DATES: Potential researchers are REQUIRED to submit a brief preproposal through appropriate Laboratory channels. Preproposals referencing Program Announcement LAB 06-17 must be received by DOE by 4:30 p.m., Eastern Time, July 6, 2006. Preproposals will be reviewed for conformance with the guidelines presented in this notice and suitability in the technical areas specified in this notice. A response to the preproposals encouraging or discouraging formal proposals will be communicated to the applicants by September 12, 2006. Complete guidance on the content and format of the preproposal is provided in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. 

Only those researchers that receive notification from DOE encouraging a formal proposal may submit a full proposal. No other formal proposals will be considered. Formal proposals in response to this notice must be received by December 12, 2006, 8:00p.m. Eastern Time. 

NUMBER OF PREPROPOSALS: each FFRDC may submit up to four preproposals as lead institution. The first four preproposals received from an FFRDC as lead institution will be considered to be that institution's official submission. BES reserves the right to encourage, in whole or in part, any, all, or none of the preproposals submitted, and may issue further guidance on the scope of the full proposal submissions of those encouraged. 

ADDRESSES: Preproposals referencing Program Announcement LAB 06-17 should be sent as PDF file attachments via e-mail to: hydrogen@science.doe.gov with Subject line specifying "Program Announcement LAB 06-17" and the primary submission category, i.e., "Novel Materials for Hydrogen Storage," "Functional Membranes," or "Nanoscale Catalysts." No FAX or mail submission of preproposals will be accepted. 

Formal Proposals 

This section pertains only to those proposers that have been encouraged to submit a full proposal. A complete formal FWP in a single Portable Document Format (PDF) file must be submitted through the DOE ePMA system (https://epma.doe.gov) as an attachment. To identify that the FWP is responding to this program announcement, please fill in the following fields in the "ePMA Create Proposal Admin Information" screen as shown: 

Proposal Short Name: 
Fiscal Year: 
Proposal Reason: 
Program Announcement Number: Lab 06-17 * 
Program announcement Title: Basic Research for the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, DOE Research Program Announcement *
Proposal Purpose: 
Estimated Proposal Begin Date: 
HQ Program Manager Organization: 
* Please use the wording shown when filling in these fields to identify that the FWP is responding to this Program Announcement. 

In order to expedite the review process, please submit a CD and two copies of the proposal using the following, by U.S. Postal Service Express Mail, any commercial mail delivery service, or when hand-carried to: 
U.S. Department of Energy 
Office of Science 
Office of Basic Energy Sciences, SC-22 
19901 Germantown Road 
Germantown, MD 20874-1290 
ATTN: Program Announcement LAB 06-17