The Wind Wildlife Research Fund is releasing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for research projects beginning in 2020 that seek to advance understanding of the impacts of wind energy on wildlife and to develop solutions to avoid, minimize, or offset those impacts. Learn more about the Wind Wildlife Research Fund.
Proposals will be selected after a peer review process and authors of selected proposals will be notified in summer 2019. View the full RFP to learn more about research questions, criteria for selection, and proposal format.
Submission Deadline
Monday, May 20, 2019 (deadline extended by 2 weeks)
11:59 PM Pacific
Submit Your Proposal
Once you have completed your proposal, please submit it through the submission website.
Click here to download the Budget Template required for all proposals.
For specific instructions on proposal content and format, please refer to the RFP.
Informational Webinar
A public informational webinar on the RFP was held on April 4. View the recording to learn more.
Questions
All questions related to the RFP must be submitted by email to proposals@rewi.org. Responses to all questions will be posted below with identifying information redacted. Note that responses to questions will only be posted here and will not be sent by email. The deadline for submitting questions is Monday, April 29, 11:59 PM Pacific.
Questions sent to individual staff will not receive responses. For more details on questions, please refer to the RFP.
Responses to Submitted Questions
| # | Date Submitted | Question | Response |
| 1 | March 22 | I am getting questions regarding the budget range of the proposals. How low and how high would the Fund consider? | There is no limit set for proposal budgets. Investigators should submit a budget, using the budget template, that is appropriate to the question(s) being addressed. |
| 2 | March 22 | Can you please provide more budgetary guidelines? E.g. is overhead allowed? Is match required? Are there upper or lower limits on the amount of money that can be requested? | Overhead, or indirect costs, is an allowed expense on labor, and labor costs should be calculated using loaded rates that includes fringe, overhead, profit/fee, etc. Overhead is not allowed on other direct costs such as travel, equipment, or supplies. |
| 3 | March 23 | What is the budget for proposals submitted to the Wild Wildlife Research Fund? I did not see this information in the RFP. | See response to question #1 |
| 4 | March 25 | We were wondering what the average estimated proposal request would be? Is there a maximum amount that can be requested? | See response to question #1 |
| 5 | March 26 | I have two questions about the RFP: 1) What is the budget cap for projects? 2) Is there a limit to the number of proposals a single individual can be lead PI? |
1) See response to question #1
2) There is no limit on the number of proposals submitted by a single individual as lead. |
| 6 | March 27 | Could you please let me know what is the maximum amount that is requested? Is there a limit on indirect cost? Can salary of permanent employees be covered? Would 2-year projects be considered? | 1) See response to question #1
2) See response to question #2 3) Project budgets can cover labor costs as required to complete the proposed project. 4) Projects up to three years in length will be considered. |
| 7 | April 3 | Is the research fund limited to projects that are located in the US? Also is the research fund limited to US researchers or can International (e.g Canadian) lead organizations apply for funding? | The RFP does not place a limit on the location of research projects or researchers. |
| 8 | April 3 | Do you have a recording of the webinar that I could view? | Yes, the April 4 informational webinar was recorded. Watch the recording here. |
| 9 | April 3 | It isn’t clear from the web page if match is required for the current RFP. Someone asked that question (question #2) and it wasn’t answered. Can you clarify that? | Matching funding is not a requirement for consideration of proposals, but if matching funding is available, this can be noted in the budget of the proposal. |
| 10 | April 4 | 1) Is the webinar today being recorded?
2) Is a foreign company allowed to apply for the funding , or the proposal must be submitted by a US company and we could participate only as subcontractor? For example an US environmental company doing the validation/analysis/reporting on the data that our radar will provide. |
1) See response to question 8.
2) See response to question 7. |
| 11 | April 4 | I know that the foundation has done wonderful work with bird populations and land-based wind power. With the push for offshore renewable energy gaining traction and multiple development leases already approved along the northeast seaboard, it’s inevitable that marine and terrestrial wildlife will be impacted by newly constructed turbines. I was wondering if offshore wind impacts on marine populations would be included in the purview of this RFP? | The Fund applies to research at land-based wind energy facilities only. |
| 12 | April 4 | Is the focus of the fund limited to species included in the USFWS Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines (e.g., bats, eagles, and grouse) as opposed to marine species such as whales? | See response to question 11. |
| 13 | April 4 | I am unable to attend the webinar this morning. Will it be recorded for later viewing or will there be slides available for download? | See response to question 8. |
| 14 | April 4 | Please let us know if we need to collaborate with an/some institutions in the U.S. | See response to question 7. |
| 15 | April 4 | Are Canadians eligible for the Wind Wildlife Research Fund for work in Canada? | See response to question 7. |
| 16 | April 4 | 1) Will data and computer code submitted as deliverables be publicly available directly (not in summary reports)? 2) I did not understand whether results be published as an REWI report OR a peer-reviewed publication, or as an REWI report AND a peer-reviewed publication. Please clarify. 3) What is the reasoning behind disallowing overhead on everything except labor? 4) Is there a maximum overhead rate that can be charged on fully-loaded labor costs? 5) What qualifications will the reviewers have for evaluating appropriate study design and statistical analysis? |
1) UPDATED ANSWER AS OF APRIL 18: Release of underlying data and computer code, as well as intellectual property arrangements, will be worked out on a project-by-project basis depending on the nature of the work and pre-existing IP brought into the project.
2) REWI Technical Report or a peer-reviewed publication. 3) Overhead should be accounted for through loaded labor rates. 4) There is no maximum overhead rate. 5) Each proposal will have multiple peer-reviewers who have subject matter expertise and/or expertise in experimental design and statistical analysis. |
| 17 | April 4 | When are the funds expected to be received by successful applicants? Can you be more specific than “early 2020”? This will likely be important for developing schedules. | More specific timing is not available at this time. Schedules can be based on number of months rather than denoting specific dates, if preferred. |
| 18 | April 4 | How should the investigators budget for REWI time? | For proposals that are finalists for funding and that involve work by REWI, REWI will develop a cost estimate based on an evaluation of the amount of work, and will add that amount to the total budget considered by the Fund. |
| 19 | April 4 | It appeared upon first read that applications should be restricted to study on bats, Eagles and Grouse. Am I understanding that correctly, or would study of wind energy impact on other migratory bird species be considered as well? | The Fund will consider proposals addressing species of concern as defined in the USFWS Land-based Wind Energy Guidelines. Proposals need not restrict themselves to bats, eagles, and grouse, which were provided as examples. |
| 20 | April 15 | Regarding chapter 5.4 Deliverables and the answer to question #16: What part of the code are we obligated to share? For example, if we find a new way to classify bird species as part of the research, do we need to share the actual code that is performing this feature or will we keep the IPR on this innovation and only share the approach and the outcome? | Intellectual property arrangements will be worked out on a project-by-project basis depending on the nature of the work and pre-existing IP brought into the project. |
| 21 | April 16 | If the study warranted the requested total timeframe, would proposals over three years in length be considered? | Projects up to three years in length will be considered. Project length should be justified based on the questions being addressed. As noted in the budget template, if project is more than 12 months, copy the budget template worksheet and complete the worksheet in a separate tab for each subsequent year (i.e., 12-month period). Schedules can be based on number of months rather than denoting specific dates, if preferred. |
| 22 | April 20 | We are a group of scientists wanting to collaborate on a research project that we would seek funding for through this REWI opportunity. We want to submit a joint proposal. We are wondering if you require the funds go to one entity, or would it be possible for you to fund the project under one budget, but send the money to each of our units? OR would the lead on the proposal be required to disburse the funds? | Contracting arrangements will be worked out on a project by project basis. The lead organization on the proposal will be the primary contact on communications during the proposal review process. Budgets should include costs for all involved organizations. |
| 23 | April 25 | 1) I do not see any restrictions regarding who may apply, but thought that I would ask to confirm. Are federal agencies allowed to apply and receive grant funds either as PIs or collaborators? 2) Would we have access to the REWI fatality database for our work? 3) It appears that currently funded projects are listed here: https://rewi.org/get-involved/wind-wildlife-research-fund/wwrf-2019-projects/. Are these projects completed or in-progress? Would we be able to access their results and data to build upon? |
1) The Fund RFP does not place a limit on the location of research projects or researchers. Federal agencies may apply either as PIs or collaborators. 2) Proposals may incorporate the use of the American Wind Wildlife Information Center (AWWIC) – a database that includes public and private fatality data with the following key stipulations:
3) 2019 projects are in-progress and results are not yet available. If a proposal that builds on 2019 results is funded, REWI will facilitate collaboration but cannot guarantee timely availability of data. |