Adjustment of NASA SMD Proposal Due Dates

Dear Colleagues,

NASA SMD is in the process of adjusting our proposal due dates to account for the effects of the recent partial government shutdown.

As a first step, all ROSES-2018 due dates — for NOI’s, Step-1 proposals, and (full) Step-2 proposals — that are impacted have been turned to “TBD”.

Between today and February 6^th, new due dates will be announced through NSPIRES for all impacted ROSES program elements. New due dates will be announced through amendments to ROSES-2018. For the most part, each appendix (each corresponding to one of the four science divisions as well as cross-divisional research) will be amended as a block. For example, proposal due dates for the three Heliophysics Division’s program elements impacted by the shutdown (B.6 Living with a Star Science, B.13 Phase I DRIVE Centers, and B.14 Second Heliophysics Space Weather Operations to Research Opportunity) were reset by amendment on January 30^th.

Expect to see amendments resetting due dates for Earth Science (Appendix A), Astrophysics (Appendix D) and Planetary Science (Appendix C) program elements over the rest of this week (January 30^th to February 1^st) and the beginning of next week (February 4^th to February 6^th).

In nearly all cases, new ROSES (full) Step-2 proposal due dates will, as previously tweeted by Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ), not be any earlier than 60 days from the end of the shutdown. In a few cases, though, the possibility of missing an important opportunity may drive the new due dates to be less than 60 days from the end of the shutdown. Such occasions will be rare, and will be included in the new amendments.

It is further anticipated that the release of ROSES-2019 will be significantly delayed. ROSES-2019 program elements that, historically, have had due dates in April and May (for example, C.2 Emerging Worlds), may be released as amendments to ROSES-2018, in order to maintain expected submission dates. Any changes of this type will be performed through amending ROSES-2018 and announced through the NSPIRES mailing list.

The proposal due date for the FINESST solicitation is also affected by the shutdown. A new due date is being reviewed and an amendment resetting the due date should appear within the next week or so.

SMD is also reviewing the impacts to announced Announcement of Opportunity (AO) schedules. Detailed plans for the affected AO’s will be announced at the Virtual Community Town Hall to be held at 2PM EST on Thursday, February 7^th.

As always, please remember that NSPIRES is the only official source of information regarding proposal due dates. Please visit the site often until all proposal due dates have been updated. 

Thanks for your patience.

Michael H. New

Deputy Associate Administrator for Research