This is a modification to the synopsis entitled NASA OFFERS PRE-SCREENING OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW FRONTIERS OPPORTUNITY which was posted on January 23, 2008. NASA OFFERS PRE-SCREENING OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR REVISED REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW FRONTIERS OPPORTUNITY The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) plans to release an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the third New Frontiers (NF-3) mission no earlier than June 2008. Downselection would occur in 2009. This NF-3 AO will solicit only missions that do not require nuclear sources for power generation or propulsion. Once the National Research Council's (NRC's) New Opportunities for Solar System Exploration (NOSSE) committee reports to NASA on mid decade NF science mission priorities in March 2008, NASA plans to release more details about allowed targets for the upcoming NF-3 AO. This AO will be announced through both the Federal Business Opportunity website and the SMD email distribution list (register at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ ). In compliance with SMD policy, the Principal Investigators (PI) for a NF-3 mission must demonstrate minimum experience qualifications that are designed to demonstrate relevant experience exercising responsibility, authority, and management of a space project in the areas of leadership, planning, implementation, and approval. In order to facilitate the creation of teams who plan to respond to the forthcoming NF-3 AO, SMD offers the opportunity of pre-screening the experience qualifications of prospective investigators against the PI minimum experience requirement for large class missions. NF-3 missions are in the large mission class and have more stringent requirements than medium class or small class missions. Proposed NF-3 investigations that are led by PIs lacking in demonstrated, relevant, and appropriate experience sufficient to meet these requirements will be found noncompliant and will neither be reviewed nor selected. The PI minimum experience requirements applicable to NF-3 are those for large missions as described in the SMD policy document available at the NF Acquisition Additional Information Page at http://newfrontiers.larc.nasa.gov/ . The requirements released on January 23, 2008, were revised on February 19, 2008. Investigators desiring pre-screening against the PI minimum experience requirements for NF-3 may submit a completed copy of the PI Space Flight Experience Table. A copy of the table as well as instructions for completing and submitting it are available at the NF Acquisition Additional Information web page at http://newfrontiers.larc.nasa.gov/ . NASA is offering this opportunity as a service to prospective PIs. A request for pre-screening is voluntary and is not required by NASA. However, it is important to realize that proposed NF-3 investigations that are led by PIs lacking in demonstrated, relevant, and appropriate experience sufficient to meet these requirements will be declared noncompliant and will not be reviewed or selected. It is the intent of NASA to also offer the pre-screening opportunity after release of the final NF-3 AO. In response to the request for pre-screening, NASA will inform the investigator that their response is, or is not, sufficient to demonstrate that the PI minimum experience requirements 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, which will contain specific comments explaining NASA?s response, and/or requests for clarification. If the table documenting the PI qualifications passes the pre-screening, then this same table will be adequate to comply with the PI minimum experience requirements for the NF-3 AO. In this case the table must be included in the NF-3 proposal. Release of the NF-3 AO is in the process of formally being approved by NASA. However, 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 to this invitation are incurred completely at the submitter's own risk. NASA will conduct screenings twice a month from March until April of 2008, inclusive. In general, submissions received by the first or third Monday of the month will receive a response from NASA within 10 days. The response to the first submission has been delayed because the PI minimum experience requirements were being revised. NASA will conduct screenings once a month from May until September of 2008, inclusive. Submissions received by the first Monday of the month will receive a response from NASA within three weeks. Additional opportunities will be announced in the NF-3 AO. Questions may be addressed to Dr. Adriana C. Ocampo, NF Program Executive, Science Mission Directorate, NASA, Washington, DC 20546; Tel.: (202) 358-2152; Email:
[email protected].