2006 - 2007 Request for Proposals

Introduction

· To provide a national resource of education and technology development programs.

· To develop and deploy new environmental management technologies that provide for training of students and long-term visibility for WERC's programs.

· To increase expertise and sensitivity to environmental management issues.

· Develop cooperative proposals with other entities, and projects to ensure WERC’s future self-sustenance.

· Provide hands-on, laboratory and field-based educational opportunities for students and faculty.

· Advance the present state of knowledge resulting in immediate transfer of leading-edge technologies.

· Advance the knowledge of processes, policies, economics, and social concerns which affect environmental education, environmental restoration, pollution prevention, energy, water, human health, food safety, and waste management and disposal as well as stakeholder communications, risk assessment, and decision analysis.

· Provide solutions for problems associated with the DOE, and other federal, state, and industrial environmental situations (oil and gas, chemical/petrochemical, power, etc.).

· Stress collaboration among the Consortium universities and national laboratories, private industry, and government agencies.

· Provide a 30 percent documented cost share of both direct costs and indirect costs from a collaborative partner such as private industry, state agency or private foundation.

All proposals should provide a concise explanation of the ways the project will promote strong graduate, undergraduate or technical education/training in the above listed areas. Documentation should clearly indicate the number of students, fields of specialization, and degrees or certificates expected to result from participation in the project.

· Focus on issues specific to arid and semiarid environments.

· Present a plan for field demonstration of technology.

· Include an education enhancement focus; present an opportunity for WERC to participate in commercialization of project results.

· Are self sustaining beyond 2007.

· Demonstration/Deployment: including mitigation, remediation, extraction of raw materials, use of raw materials, pollution prevention, generation, treatment, storage, transportation and disposal.

· Broad Issues: including risk, decision analysis, pollution prevention, cost, policy and stakeholder outreach.

· Waste Sources: including hazardous, toxic, nuclear, oil, chemical, petrochemical and gas.

· Medias of Contamination: including soil, ground water, surface water and air.

· New Initiatives: focusing on border issues, energy, pollution prevention, food contamination prevention and potable water.

 

For more information, contact:
Roseann Thompson, Program Manager
(505) 646-7854

Proposal Considerations

A letter of intent and abstract must be submitted in order to qualify for consideration of the full proposal. Proposals which do not have a letter of intent and abstract on file at the WERC administrative office will be returned to the principal investigator without review.

It is preferred that letters of intent and abstracts be emailed as a .pdf file to rethomps@nmsu.edu . Or sent to the following address:

Proposal Submission Date: Final complete proposals (including cost share commitment letters) must be received by 5 p.m. on February 1, 2006. Proposals should be emailed to rethomps@nmsu.edu. The anticipated start date for a new or a renewal projects is August 1, 2006 with a period of performance of August 1, 2006 – July 31, 2007. Extensions of time will not be allowed.

1. Number of Copies: E-mail the proposal to rethomps@nmsu.edu in a single PDF file. The PDF file must contain the support letter(s). Faxed proposals will not be considered. However, a fax of the signed support letter will be allowed. Please email rethomps@nmsu.edu prior to faxing the support letter.

2. Proposal Length: The proposal (main body, excluding the title page and the two-page executive summary) must not exceed 10 single-sided pages on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper and no smaller than 10 point font is acceptable. Proposals and appended materials must not exceed a maximum of 20 single-sided pages. Any proposals exceeding the 20-page limit will be considered non-responsive, returned to the PI, and removed from the competition.

3. Proposal Content: Each proposal shall consist of a project information page, executive summary, the main body, and the proposal budget sheet(s). The executive summary shall not exceed two single spaced pages. Begin a new page with the main body of the proposal. For those wishing to apply for the larger award, please include a section entitled "potential additional work" and include a draft budget within this section. This section is limited to 2 pages.

a. Technical merit, sound approach, and the potential to advance the state-of-the-knowledge. Adequate review of the state of the current technology.

b. Meeting the research framework and objectives. Plan for field deployment in 2007. 

c. 30 percent cost-share of both direct and indirect costs.

d. Adequate support for training of undergraduate and graduate students.

e. Investigators' qualifications and past accomplishments, consortium member collaboration, industrial participation and other external collaboration.

f. Adequacy of facilities, budget and equipment.

g. Overall rating of the proposal.

h. contribution to the self-sustenance.

i. Potential for deployment.

j. Conformance with the overall mission and strategic long-range plan.

k. Graduate and undergraduate student support.

l. Use of existing consortium research facilities and equipment.

m. Sufficient planning for technology deployment and commercialization.

 

a. Project Title: Use a concise, descriptive title that clearly reflects a specific relationship to an environmental issue. Such titles should include "keywords" suitable for indexing and retrieval purposes. The project title should not exceed 100 characters including spaces. If the project qualifies as a renewal grant, the word RENEWAL should be placed after the project title.

b. Keywords: Identify three to five keywords which best describe the project.

c. Duration: Indicate the total duration in months and the proposed starting and ending dates. The total project period requiring WERC funding can not extend beyond 12 months (However the project should show how the project will lead to a site demonstration and self sustenance beyond 2007). WERC is expected to award funding to projects for a 12 month period beginning on August 1, 2006.

d. Funds Requested: 2006-2007__________

e. Cost Share Funds: 2006-2007__________

f. Source of Cost Share Funds: List the name of the collaborative partner such as private industry, or private foundation.

g. Name and Affiliation of Principal and Co-Investigator(s) and Collaborator(s): List all investigators and collaborators who will actively participate in the research project.
Principal Investigator
Title, Department, Consortium University,  Address Collaborator Discipline of Expertise, Affiliation, Phone Number, E-mail
Co-Investigator
Title, Department, Consortium University, Address, Collaborator Discipline of Expertise, Affiliation, Phone Number, E-mail

h. Statement of the Problem(s): Indicate the local, state, regional, or national issue(s) to be addressed by the project, including an explanation of the need for research. This section should not exceed two paragraphs.

i. Statement of the Results, Benefits, and/or Information Expected: Indicate the results, benefits or information expected to be gained from the project and how they will be used. Describe in detail any long-term, large-scale plans that might be explored as a result of this project, include possible external funding sources. This section should not exceed two paragraphs.

 

a. Nature, Scope, and Objectives of the Research:
First, include a detailed statement describing the specific problem(s) to which the proposed research is addressed. It should describe, in non-technical terms, the relevance of the proposed research to the problem(s) and the relevance of the sponsored research to existing or foreseeable local, state, regional, or national problems. The proposal must also address the importance and value to WERC. The second statement should describe the specific project objectives clearly setting forth the purpose(s) of the investigation.

b. Methods, Procedures and Facilities:
Provide sufficient information to permit technical evaluation, as well as the approach to meet the research objectives.

c. Related Research and Environmental/health issue:
Show by literature and communication citations the similarities and dissimilarities of this project to completed or ongoing research on the same topic.

d. Other Research Support:
Include a brief summary of involvement by the investigator(s) in other current research support, pending proposals to other funding agencies, and recent past research support. Information to be supplied should include title of project, funding agency, amount of grant or proposal and status.

e. Cost Sharing:
All proposals must clearly document a 30 percent cost-share for both direct and indirect costs. If the request is for $60,000, the cost share would be $25,715, making a total of $85,715. Formula: Total Budget Request divided by 70 percent equals the total dollars on which to base cost sharing dollars. Additional letters of commitment, supporting data, and specific evidence documenting cost share information should be placed in the appendix. Approval to include cost-share in the proposed project must be indicated on the research budget page by signature of the home unit's director of research and fiscal officer.
Priority will be given to projects with significant external cost-share funding. Examples of cost-sharing include: direct support of faculty and student time, supplies, equipment, indirect costs, materials furnished by other organizations, equipment furnished by other organizations, and other external unrestricted funds awarded to the Consortium institution which can be used to enhance the research. Federal funding, including pass through to industry, is not allowed to be shown as cost share. All cost sharing and equipment purchasing must be performed during the funding phase. All cost entities must be able to furnish documentation.

f. Collaboration:
Inter-university, national laboratory, and/or industrial collaboration must be described in sufficient detail to identify the role of each organization and investigator. This section should clearly identify strengths, complimentary nature, and expected contribution from each organization and investigator/collaborator. If resources outside the consortium members are a part of the proposal and require funding, clear justification for not using consortium collaboration is required. Subcontracts will be closely scrutinized and are not generally encouraged.

g. Student Support:
Provide a detailed explanation of the ways this project will seek to promote strong graduate and/or undergraduate training in the areas discussed previously. In addition, indicate the number of students, fields of specialization, and degrees expected to result from participation in the project.

h. Past Performance:
Accomplishments of the investigators over the past five years resulting from funds obtained through WERC or other external funding sources will be considered. Clearly document in a short narrative with reference to the results such as but not limited to peer reviewed publications, patents, awards, etc. This section should not exceed one-third of a page in length.

i. Expenditures:
Use your university's accepted budget form to estimate all expenditure categories. For renewal projects, include the final previous budget and a summary of expenditures through the date of submission of the new proposal.

1. Project Staff: costs of personnel assigned to the research project. Only consortium university personnel are allowed.

2. Fringe Benefits: charged at the usual and customary rate of the member institution. Tuition and student fees are not allowed.

3. Laboratory Services: Charges for laboratory services are permitted if the same or similar services cannot be performed at a consortium facility.

4. Other Services: Other services include communications, printing and reproduction, and computing. Charges for computing services (if needed) are allowable expenses. All computing charges must be thoroughly documented and justified in the proposal and indicated clearly on a separate line of the budget sheet.

5. Travel: Research related travel should be incorporated in the project budget. Research related travel includes travel required to perform the research. As examples, travel to survey field sites, obtain samples, or review documents otherwise not available, will be considered to be research related travel. Travel should be divided into in-state and out-of-state categories and should include the location, frequency, duration and number of people traveling. Travel is limited to the continental U.S. travel. Travel to conferences in not allowed under this RFP. All travel must conform to appropriate federal circulars and university policy.

6. Supplies: Expendable supplies should be listed by category. The two major categories are office and laboratory supplies. Each individual expendable item should not exceed $250. Office supplies will require justification as to the specific benefit to the research. Computer software considered to be generic will also require specific justification. If specialized computer software is required for the consortium project, it should also be listed and identified in a separate category.

7. Cost Share: The budget must indicate cost sharing on each item (i.e. personnel, equipment, etc.). The amount of the cost share must be shown in the budget sheet and clearly described on a separate, attached sheet. The description should include how the cost share is provided and how it will be documented. Each consortium university is responsible for documenting and submitting cost share information.

NOTES: Due to varying indirect cost rates, each participating consortium university should submit separate budget sheets. All budgets originating at the NMSU Engineering Department must be approved and signed by Linda Schauer at the Engineering Research Center; budgets originating from other NMSU Departments must be approved and signed by the department’s contract person; and budgets originating from UNM, NM Tech and Diné College must be approved and signed by the appropriate contract person. Proposals that have not been approved will be excluded from evaluation.
 

j. Investigator(s) Qualifications:
Include a resume of the principal investigator, co-investigators, and collaborators. Resumes should not exceed two pages and list less than ten pertinent publications. The principal investigator is the primary individual who is responsible and accountable for the conduct of the research. If project funding is awarded, the principal investigator will be expected to agree with and abide by terms and conditions designed to assure adequate project oversight and efficient communication with WERC and the principal investigator's host institution.

          k. Potential Additional Work (optional section):

For those wishing to apply for the larger award, identify the work that will be done and include a draft budget within this section. Should you apply for this you may use an additional two pages to address the work. The two pages should be removable from the main proposal, i.e. start this section on a new page.