NASA’s Planetary Science Division Facilities

Facilities RFI

NASA Request for Information Assessing the Planetary Science Community’s Use of the Planetary Science Division Facilities

Dear Colleague:

NASA’s Planetary Science Division is releasing this Request for Information (RFI) to solicit feedback regarding Planetary Science Division Facilities.

Responses to this RFI are due as a PDF submitted via email by April 30, 2016, see below for details.

Background:

The Planetary Science Division (PSD) is interested in maximizing the scientific productivity of its Facilities Program. To assess its Facilities Program, PSD initiated a review of its existing funded facilities, organized a special session at the upcoming Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in Houston, Texas, and is now soliciting comments from the planetary science community through this RFI.

In its review of existing facilities, PSD was focused on assessing how the currently funded facilities are working, how they serve the science needs of the broader planetary community, identifying the impact and productivity of each funded facility, and determine best practices and lessons learned for further development of a Facilities Program.

The LPSC special session solicited abstracts from any person or group who feel that they have a facility that has a substantial user base outside the in-house users and clearly advances the broader field. The organizers did not want to overprescribe who should or should not submit an abstract, but relied on members of the community to use their judgment as to whether their facility fits these criteria. Through this, PSD sought to help the present facilities, as well as ones not currently funded by PSD gain more visibility within the community, but specifically with members who may not know about them or their capabilities. PSD will also use this special session as part of the definition of potential future additions to the Facilities Program.

Requested Information:

This RFI solicits community feedback on any or all of the following questions:

  1. Do you use any existing planetary science facility that serves the broader community? If so, please describe to what extent. How did you find out about it? Please briefly describe your experiences in using that facility.
  2. In your opinion, what capabilities are missing or unavailable in the implementation of your research activities that could be supported through the Facilities Program? Are you aware of existing facilities that could meet your needs if they were made available to the community?
  3. Do you currently manage, or plan to develop, a facility that could serve the broader community? Describe the facility and what needs it would fill.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only and does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that NASA will take procurement action in this matter. The information gathered will be used by NASA to make decisions regarding the development of the Planetary Science Division’s Facilities Program.

Responses to This RFI:

Input should be in a PDF file format, attached to an E-mail and sent to Doris Daou at [email protected] with subject line: REPONSE to Facilities RFI.

  • Input should not exceed two pages.
  • Margins: 1 inch on all sides, with a standard page size of 8.5 × 11 inches.
  • A 12-point or larger font having, on average, no more than 15 characters per inch (e.g., Times New Roman and Arial). Proposers may not adjust the character spacing or otherwise condense a font from its default appearance.
  • Line spacing: Font and line spacing settings should produce text that contains no more than 5.5 lines per inch. Proposers may not adjust line spacing settings for a selected font below single-spaced.

Inputs received in response to this RFI will be considered by NASA, which will establish a PSD internal team to create a strategic plan for the Facilities Program. PSD will assess the needs of the community for existing facilities through past use, define an implementation approach to answer future needs from the Facilities Program, and provide programmatic direction for the Facilities Program.

Point of Contact:
Doris Daou, [email protected]

Managed for NASA by USRA's Lunar and Planetary Institute

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