Subject: Draft Standard AO is available for commentDRAFT STANDARD ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY FOR PI-LED MISSIONSThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issues this DRAFT StandardPI-led Mission Announcement of Opportunity (AO) to solicit community comments.This DRAFT Standard PI-led Mission AO represents a restructuring of previous NASA AOs forPI-led missions (e.g., 2006 Discovery Program AO, 2006 Mars Scout Program AO, 2007 SmallExplorer Program AO). It is the product of an effort by NASA (the AO SimplificationTeam) to simplify and remove burden from the community in generating Step 1 proposalsthat respond to AOs. The AO Simplification effort has solicited comments from theproposing, evaluating, and implementing communities. There have been several communityannouncements, town halls at science conferences, and community workshops to discuss thepros and cons of AO Simplification and specific ideas with the community. The AOSimplification Team has received over 700 specific suggestions from the community and hasconsidered all of them. A White Paper has been developed by the AO Simplification Teamthat captures the rationale for many of the decisions that were made in writing the DRAFTStandard PI-led Mission AO. That White Paper will be posted on the same NSPIRES websiteas this DRAFT AO.It is NASAs intent that this AO clearly and unambiguously states the policies thatgovern the solicitation, selection, and implementation of PI-led mission investigationssolicited by NASA for any of its PI-led mission programs (including New Frontiers,Discovery, Mars Scout, Explorer, Earth System Science Explorers (ESSP)). This AOstandardizes the language and policies, to the maximum extent possible, that NASA uses inits PI-led mission AOs. To simplify the nature of the response necessary, this AO clearlyand unambiguously states and numbers the requirements that all proposals shall meet inorder to represent a compliant response to this AO. This AO clearly separates proposalrequirements that apply to proposals from the program policies and requirements thatapply to investigations that have been selected to proceed into Phase A Concept Studies.The successful proposer, however, will have a good understanding of the tasks necessaryduring Phase A and beyond.It is intended that the standards established by this AO will be the template for allfuture SMD PI-led Mission AOs with deviations allowed for program specific requirements.The Draft Standard PI-led Mission AO is available in NSPIRES (http://nspires.nasaprs.com , select "Solicitations", select "Open Solicitations").NASA welcomes comments and suggestions on this DRAFT Standard PI-led Mission AO, whichwill be available from July 10, 2008, through July 31, 2008. Comments are welcome on anytopic, but are especially welcome where they identify policies, practices, or specificlanguage that are unclear, ambiguous, nonoptimal, or unnecessary.Comments should be addressed to
[email protected] no later than July 31, 2008, in orderto be most useful. Please include the phrase AO COMMENT (without quotes) in the subjectline of any comment submitted.Questions or requests for further information may be addressed to Dr. Paul Hertz, ChiefScientist, Science Mission Directorate, NASA, Washington, DC 20546; Telephone:202-358-0986; Email:
[email protected].