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XMM-Newton AO-2 STAGE II SUPPLEMENT - FAQ

This document supplements the information contained in the XMM-Newton AO-2 Budget Proposal document, in the form of questions and answers. Information on the XMM-Newton project can be found in the XMM-Newton Mission Description, in the XMM-Newton Users' Handbook (GSFC or VILSPA links), and in the WWW pages of the XMM-Newton GOF.

  • 1) WHERE SHOULD THE BUDGETS BE SENT, HOW MANY COPIES ARE REQUIRED, AND WHEN ARE THEY DUE?

  • 2) WHERE ARE THE BUDGET FORMS, AND MUST THEY BE USED?

  • 3) IS AN INSTITUTIONAL ENDORSEMENT (SIGNATURE) REQUIRED?

  • 4) WHAT IS A REASONABLE FUNDING REQUEST?

  • 5) HOW CAN THE PAYING OF DOUBLE OVERHEAD BE AVOIDED ON GRANTS FOR CO-Is AT OTHER INSTITUTIONS?

  • 6) HOW DO I INCLUDE SUBGRANTS AND SUBCONTRACTS FOR Co-Is AT DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS?

  • 7) CAN U.S. Co-Is ON FOREIGN-LED (FOREIGN PI) PROPOSALS SUBMIT BUDGETS?

  • 8) CAN BUDGETS BE SUBMITTED FOR GT (GUARANTEED TIME) OBSERVATIONS?

  • 9) CAN BUDGETS BE SUBMITTED FOR ARCHIVE PROPOSALS?

  • 10) CAN ONE BUDGET BE SUBMITTED TO COVER SEVERAL DIFFERENT PROPOSALS?

  • 11) WHAT DOES THE IDEAL BUDGET SUBMISSION CONTAIN?

  • 12) WHAT COMPUTER HARDWARE DO I REQUIRE?

  • 13) WHEN WILL THE RESULTS BE ANNOUNCED

  • 14) WHAT ARE THE INSTITUTIONAL CERTIFICATIONS?

  • 15) USEFUL WWW SITES/PAGES

    • 1) WHERE SHOULD THE BUDGETS BE SENT, HOW MANY COPIES ARE REQUIRED, AND WHEN ARE THEY DUE?
      • Ten hard copies, to

        XMM-Newton Guest Observer Program
        Code 662
        Building 2, Room 250
        Goddard Space Flight Center
        National Aeronautics and Space Administration
        Greenbelt, MD 20771-0001

        by/on 4:30 PM EST, Friday, 18 October 2002. Electronic submission is required for the RPS forms by the same date and time.
    • 2) WHERE ARE THE BUDGET FORMS, AND MUST THEY BE USED?
      • You can get PostScript, pdf, or LaTex versions of the budget forms by anonymous FTP from the XMM-Newton GOF site (ftp://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/xmm, the forms are located in doc/ao2/nra_forms/) Use of these forms is mandatory, as stated in the Budget Proposal document (you may, in addition, attach your institution's own set of forms at the end of the proposal). In particular, please make sure you identify each proposal with its number to help us avoid clerical confusion. Additional information and instructions for filling out the budget form and budget justification can be found in the Budget Proposal document and Budget Form Instructions.
    • 3) IS AN INSTITUTIONAL ENDORSEMENT (SIGNATURE) REQUIRED?
      • Yes. NASA requires a signature for all budget submissions. The General Form must be included with both PI (or Lead Co-I) and institutional signatures. Separate institutional signatures on additional General Forms are required for any subgrants/subcontracts which will go directly to Co-Is at institutions other than that of the PI/Lead Co-I.
    • 4) WHAT IS A REASONABLE FUNDING REQUEST?
      • Approximately $5M is available for funding XMM-Newton AO-2 investigations. Of these funds, ~$4.4M will be used to support ~90 US PI investigations and ~$0.6M will be used to support the US Co-Is on ~60 foreign PI investigations (at clearly a significantly reduced level). The average US PI proposals will receive ~$50K while the Co-Is of an average Foreign PI proposals will receive ~10K. The PIs of US PI proposals will receive a "fair share" budget value by e-mail.
    • 5) HOW CAN THE PAYING OF DOUBLE OVERHEAD BE AVOIDED ON GRANTS FOR CO-Is AT OTHER INSTITUTIONS?
      • If a Co-I at an institution different from that of the PI (or Lead Co-I of a foreign PI proposal) is requesting money, put this request on the "subgrant" line (Line 5 of the budget form, including no institutional overhead from the PI institution) and submit a separate, standard budget page, separate budget justification, and separate signed General Form in the PI's package. We will fund the Co-Is directly, so there will be no double overhead.
    • 6) HOW DO I INCLUDE SUBGRANTS AND SUBCONTRACTS FOR Co-Is AT DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS?
      • A separate budget form and budget justification must be included for Co-Is at institutions other than the home institution of the PI/Lead Co-I (one set for each institution). In addition, a separate General Form with institutional endorsement signature from the Co-I institution and Co-I signature is required for each separate Co-I institution where funding is requested. On the PI/Lead Co-I budget form, note that the subgrant funds request (Budget Line 5) should only include those funds which will go to the Co-I institution. Specifically, it should not include any overhead charged by the PI institution.
    • 7) CAN U.S. Co-Is ON FOREIGN-LED (FOREIGN PI) PROPOSALS SUBMIT BUDGETS?
      • NASA will consider modest (~$9 K) requests for funding. Only one budget will be allowed for each proposal, so US Co-Is on a foreign PI proposal must select a Lead Co-I for the budget process.
    • 8) CAN BUDGETS BE SUBMITTED FOR GT (GUARANTEED TIME) OBSERVATIONS?
      • No. This includes GT programs with both US and foreign PIs.
    • 9) CAN BUDGETS BE SUBMITTED FOR ARCHIVE PROPOSALS?
      • No. Budget proposals for the use of XMM-Newton data from the public archive must be submitted to the ADP program.
    • 10) CAN ONE BUDGET BE SUBMITTED TO COVER SEVERAL DIFFERENT PROPOSALS?
      • No. Only one budget per proposal, and one proposal per budget will be allowed.
    • 11) WHAT DOES THE IDEAL BUDGET SUBMISSION CONTAIN?
      • It contains:
        1. Copies of the Cover Page, General Page, and Target Page(s) from RPS, marked with the proposal number (provided in the ESA proposal-results e-mail), with the GO signature, and with the Institute Endorsement filled out and signed.
        2. The four-page Scientific Justification from the observation proposal.
        3. Itemized budget information for the PI (or Lead Co-I) and any Co-Is; use the form provided, optionally with your institution's own forms in addition placed at the end of the proposal.
        4. Budget forms and signed General Forms for Co-Is at institutions other than that of the PI/Lead Co-I for which funding is being requested.
        5. BRIEF budget justifications for the PI (or Lead Co-I) and any Co-I to be funded separately, not to exceed one page, providing the rationale for the various cost items and amounts requested.
        6. A detailed breakdown of the responsibility of the various investigators who are requesting funding.
        7. Information about other sources of support (e.g., other active NASA grants). Forms are provided.
        8. No additional cover letters, cardboard bindings, preprints, etc., are to be included.
          NOTE: Do not allow your institution to add their own cover page as the first page of the proposal. Some institution grant offices apparently feel the need to cover up a perfectly good cover page with a piece of paper which is totally useless to anyone besides themselves. We do not need such a page, we do not want such a page, and it gets in the way. If your institution absolutely needs to add such pages, they must be included only at the end of the proposal. Violation of this rule will be grounds for rejection of the proposal.

        See the Budget Proposal document for page limitations and the page order in which the budgets are to be assembled.

        In addition, submit the Cover Page, General Form, and Target Form(s) through RPS. Only the PI/Lead Co-I should electronically submit the Cover Page, General Form, and Target Form(s). There is NO electronic submission of any other forms, i.e., the budget forms are not electronically submitted. Co-Is must provide their signed General Form (as well as the budget form and justification) to the PI/Lead Co-I for inclusion with the hardcopy submission.

    • 12) WHAT COMPUTER HARDWARE DO I REQUIRE?
      • All GO data is pipeline-processed by the XMM-Newton SOC using the Science Analysis Software (SAS). This aims to deliver data products to the GO in a form where FTOOL data analysis can be performed using the current FTOOLS v4.2 release. No special computing requirements are required to run FTOOLS. In addition, it should be possible to carry out scientific analysis of XMM-Newton data using the Chandra CIAO package. GOs will in general not need to use SAS for the majority of their data analysis, but will find it necessary to use SAS for tasks such as incorporating improved calibrations into their data as the mission advances and recalculating response matrices. In order to run the SAS at your institution a machine of 250MB RAM is the minimum requirement. Currently SAS is supported on Solaris 2.6 but upgrades to 2.7 and 2.8 are planned. SAS is also supported on Linux (RedHat and SUSI) and Dec OSF.
    • 13 WHEN WILL THE RESULTS BE ANNOUNCED?
      • We hope to notify PIs of the results of the budget review in 2002 December.
    • 14) WHAT ARE THE INSTITUTIONAL CERTIFICATIONS?
      • For the grant process, NASA requires certain certifications from institutions to be on record. Currently these are the 1) Lobbying, 2) Debarment/Suspension, and 3) Civil Rights certifications. The forms no longer need to be separately submitted. Now, the institutional-endorsement signature on the General Form doubles as the institutional certification. Copies of the certification texts can be found at: Certifications.
    • 15) Useful WWW SITES/PAGES

    If you have any questions concerning XMM-Newton and/or the budget process send e-mail to xmmhelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov

    If you have any questions concerning XMM-Newton send email to xmmhelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov