A1. That is correct. The maximum award amount corresponds with the federal share.

Regarding cost sharing splits, see guidance at top of this web page. From the RFA Guidance document: “Our project budget must reach a minimum local match (i.e., cost share) of 50%, per federal regulation. We are prioritizing access to federal funds for organizations and entities operating in and around underserved communities and which cannot typically make large capital purchases. To meet this goal and achieve a blended cost share of 50%, we are requesting a minimum local cost share of 60%, with federal share for vehicles capped at the incremental cost over a comparable diesel or gasoline model. For those applicants who need additional support in order to participate, cost sharing is flexible and according to need. Please see the Application Form on the RFA Information web page for more information.

A.2. Yes, lease costs are eligible. For vehicle leases, the monthly commercial vehicle lease price should be used to determine project costs. The fleet operating the leased vehicle(s) would need to be identified in the application and provide a cost-sharing commitment letter.

A.3. Yes. Please see supplemental guidance document.

A.4. Please refer to our supplemental guidance document on Underserved Communities.

A.5. No, this program does not require retirement or destruction of an old vehicle.

Regarding cost sharing splits, see guidance at top of this web page. Applicants have the option to name a cost split that works for their capital budget. From the RFA Guidance document: “Our project budget must reach a minimum local match (i.e., cost share) of 50%, per federal regulation. We are prioritizing access to federal funds for organizations and entities operating in and around underserved communities and which cannot typically make large capital purchases. To meet this goal and achieve a blended cost share of 50%, we are requesting a minimum local cost share of 60%, with federal share for vehicles capped at the incremental cost over a comparable diesel or gasoline model. For those applicants who need additional support in order to participate, cost sharing is flexible and according to need. Please see the Application Form on the RFA Information web page for more information.

A.6. To the extent possible, cost-sharing determinations will be based on applicant requests via the Application Form as described in the Budget Workbook. The evaluation criteria identified on page 6 of the RFA Guidance document will determine which applicants will be selected in a competitive process.

Applicants should use the supplemental guidance document on Underserved Communities to justify requests for more than 45% federal share.

A.7. Yes! Neighborhood or community-based EVSE projects are of particular interest for underserved and disadvantaged communities. This is the type of project we plan to target for leveraging the pool of funds created from the overshare provided by 60% (and higher) cost-sharing sub-recipients. We anticipate that most of these types of neighborhood or community installations will be informed by community-led engagement after MEC is awarded (provided MEC is awarded by U.S. DOE), and selected through a community-informed application process. Applicants are also encouraged to submit these projects now for consideration.

A.8. Any commercially available electric vehicles may be used in your application and project. Yes, MSRP is acceptable in lieu of a quote.

It is also acceptable to include a reasonable increase for inflation, accessory packages, etc., particularly if you are using MSRP as your pricing justification. If doing so, provide justification in a line item description in the Budget Worksheet.

A.9. Applications are due by June 29^th at 2:00pm CST. Please e-mail your Application to rfa@mec.bluesym10.work subject: “Electric Vehicle Stimulation in Divested Economies ”.

A.10. For our fleet subrecipients, outreach often means public engagement activities with the communities where the deployment is taking place, as well as availability for press releases, peer networking and panel presentation to peers and industry in the region or nationally.

MEC staff and partners will also engage with community organizations and perform direct outreach during the project period in order to facilitate community-led decision-making regarding locations for new public charging stations, interest in EV car-sharing, and similar desirable project outcomes.

A.11. The award to MEC, if we are selected, won’t be official until at least October of this year. The project term is being planned for 39 months, Oct 1, 2021, – December 31, 2024. The short answer is approximately October 2021 through December 2024.

Upon award, MEC will negotiate and finalize subrecipient Agreements with selected organizations. The typical window for procurement and deployment would be between the effective date of Subrecipient’s agreement with MEC and the end of the project period, currently planned for December 2024. Procurements can often begin on the first date of the prime award (assumed to be Oct 1, 2021), or sometimes as early as the date of notification of award (assumed to be late August), PROVIDED THE SUBRECIPIENT HAS WRITTEN CONCURRENCE FROM MEC PRIOR TO BEGINNING PROCURMENT.

A.12. Yes, we will be sending the presentation to the attendees on this webinar. It can also be downloaded from our RFA web page: metroenergy.org/resources/clean-transporation/funding-opportunities/rfa-ev-market

A.13. We require sub-recipients to purchase services and/or equipment and to complete installation prior to submitting an invoice for us to review and reimburse from.

MEC is a small nonprofit organization and does not have the cash flow to support immediate reimbursement to sub-recipients.

A.14. While MEC will offer similar opportunities when we can, these opportunities are supported by federal programming and federal funds, and the funding opportunities for vehicle technologies, alternative fuel and electrification do not have a consistent program design from year to year. This makes it hard to predict when another opportunity that will support installations will come along.

Please do not give up on this opportunity. Reach out to David Albrecht, david (at) metroenergy (dot) org, for help with this project and to assist you with completing the application.

A.15. Our experience is that prices for new technology tend to go down, rather than up. As demand rises, typically supply increases and costs goes down, but that isn’t always the case during a project term. While it is impossible to answer this question with a guarantee, our goal is a healthy and robust community, and MEC will work with sub-recipients if they need to modify or cancel their project due to price fluctuations or other extreme and unanticipated events.

A.16. First, procurements should be planned with enough lead time to deploy before the end of the project term. However, supply chain interruptions are notorious for these types of projects. Should a planned delivery be delayed beyond the project term, MEC is practiced at using the contractual option of No-Cost Time Extensions, wherein we are able to extend the project performance period without increasing the budget, in order to allow for delayed project deliveries, installations and sometimes other substantive outcomes. This option is only available with the prior knowledge and concurrence of the federal project team, and such delays should be communicated to MEC project staff as soon as they are known.

A.17. Yes, we will have compiled a list, and it is now on our RFA web page as an Additional Resource.

Note that the information compiled is an incomplete list of commercially available electric vehicles, with pricing gleaned from our past projects, from publicly available price contracts, some direct vendor quotes and other sources. It is in no way a definitive list and should be used only as a reference resource, not as an eligibility list.