossroads will select up to five energy innovators to explore their ideas at ORNL, providing the resources they need to address these challenges. With up to two years of funding from ORNL and DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, innovators will have the opportunity to focus full-time on their energy idea, on R&D collaborations with top ORNL researchers, on entrepreneurial training and mentoring, and on introductions to potential industry partners and investors. ORNL is the US Department of Energy's largest science and energy laboratory. With an annual budget of $1.5 billion, ORNL's diverse capabilities enable the lab to explore fundamental science challenges and to carry out the research needed to accelerate the delivery of solutions to the marketplace. From energy-efficient buildings, transportation, and manufacturing to new biofuels, bioproducts, and materials, ORNL delivers technology solutions for the nation's growing energy demands. With access to one-of-a-kind resources and facilities, selected Innovation Crossroads innovators will be uniquely positioned to advance their transformative energy ideas. This solicitation seeks responses from qualified entities who desire to partner with Innovation Crossroads by providing business mentoring to selected technology innovators. Although selected respondents are not guaranteed the opportunity to work with an energy innovator, selected respondents may be identified as preferred mentors in the Innovation Crossroads program. Opportunity Oak Ridge National Laboratory believes that the impact of Innovation Crossroads is maximized via a public-private partnership. The public- private partnership model provides an opportunity for a private sector partner to play an active role in transforming the nation's energy systems. ORNL is seeking one or more business mentor partners to expand the scope and impact of Innovation Crossroads. In particular, ORNL seeks one or more non-profit entities that can: •Provide key business mentorship and venture development services in areas that will enhance the impact of the program and success of selected technology innovators, e.g. assistance with company formation, business development assistance and guidance, community and network development, investor advising, customer discovery, techno-economic analysis, etc.; •Support administration of compliance requirements for selected technology innovators who lack infrastructure and require business support at the earliest stages; •Work closely with technology innovators in their efforts to attract private sector funding and engagement. Nature of the Partnership No Department of Energy or Oak Ridge National Laboratory funds are being offered for services provided under this agreement. Selected business mentor partners will benefit from the ability to visibly impact the region by supporting domestic technology innovators in the physical sciences/energy domain. Selected technology innovators will benefit from the experience of Oak Ridge National Lab, as well as potential federal funding to develop their technology. ORNL may engage with the mentor partner in any or all of the following ways: •coordinating service offerings to the program and mentorship to Innovation Crossroads technology innovators; and •providing the mentor partner appropriate access to Oak Ridge National Laboratory resources and facilities as required for the partnership. Respondents may propose a preferred partnership structure. ORNL may consider one or more mechanisms through which to formalize the partnership. Examples include listing on a preferred service provider list and a Memorandum of Understanding. Any work in connection with Innovation Crossroads must comply with ORNL's Prime Contract, as well as applicable policies - including those pertaining to the avoidance of apparent or actual conflicts of interest. Entities affiliated with Oak Ridge National Lab, and its operator UT-Battelle LLC are eligible to apply. However, any selected entity may be subject to an organizational conflict of interest (OCI) management plan. If a selected entity raises apparent or actual conflicts of interests, for example entities associated with Oak Ridge National Lab or its operator UT-Battelle LLC, there will be an organizational conflict of interest (OCI) management plan developed and approved by the DOE for their participation. If the OCI issues cannot be effectively mitigated to the satisfaction of the DOE, the selected entity will not be able to participate as a business mentor in the Innovation Crossroads program. Requirements for Respondents 1.Must be a domestic, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; 2.Must demonstrate significant experience in supporting physical-science or energy-based technology innovators using objective measures, such as amount of funding raised by mentored technology innovators, growth in revenue, growth in sales, etc.; 3.Must include team member(s) with demonstrated ability and/or successful experience in working with large institutional research organizations; 4.May not charge the technology innovators for mentoring services as part of the Innovation Crossroads program. Technology innovators participating in the Innovation Crossroads program will be encouraged to work with selected business mentorship organizations to provide the technology innovator with commercialization and business support service to help expedite commercialization of their technologies. Subject to the limitations below, the relationship and/or agreement between an innovator and a business mentorship organization shall be independently negotiated between those entities. Innovation Crossroads technology innovators will not be required to use any particular mentorship organization to be a part of the program, and no mentorship organizations will have an exclusive relationship with ORNL or with individual innovators. Additional Evaluation Criteria Applicants will be evaluated based on their commitment to and experience with mentoring and fostering successful science and technology-based innovators through entrepreneurial mentorship programming. Applicants will also be evaluated by the following criteria: •Demonstrated experience in the mentoring and fostering success of science and technology-based innovators; •Experience in the selection and evaluation of business proposals by startups with physical hardware technologies; •Experience in the scientific evaluation of the efficacy and potential impact of energy technologies; •Capabilities to provide business advice to science and technology-based innovators; •Demonstrated ability to maintain positive working relationships with large R&D institutions; •A proactive approach to managing individual and institutional conflicts of interest; and •Must be structured to provide close interactions with technology innovators at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. All respondents will be reviewed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and must be selected by a Federal Official from DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). How to Respond Submit the following documents to Tom Rogers of Oak Ridge National Laboratory by January 15, 2017: •Executive summary (2-page maximum) •Description of the proposed partnership structure addressing roles and responsibilities of both the public and private side of the partnership including: othe structure of the public-private partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory addressing the requirements described in this notice, oservices to be made available to Innovation Crossroads technology innovators, oa description of how the mentor partner's resources and services complement innovation services at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, oStatement of Qualifications, including resumes of proposed team members oDemonstration of sufficient non-DOE funds available on an on-going basis to provide the support services and the proposed partnership or a plan for obtaining such funds oTimeline for implementation Please email rogerstc@ornl.gov with any questions about this partnership opportunity.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOE/ORNL/ORNL/ORNL-IC-2017-02/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (UT-Battelle, LLC DOE Contractor), 1 Bethel Valley Road, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37831-6186, United States
- Zip Code: 37831-6186
- Zip Code: 37831-6186
- Record
- SN04404365-W 20170217/170215235237-335ac31a6ebaf8700d9b77f1d1594333 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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