State Announces Wright Projects Program RFP and Key Dates

The Ohio Department of Development has issued FY2011 Ohio Third Frontier Wright Projects Program (OTFWPP) Request for Proposals.

These grants provide capital equipment to support research commercialization activities and may address any one or a combination of Ohio’s five key opportunity areas, including advanced/alternative energy; instruments, controls and electronics; advanced materials; advanced propulsion; and, biomedical. The Third Frontier anticipates awarding up to $21 million in grants through the FY2011 Wright Projects program.

Key dates and events include:

• November 10, 2010: Bidders’ conference will be held at 1:00 p.m. at TechColumbus, 1275 Kinnear Road in Columbus. Attendance at the conference is encouraged, but is not mandatory. Registration is not required.

• November 30, 2010: Letters of Intent (LOI) to file a full proposal are due by 2:00 p.m. LOIs must be sent to OTFWPP2011@development.ohio.gov, with the subject line “2011 OTFWPP LOI”.

• December 30, 2010: ODOD will respond to written questions through December 30. All questions regarding this RFP must be submitted in writing via e-mail to OTFWPP2011@development.ohio.gov, with the subject line “OTFWPP Q&A”.

• January 20, 2011: Full proposals are due no later than 2:00 p.m. ET.

• Approximately May 2011: Review and awards.

 Applicants should be aware of Governor Strickland’s Executive Order 2010-09S, “Banning the Expenditures of Public Funds for Offshore Services.” The Executive Order and the required Affirmation & Disclosure Form can be found in Attachment EO under the OTFWPP RFP website. Applicants are required to submit the completed Affirmation & Disclosure Form with their OTFWPP proposal.

The RFP, application and budget forms are available here.