The Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Hub is seeking technical project submissions supporting innovation in Secure Edge/IoT Computing, 5G/6G Technology, AI Hardware, Quantum Technology, Electromagnetic Warfare, and Commercial Leap Ahead.  The call contains sub-topic areas in each category in which hub submissions must align to.  The sub-topic areas can be found in Appendix A of the SCMC CFP for review.  Please follow the below process steps to submit your Silicon Crossroads Project Packet.

Call for Projects (CFP) Released

Released: December 18, 2023

Download Forms & Templates

Please Ensure You Download All 8 Files

Upload Project Submission Packet

Projects Due: February 5, 2024 at 5:00pm ET

Key Dates

  • NSTXL CFP Released - December 18, 2023

  • SCMC Q&A Deadline - January 5, 2024 at 5:00pm ET

  • SCMC CFP Deadline - February 5, 2024 at 5:00pm ET

  • NSTXL CFP Closes - February 28, 2024 

Government Q&A Responses

Posted on 22 January 2024

Technical Q&A

General Q&A

Frequently Asked Questions

Will a schedule of important dates be pushed to members ahead of the CFP? Or will that wait until after they come out?

All dates will be communicated with the CFP release.

Will ARI act as a prime contractor? Or should my company act as the prime? Will ARI flow funds to the performers, or will my company receive all the funds to flow?

ARI will not lead any technical projects. Projects shall be led by a hub member and their designated team. ARI will receive the funds for any government approved technical projects then flow down to the the project lead for distribution to the team.

The membership agreement is signed by the company or institution, not individual, correct?

Correct, the membership agreement is signed per entity.

Is there a limit on the number of projects submitted?

From the hub, there is a 15 project proposal limit to the government. From a member to the hub, there is no limit on the number of projects submitted.

Do you need Confidential Unclassified Information (CUI) markings or just proprietary and export markings?

If the proposal contains CUI it should be mark accordingly. Any restricted distribution material must be marked per regulations. To re-emphasis, do NOT include classified information. If classified material is required, please contact siliconcrossroads@theari.us for arrangements to handle appropriately.

Will a copy of the project form be available prior to the call being released by NSTXL?

No, the hub will release the final version of the form once the CFP has been released.

If a project involves a lead university in SCMC and another university not in SCMC, does the latter also need to apply to the membership?

No, membership is required by the Lead on the project only, although we do welcome additional members to the hub.

Without submitting the full 20 page proposal, would there be a 4-5 page pre-screen concept paper in order to understand the Hub lead is interested to pursue with the submission?

No, there will not be a 4-5 page screening. This is due to the timing of the CFP and the depth of the information needed for government submission.

Who is best contact for questions on membership agreements?

Please send all membership inquiries to siliconcrossroads@theari.us with the subject line: "Membership Inquiry."

What is the anticipated duration of the projects?

The targeted duration of the projects are one to three years in duration. Longer projects will be consider by the hub as well if the alignment to the project call topics is very strong.

Will the contracts be firm fixed price, cost plus fixed fee, or other?

They will be Firm Fixed Price.

Question about TRL = 3 to 5. Does this refer to the starting TRL of the technology or what is targeted at the end of the project.

This is the starting TRL.

You mentioned that National Laboratories would be funded via a separate pot of money, how does that work? What how does the national lab submit the SOW and other documents? How do they reference the ME Commons proposal.

Yes, federal labs have a set aside pot of funds to support and participate in Commons projects. The lab SOW and ROM will be be submitted with the hub submission but in a separate document that will not count against the page limit.

Are submissions editable after initial submission?

Yes, submissions can be editable after submission. If you need to re-submit/edit your submission, please contact siliconcrossroads@theari.us so the previous submission can be deleted, allowing you to submit your new one.

Will the hub help connect proposers to core sites as well as government labs?

Yes, the hub can and will assist with the identification of the best project aligned core for project inclusion.

Will these slides be made available?

Yes, they will be provided out to the member distribtuion within the CFP communication and can also be found on the SCMC Community platform under "Resources".

Can we write a proposal with an organization that is part of another regional hub?

Yes, we encourage cross hub collaboration but the project should only be submit through one hub for consideration. If the same project is submitted through multiple hubs, and utilizes a hub allocation spot, the federal government will disqualify the project for this round of consideration. The hub leads will be screening and communicating on the identification of duplicates throuhgout the CFP process.

Can you expand on what is meant by having a "Regional Hub Connection?"

Proposed projects will be strengthened by having strong regional participation, such as the inclusion of team members form academia or industry from the region.

Will government proposal committee see all proposals or only 15 that are put forward from the hub? If you put a proposal into multiple hubs is there a way to withdraw the proposal if another hub selects/commits to move forward with your proposal as one of their 15?

All hub are limited to submitting 15 proposals. The government is discouraging submitting proposals to multiple hubs (Please note: all proposals go to the same source selection team). Our project submission form asks explicitly if the proposal is being submitted to multiple hubs, and that will be taken into account in the project review process.

It seems the project forms are to be filled out by individual entities. How will the partnership projects like the exemplars be submitted to the Hub? Will each potential partner entity still need to submit their contribution as a project?

The PI must submit a comprehensive proposal that includes all partners.

Will Silicon Crossroads down-select which of the project calls you all will respond to or will you take submissions for any/all?

SCMC will accept proposals in all 6 technology areas.

You showed milestone based funding - is this the only funding mechanism? Is time and materials, etc. allowed?

Microelectronics Commons is contracted using an OTA, which utilizes a milestone based payment structure.

According to last week’s NSTXL fireside chat, each hub is allowed to submit a maximum of 15 project submissions. How will Silicon Crossroads down-select among all the projects submitted to SCMC?

ARI will implement a formal evaluation process utilizing external SMEs to assist in the evaluation, similar to a Government source selection.

What are the low/high dollar ranges for projects for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year projects?

There are no constraints on proposers. But given the total Commons budget and the likely number of projects awarded across all the Hubs, we believe $1M to $5M per year might be appealing to the Government selection team.

In the Project Team Overview excel file, I assume the project name is the project title and do we will out the project number and closing date? For the contract type, I assume we should choose FFP?

The project name is the title of your project being submitted. The project number is 22-16 and put the closing date of 28 February 2024. Yes, please select Firm Fixed Price (FFP). 

In the IP Supplemental Agreement file, for "NSTXL PROJECT ORDER #: Click or tap here to enter text." What should be filled in here? 

Project Order Number is 22-16 

In the IP Supplemental Agreement file, for section the section stating “In the performance of the Prototype Project funded under the Project Order, the following level and allocation of rights provided to the Government, and asserted by the PERFORMER have been agreed-to as follows: Click or tap here to enter text,” is there any example text that you could provide? 

The example text would be what is listed in section 1.21 of the project form template.

For the 889 verification form, who should sign the form?

The 889 Verification Form should be signed by the prime submitter knowing that in the future, this may be required for the entire team.

If I understand correctly, Section 3 is the price proposal section, which can be up to 5 pages. So it should not be within the 20 page limit. Correct?

Section 3 DOES count toward your 25-page max. See edits to above red text./p>