A Process for Selection and Preparation of GCOOS Proposals

The GCOOS Board of Directors has established a process for responding to opportunities such as the recent NOAA FY 2008 Announcement of Federal Funding Opportunity for Regional Integrated Ocean Observing Systems. The process will employ the organizational structure of the GCOOS Regional Association together with inputs from members of the GCOOS listserve mailing list. The selection process will rely prominently on the views of our Data Management and Communication, Products and Services, and Observing System Committees and our Education and Outreach Council (EOC). The process will remain under the control of the Board at all stages.

During this process, members of the Board and members of other GCOOS bodies involved must exercise due diligence to avoid conflicts of interest.

1. The GCOOS listserve will be used to notify the GCOOS community of this opportunity and to solicit suggestions for potential projects and expressions of interest in participation as appropriate for the project. All suggestions will be forwarded to the Board and to chairs of the GCOOS EOC and Committees for consideration.

   TIMELINE:
   10 July 2007 - Notice sent out to GCOOS list serve Completed
   24 July 2007 - Community suggestions provided to GCOOS Office which forwards, on receipt, to appropriate GCOOS groups for consideration Completed

2. The Board provides chairs with their suggested projects based on workshops and meetings held to date. The Board asks chairs of EOC and Committees to canvas their members for suggested projects to propose. The Board asks chairs to consider suggested projects obtained in response to the listserve request. The Board also asks Committees and the EOC to suggest participants for all projects.

   TIMELINE:
   11 July 2007 - Board via GCOOS Office sends requests to Chairs Completed
   7 August 2007 - Chairs' findings and recommendations sent to the Board Completed

3. Board considers all recommendations and selects a suite of potential projects which is posted to the GCOOS web site for comments. Then teams suggested should begin preparation of Letters of Intent.

   TIMELINE:
   9 August 2007 - Board discussion and selection (conference call) Completed
   10 August 2007 - GCOOS Office posts selections to web site for comments Completed
   16 August 2007 - Comments due to GCOOS Office, which forwards to Board on receipt Completed

NOTE: In this NOAA opportunity, required Letters of Intent are used only to inform NOAA and solicit their guidance. Letters of Intent will not be used as a gateway to invite or exclude proposals.

4. Final selection by Board members of projects to be proposed and of teams to prepare Letters of Intent and proposals.

   TIMELINE:
   20 August 2007 - Board considers any comments and makes final decisions Completed
   21 August 2007 - GCOOS Office notifies teams of final selection Completed

5. Letters of Intent are sent to GCOOS Office, reviewed, and submitted.

   TIMELINE:
   31 August 2007 - Letters of Intent arrive at GCOOS Office Completed
   5 September 2007 - Board approves Letters of Intent at Board meeting Completed
   10 September 2007 - Letters sent to fiscal agent for transmission Completed
   12 September 2007 - Letters received by NOAA Completed

6. Proposals: Write, Review, Revise, and Submit
   Draft proposals will be prepared per guidelines in the NOAA funding announcement and submitted to GCOOS Office for review by Committees, EOC, and Board. NOAA comments on Letters of Intent will be transmitted to proposal teams on receipt.

   TIMELINE:
   21 August 2007 - Teams begin writing draft proposals Completed
   1 October 2007 - Draft proposals received by GCOOS Office and sent for reviews Completed
   15 October 2007 - Review comments sent to proposal teams
   29 October 2007 - Revised proposals due at GCOOS Office
   9 November 2007 - Proposals finalized for submission to NOAA
   13 November 2007 - Proposals submitted electronically via Grants.gov
   15 November 2007 - Proposals due at NOAA by 5:00 pm ET