National Training and Education Resource

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DOE seeks input from the public on its plan to transition its stewardship of NTER potentially beginning in spring 2015. Since the platform was deployed in June 2012, DOE has served as the central developer and administrator of its community, providing maintenance and technical assistance (e.g. help desk) to end users. As an open source training platform, NTER is available for any entitys use in creating its own node and registry. DOE would like to transition the administration of the NTER system to an entity that will further develop its capability and expand its use through marketing and branding. DOE has a mission is to ensure Americas security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. Serving as the central administrator and core developer for NTER on a sustained basis is not within DOEs core mission. DOEs intent has been to transfer stewardship of the platform to an entity within the open source community in order to maximize market adoption while fostering open source, shared learning environments. It is envisioned that one or more non-governmental entities with expertise in open source development of educational content creation and sharing will be most qualified to take over this well-developed product and its customer base. This Request for Information (RFI) seeks input from those entities interested in taking over NTER as well as from impacted parties. DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: The purpose of this RFI is to gather feedback from stakeholders prior to DOE potentially issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). This RFI is not a FOA, therefore, DOE is not accepting applications at this time. All responses to this RFI must be provided as an attachment (in Microsoft Word format) to an e-mail message addressed to NTER-RFI@ee.doe.gov no later than 8:00 p.m. (ET) on December 3, 2014. The full content of the announcement can be found on the EERE Exchange website at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov. EERE may issue a FOA in the future based on or related to the content and responses to this RFI, however, EERE may also elect not to issue a FOA. There is no guarantee that a FOA will be issued as a result of this RFI. Responding to this RFI does not provide any advantage or disadvantage to potential applicants if EERE chooses to issue a FOA regarding the subject matter. Final details, including the anticipated award size, quantity, and timing of EERE-funded awards, will be subject to congressional appropriations and direction. Any information obtained as a result of this RFI is intended to be used by the government on a non-attribution basis for planning and strategy development; this RFI does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. Responses to this notice will be treated as information only. EERE will review and consider all responses in its formulation of program strategies for the identified materials of interest that are the subject of this request. EERE will not reimburse costs incurred in responding to this RFI. Respondents are advised that EERE is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Responses to this RFI do not bind EERE to any further actions related to this topic.

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