The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) offers the opportunity of pre-screening Principal Investigator (PI) experience requirements to prospective investigators who plan to respond to its Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for Small Explorer (SMEX) missions, a draft of which was released for public comment on June 8, 2007. A copy of the draft AO is available at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ (select "Solicitations" then "Open Solicitations" then “Small Explorer (SMEX) and Missions of Opportunity – DRAFT (NNH07ZDA00XO)”). The PI minimum experience requirements will be described in Section 4.5.1 and Appendix H of the AO when it is released, and instructions for demonstrating the satisfaction of the PI minimum experience requirements will be described in Appendix B part I.7 of the final AO.
The text for these sections has been revised and clarified from the text that was provided in the draft AO. The revised text for Section 4.5.1, Appendix B part I.7, and Appendix H are available at the SMEX Additional Information Page at http://explorers.larc.nasa.gov/smexacq.html and should be used in lieu of the text provided in the draft AO. NASA intends to include this revised text in the final AO.
Investigators desiring pre-screening should submit a completed copy of Table B7 as revised. A copy of the revised Table B7 as well as instructions for submitting the completed revised Table B7 are available at the SMEX Additional Information Page at http://explorers.larc.nasa.gov/smexacq.html .
NASA is offering this opportunity as a service to prospective investigators. A request for pre-screening is thus voluntary and is not required by NASA. It is the intent of NASA to offer the pre-screening opportunity after release of the final AO as well. In response to the request for pre-screening, NASA will inform the investigator that the submitted Table B7 is, or is not, sufficient to demonstrate that the PI minimum experience requirements as described in the revised AO text have been met. For submissions that do not adequately demonstrate that the PI minimum experience requirements have been met, NASA will indicate which component of the PI minimum experience requirements has not been demonstrated by the submission. NASA’s response will be through an email to the submitter.
NASA intends to include in the final AO the revised text being made available. If the Table B7 submitted passes the pre-screening, then this same Table B7 will be adequate to pass the compliance check for PI minimum experience if this Table B7 is included in the proposal submitted to NASA in response to the final AO.
Release of the final SMEX AO has not been formally approved by NASA. By offering this service to prospective investigators at this time (prior to release), NASA is under no obligation to issue the AO and solicit proposals. Any costs incurred by prospective investigators in preparing submissions in response this invitation are incurred completely at the submitter's own risk.
NASA will conduct screenings every 3 weeks prior to release of the SMEX AO. Submissions received by July 13 will receive a response from NASA by July 23. Submissions received by August 3 will receive a response from NASA by August 13. Submissions received by August 24 will receive a response from NASA by September 4. Submissions received by September 14 will receive a response from NASA by September 24. Additional opportunities will be announced in the SMEX AO.
Questions may be addressed to Dr. Hashima Hasan, Explorer Program Scientist, Science Mission Directorate, NASA, Washington, DC 20546; Tel.: (202) 358-0692; Email: smexao@nasa.gov.
