NSF Proposal Elements and Planning US APA Construction Proposal Workshop June 10-11, 2019 Ed Blucher David Schmitz
Proposal Elements • Project Summary (1 page) • Project Description (25 pages) • References Cited • Biographical Sketches (2 pages each) • COAs • Subaward Budgets and Budget Justifications • Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources • List of Senior Personnel • List of Partner Institutions • Project Execution Plan • Cost and Schedule • Letters of Collaboration • Commitment Letters from ‘host organization’ 2
Proposal Elements • Project Summary (1 page) ~done • Project Description (25 pages) • References Cited ~done • Biographical Sketches (2 pages each) ~done • COAs ~done • Subaward Budgets and Budget Justifications update • Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources update • List of Senior Personnel ~done • List of Partner Institutions ~done • Project Execution Plan • Cost and Schedule • Letters of Collaboration • Commitment Letters from ‘host organization’ 3
Project Description Science Drivers A. a. Describe potential for addressing one or more identified high-priority science goals, its potential for advancing scientific discovery, and the project’s potential to benefit the broader U.S. research community. A flagship particle physics experiment in the US i. b. P5 report: https://www.usparticlephysics.org/ Pursue the physics of neutrino mass i. c. NSF’s 10 Big Ideas: https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/big_ideas/ Mid-scale Research Infrastructure i. Windows on the Universe ii. Pre-implementation Activities Accomplished B. a. Include results from prior NSF support and other relevant activities that have prepared the infrastructure project to be implemented. Chicago/Syracuse/Wisconsin/Yale 2018 planning grant i. Past NSF investment in LArTPC development and neutrino experiments ii. ProtoDUNE-SP iii. 4
Project Description Implementation Plan C. a. Discuss the management and technical activities that will be accomplished to prepare, initiate, execute and conclude implementation of the project through commissioning. This section should include a summary of the Project Execution Plan including a description of technical readiness and project management, and an organizational chart or list of senior personnel and their roles. Operations and Utilization Plan D. a. Discuss the overall plan for operating the infrastructure including as a minimum management/governance plans, strategy for access and utilization of the infrastructure by the target research communities, and planned metrics and evaluation of the success and impact of the NSF investment in this infrastructure. This section must also identify the anticipated sources of operations and maintenance funding, including any needs for ongoing, NSF-supported operations and maintenance that may be requested outside of the Mid-scale RI-2 program. 5
Project Description Life-cycle Cost Estimation E. a. Summarize the life-cycle cost estimation. Include a summary of activities and key cost drivers for each future lifecycle stage starting with implementation and ending with divestment. Broader Impacts F. a. This section should describe the anticipated broader impacts of the infrastructure, and specifically include how the implementation of the proposed infrastructure contributes to student training and involvement of a diverse workforce in mid-scale infrastructure development, and/or data management and the research activities stemming from such facilities. Provide an estimate of the size of the anticipated user base for the proposed research infrastructure and the basis of this estimate. International Component G. a. Proposals with an international component should include a description of the foreign collaborator’s role in the project. Collaboration with UK to supply half of APAs for first two DUNE modules i. 6
Project Execution Plan (PEP) Guidelines for the PEP are given in the (285 page) NSF • Major Facilities Guide: - https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/lfo/docs/Major_Facilities_Guide_2019_Draft_For_Public_Comment_December_2018.pdf PEP has a prescribed outline with 16 Sections: • - Introduction - Organization - Design and Development - Construction Project Definition - Staffing orange sections are - Risk and Opportunity Management required for mid-scale, - Systems Engineering others are optional - Configuration Control - Acquisitions - Project Management Controls - Site and Environment - Cyber-infrastructure - Environmental, Safety, and Health - Review and Reporting - Integration and Commissioning - Project Close-Out 7
Subaward Budgets … and justifications • We’ll review each of the Work Packages at this meeting and discuss the details of the local execution plans: - Are the costs well estimated? - BoEs and/or vendor quotes available for everything? - Are the schedule assumptions realistic? - Are local facilities and resources adequate? - What are the setup requirements and start-up plan for local operations? - What is the local staffing plan? Type of labor, hours, and rates? - How much uncosted ‘scientific labor’ is assumed? 8
Subaward Budgets … and justifications We need updated drafts of Budgets and Budget Justifications by • the end of the month - Friday, June 28 Budget files can be sent directly to: • - Dave Schmitz: dwschmitz@uchicago.edu - James Eason: jeason@uchicago.edu Budget Justifications: I will send new shares to a Google Doc file • that will initially contain your pre-proposal Budget Justification - USE IT! - If you want to develop it offline in a docx offline, fine, but move the text into the google doc file when done. - Later refinements should be done directly in the google doc - This is how we guarantee common formatting and how we make sure we do not lose a final version in an email attachment! 9
Facilities … Equipment, and Other Resources • Guidance from Solicitation: - For NSF to review the scope of a proposed project, all organizational resources necessary for, and available to, a project must be described in this section of the proposal. - Proposers should describe only those resources that are directly applicable. - The description should not include any quantifiable financial information. - Proposers should include a description of the internal and external resources -- both physical and personnel -- that the organization and its collaborators will provide to the project, if funded. - Such information must be provided in this section, in lieu of other parts of the proposal (e.g., budget justification, project description). • Please review your text against the above criteria!! - Unfunded personnel resources (‘scientific labor’) are a big issue to be included. How much off-project labor is included in your plan? We need a quantitative breakdown of how much NSF-base-supported and • DOE-base-supported “scientific labor” is anticipated in each of the work plans (total FTEs and as a percentage of the effort). This will inform our Risk and Contingency estimates in the proposal. • - Need this also by June 28. 10
Drafting of Other Proposal Documents Proposal PI team organizing the drafting of Project • Description and Project Execution Plan - Aim for complete drafts by mid-July Cost Book and Schedule will be done in consultation with • Alberto (DUNE project controls) and must reflect the final Budgets for the subawards - Hence needing them back before June 28 11
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