Cycle 3 Stage 2 (Budget Proposal) Announcement
The international Suzaku project has completed the evaluation of proposals for the guest observer (GO) time during Cycle 3, which, for US PIs, were solicited as part of an element of ROSES 2007.
A list of accepted targets is available on the web.
US-based investigators are now invited to submit Stage 2 (budget) proposals for support of selected Cycle 3 proposals. The Suzaku Cycle 3 Guest Observer program is not soliciting new proposals. Monetary support is open only to Guest Observers with approved Stage 1 proposals affiliated with US institutions and who expect to remain so during the grant period. Eligible individuals include (a) US PIs (including those whose observations were merged with Japanese proposals), and (b) US Co-Is on foreign-PI proposals, where the involvement of the US Co-I is significant and critical to the success of that investigation. Any other submission will not be considered.
Note that only one budget per accepted observing proposal is permitted; i.e., US PIs must submit a budget including the required support for all of the eligible co-Is, and the US Co-Is on a foreign-PI proposal must designate a Lead Co-I and submit a budget as a group.
Note also that budget proposals for priority C and TOO targets MUST be submitted at this time, NOT after the observation has been carried out.
In formulating a realistic funding request, proposers should take into account factors such as the scope, complexity, and relative ranking of the investigation, including any modification (e.g., deletion of targets, reduction in observing time) to the original proposal. Additional factors that will be considered include the possible presence of other proposals for which a particular PI or Co-I is requesting funding under this solicitation, and other sources of support relevant to this request.
We anticipate that a total of between $1.2 M and $1.7 M will be available for Cycle 3 guest observers, depending on the outcome of the ongoing Senior Review. The higher amount is the same total as was available for Cycle 2, which had a similar number of eligible proposers. For reference, in Cycle 2 the nominal award to a US PI on a priority A proposal with 80 ksec of exposure time was $25,000 in direct costs, plus associated indirect costs, on average. For comparable investigations, Priority B proposals averaged 80% of this, while priority C proposals averaged 50%. In addition, the nominal award amounts were adjusted according to the total exposure time involved. US co-Is on foreign proposals typically received 40% of the funding awarded to US PIs, other things being equal. Strong justifications are required for requests exceeding the average award for the proposal priority (A/B/C), type (PI vs co-I), and exposure times. We plan to use the same process in determining the nominal Cycle 3 awards and anticipate a similar distribution as for Cycle 2. In addition, we hope to be able to fund Long Program proposals at higher levels than comparable "normal" proposals, with awards up to approximately 50% above the nominal level. Note, however, that given the uncertainty in the total available funding for Cycle 3, we may be forced to reduce the nominal proposal funding level by approximately 30%.
For Stage 2, a review team comprised of a subset of the Stage 1 Panel will be convened by NASA to review the cost proposals against factor (3) of the evaluation criteria as specified in Section C.2 of the 2007 NASA Office of Space Science Guidebook for Proposers. Based upon the results of the above reviews, the Suzaku Program Scientist will recommend a set of proposals to the Director, Astrophysics Division, Science Mission Directorate, for final selection.
The budget must be submitted through the NASA NSPIRES system, by an official authorized to legally bind your institution, and should be accompanied by an NSPIRES cover page for the proposal. Your original proposal document should also be attached to this proposal record as a single PDF file. You must not make any changes to this document, even to correct minor typographical errors. Budgets should be received in the NSPIRES system by May 5, 2008. If you have any technical questions about using NSPIRES, please contact the NSPIRES Help Desk on (202) 479-9376, or by email at nspires-help@nasaprs.com.
We expect to complete the Stage 2 Review by 2008 late July, at which time you will be informed of the final recommended funding level for your proposal(s). Funding for investigations will be awarded after the associated observations have been performed.
Any questions about this process may be directed to the Suzaku Guest Observer Facility, except for technical questions about NSPIRES, as indicated above.
If you have any questions concerning Suzaku, visit the Feedback form.