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**OFFICE WORK INSTRUCTION**

**RESEARCH SOLICITATION, EVALUATION, AND SELECTION**

+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| **Original Approved and Signed    |                                   |
| by:**                             |                                   |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Mary C. Kicza                     | ###                               |
|                                   |                                   |
| Associate Administrator           |                                   |
|                                   |                                   |
| Office of Biological and Physical |                                   |
| Research                          |                                   |
|                                   |                                   |
| ###                               |                                   |
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+

**DOCUMENT HISTORY LOG**

+---------+-------+---------+-----------------------------------------+
| **S     | **    | **Effe  | **Description**                         |
| tatus** | Docum | ctive** |                                         |
|         | ent** |         |                                         |
| **(Base |       | *       |                                         |
| line/** | **    | *Date** |                                         |
|         | Revis |         |                                         |
| **Revi  | ion** |         |                                         |
| sion/** |       |         |                                         |
|         |       |         |                                         |
| **Canc  |       |         |                                         |
| eled)** |       |         |                                         |
+---------+-------+---------+-----------------------------------------+
| B       |       | 0       |                                         |
| aseline |       | 2/01/99 |                                         |
+---------+-------+---------+-----------------------------------------+
| R       | A     | 4/30/99 | Incorporates changes made in response   |
| evision |       |         | to comments from the Code U review and  |
|         |       |         | the DNV Pre-Assessment Report.          |
+---------+-------+---------+-----------------------------------------+
| R       | B     | 8/17/99 | Incorporates changes to eliminate       |
| evision |       |         | letter version designations and         |
|         |       |         | corrects titles on reference documents. |
|         |       |         | Incorporates clarifications on quality  |
|         |       |         | records and corrects page connector     |
|         |       |         | symbols on process maps.                |
+---------+-------+---------+-----------------------------------------+
| Admin.  | B     | 9/26/03 | Administration changes to reflect       |
| update  |       |         | re-organization and clarify step 7 in   |
|         |       |         | the process.                            |
+---------+-------+---------+-----------------------------------------+
|         |       |         |                                         |
+---------+-------+---------+-----------------------------------------+
|         |       |         |                                         |
+---------+-------+---------+-----------------------------------------+

1.  **Purpose**

This OWI provides instructions for the planning and implementation of
the research solicitation and selection process utilized at NASA
Headquarters (HQ) Code U for the Office of Biological and Physical
Research (OBPR). This process ensures quality support and selection of
independently peer reviewed science and technology research.

### 2. Scope and Applicability

This OWI applies to all research solicitation processed for the
Bioastronautics Research Division, the Fundamental Space Biology
Division and the Physical Sciences Research Division within the Office
of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR). All commercial research
flight planning is addressed in HQOWI 8000 U008.

## 3. Definitions {#definitions .unnumbered}

3.1 [FDO Announcement.]{.underline} A Federal Register announcement of
an upcoming NASA Research Announcement (NRA), published by the Commerce
Department in the document called the Federal Business Opportunity
(FBO).

3.2 [Conduct Peer Review]{.underline}. The process that the NRA peer
review contractor organizes. The peer review contractor solicits
participation of a panel of scientific and/or technical experts to
review proposals submitted in response to NRAs, organizes their travel,
takes notes on panel meetings, maintains proposal evaluation worksheets,
makes copies of peer review analysis, and incorporates input into an
overall scientific and technological merit evaluation document. A mail
review refers to a review conducted exclusively by ad hoc mail reviewers
and does not involve a panel meeting. Mail reviews are sometimes used
for unsolicited proposals that are not deferred to future NRAs.
Unsolicited proposals may also be reviewed internally by Division staff
if the Division Director deems this action appropriate. All
recommendations for review of unsolicited proposals are put forward by
the Enterprise Scientist for decision by the Division Director.

3.3 [DD.]{.underline} A NASA Division Director.

3.4 [Engineering Cost Management (ECM) Review.]{.underline} An
engineering evaluation performed by a NASA Field Center when a proposal
related to flight is being considered for selection. If the proposal
involves human subject research or flight aboard the Space Shuttle or
Space Station, the review includes an evaluation of safety issues.

3.5 [Office of Biological and Physical Research Strategic
Plan.]{.underline} A document developed under the direction and
authority of the Associate Administrators of the OBPR.

6.  [Lead Center (LC)]{.underline}. The Lead Centers for the Office of
    Biological and Physical Research: Ames Research Center (Fundamental
    Space Biology), Johnson Space Center (Advanced Human Support
    Technology and Biomedical Research and Countermeasures) and Marshall
    Space Flight Center (Physical Science Research).

7.  [NASA Strategic Plan]{.underline}. A document defining the goals and
    objectives of NASA, under the authority of the Administrator.

3.8 [NASA Research Announcement (NRA)]{.underline}. NASA uses NRAs to
solicit proposals from the scientific community to perform research. In
addition to describing research opportunities, an NRA provides
prospective proposers with information on the proposal evaluation and
selection process. It also includes instructions for proposal
preparation and responding to NRAs. The NRA specifies which Division
Director is the selecting official for the respective NRA.

8.  [Office of Biological and Physical Research Policy on Review,
    Selection, and Support of Research]{.underline}. A document which
    defines the policy governing the mechanisms by which the NASA OBPR
    solicits and selects research.

3.10 [PI.]{.underline} Principal Investigator.

3.11 [Process Proposals]{.underline}. The process that the NRA peer
review contractor performs. The proposals are received electronically or
by mail. The peer review contractor categorizes the proposals according
to research discipline, and sends an acknowledgment to the proposers.
The peer review contractor then makes and sends copies of the proposals
to appropriate members of the independent peer review panel. The
contractor also files an office copy of each proposal. For unsolicited
proposals, the Enterprise Scientist assesses the urgency, and either
defers it to the next NRA cycle or initiates an in-house or mail peer
review.

3.12 [Proposals.]{.underline} Documents submitted by researchers to NASA
requesting support for science and technology research.

3.13 [Science in Air and Space: NASA's Science Policy
Guide.]{.underline} Guiding document from NASA's Chief Scientist on
Science Policy including research solicitation issued in 1996.

3.14 [Unsolicited Proposals.]{.underline} Documents submitted by
researchers to NASA for support of research without reference to a
specific NRA.

3.15 [WWW.]{.underline} The World Wide Web, i.e., the Internet.

####### Reference Documents

1.  NPD 1000.1, NASA Strategic Plan

2.  NPG 5800.1, Grant and Cooperative Agreement Handbook.

3.  Office of Biological and Physical Research Policy on Review,
    Selection and Support of Research, September 1998

4.  Science in Air and Space: NASA's Science Policy Guide, 1996
    (<http://dlt.gsfc.nasa.gov/cordova/guide.html>)

5.  Program Commitment Agreements (PCAs) for OLMSA Programs (Current
    Version)

6.  Scientific and Administrative Support of the NRA/Peer Review Process
    for OLMSA, NASW-5000

7.  Review of NASA Research Announcements (NRAs) and Announcements of
    Opportunity (OLMSA policy memorandum, dated May 1999)

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5.  **Flowchart For Solicited Proposals**

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**Flowchart for Unsolicited Proposals**

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6\. **Procedure**

**The process described in the following table consists of three phases:
research solicitation, research evaluation, and research selection. The
number at the left of the table refers to the flowchart step in Section
5.**

  ----------------- ----------------- --------------------------------------------------
  ***Research                         
  Solicitation***                     

  **\#**            **Responsible     **Activity Description**
                    Party**           

  1                 Enterprise        Analyze enterprise strategic goals by reviewing
                    Scientist         NASA Strategic Plans, current OLMSA Program
                                      Commitment Agreements, Science Policy Documents
                                      and recommendations from NASA's Advisory
                                      Committees and subcommittees. These documents
                                      provide points of reference and guidance.

  2                 Enterprise        Using input from the scientific community during
                    Scientist         pre-NRA workshops, formulate the discipline
                                      science focus, direction, and critical questions
                                      or critical issues to meet OBPR goals.

  3                 Enterprise        Prepare draft NRA, including evaluation criteria,
                    Scientist with    based on the formulation of science focus.
                    Peer Review       
                    Contractor        

  4                 Enterprise        Send draft copies of the NRA to the responsible
                    Scientist         Division Director, the procurement office and to
                                      legal affairs for clearance. Coordinate with Lead
                                      Center, as appropriate. After obtaining these
                                      clearances, present the NRA to the Associate
                                      Administrator for Office of Biological and
                                      Physical Research (AA) for approval and signature.

  5                 Enterprise        Is the NRA approved? If not, the NRA is returned
                    Official (AA)     to Step 3 for rework. If approved, go to Step 6.

  6                 Enterprise        The AA signs the NRA.
                    Official (AA)     

  7                 Enterprise        Submit a notice in the Federal Business
                    Official          Opportunity that NASA will release an NRA in 15
                    (DD)/Enterprise   calendar days (only if contracts are involved).
                    Scientist         

  8                 Peer Review       Place NRA on the WWW. Distribute notification of
                    Contractor        NRA posting via email to the NASA OBPR mailing
                                      list.
  ----------------- ----------------- --------------------------------------------------

***Research Evaluation***

  -------- ----------------- --------------------------------------------------
  **\#**   **Responsible     **Activity Description**
           Party**           

  9        Peer Review       Process proposals that are received by making
           Contractor        copies for the Independent Scientific Review and
                             Engineering Cost Management (ECM) Review Panels,
                             filing copies for future review by NASA officials,
                             and mailing proposal copies to all reviewers.

  10       Independent       The peer review contractor organizes the
           Review Panel      Independent Review Panel. To ensure quality
                             control of the process, an OBPR Enterprise
                             Employee oversees the Independent Review Panel.

  11       Enterprise        Reviews the panel's evaluations and ratings for
           Official          quality and consistency. Selects the level of
           (DD)/Enterprise   performance in the review and evaluation that is
           Scientist         required for consideration of proposals to be
                             funded.

  12       Enterprise        What are the results of the Independent Review
           Official          Panel's evaluation? Proposals below the required
           (DD)/Enterprise   evaluation level are categorized as rejections and
           Scientist         are forwarded to Step 19 for notification of
                             rejection.

  13       Enterprise        If the proposing researcher identifies the
           Scientist         proposal as a flight proposal on his submission
                             form, the Enterprise Scientist forwards the
                             proposal and supporting materials to the Flight
                             Program Lead.

  14.1     Lead Center       For Flight Proposal only, if the research involves
                             human or animal research subjects, present to NASA
                             Institutional Review Board or Animal Care and Use
                             Committee for review.

  14.2     Flight Program    Performs an Engineering Cost Management (ECM)
           Lead              Review for flight proposals. Informs the
                             Enterprise Scientist of the results of the ECM.
                             The Flight Program Leads are located at NASA Field
                             Centers.

  15       Enterprise        Analyze the budget impact of those proposals being
           Scientist         considered for support by OBPR with respect to NRA
                             goals and objectives. Analyze the programmatic
                             relevance of proposals being considered for
                             support by OBPR with respect to NRA goals and
                             objectives.
  -------- ----------------- --------------------------------------------------

+----+--------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| *  |              |                                                 |
| ** |              |                                                 |
| Re |              |                                                 |
| se |              |                                                 |
| ar |              |                                                 |
| ch |              |                                                 |
| Se |              |                                                 |
| le |              |                                                 |
| ct |              |                                                 |
| io |              |                                                 |
| n* |              |                                                 |
| ** |              |                                                 |
+----+--------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| ** | *            | **Activity Description**                        |
| \# | *Responsible |                                                 |
| ** | Party**      |                                                 |
+----+--------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 16 | Enterprise   | Prepare evaluation findings for Enterprise      |
|    | Scientist    | Selecting Official based on resource            |
|    |              | requirements and NASA strategic goals and       |
|    |              | objectives.                                     |
|    |              |                                                 |
|    |              | If the evaluation findings concern              |
|    |              | establishment of a Commercial Space Center, go  |
|    |              | to step 11 in Section 5 of HQOWI 7500 U005 for  |
|    |              | further processing.                             |
+----+--------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 17 | Enterprise   | Proposals are selected or rejected based on NRA |
|    | Official     | goals and objectives, scientific merit, budget  |
|    | (DD)         | evaluation, programmatic relevance, and for     |
|    |              | flight proposals, ECM evaluation. The selection |
|    |              | process is described in the respective NRA.     |
|    |              | Proposals that are not selected are forwarded   |
|    |              | to Step 19 for notification of rejection.       |
+----+--------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 18 | Enterprise   | Reviews all selections and rejections of        |
|    | Official     | proposals.                                      |
|    | (AA), Lead   |                                                 |
|    | Center       |                                                 |
+----+--------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 19 | Peer Review  | Prepares selection and rejection letters for    |
|    | Contractor   | all proposals.                                  |
+----+--------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 20 | Enterprise   | Signs selection or rejection letters and letter |
|    | Official     | to Lead Center (LC) with summary of selections  |
|    | (DD)         | requesting that the LC initiate procurement     |
|    |              | activities.                                     |
+----+--------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 21 | Peer Review  | Sends selection or rejection letter to          |
|    | Contractor   | Principal Investigator (PI), with copies to the |
|    |              | NASA Grants Office and the Lead Center.         |
+----+--------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 22 | Enterprise   | Debrief researchers in response to requests.    |
|    | Official     |                                                 |
+----+--------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 23 | Lead Center  | Issues grant or contract.                       |
+----+--------------+-------------------------------------------------+

**6.2 There is a different procedure for processing the small number of
unsolicited research proposals that are submitted to NASA without
reference to a specific NRA, as shown in the following table. The
procedure used to evaluate these unsolicited proposals is different than
that used for unsolicited proposals. The number at the left of the table
refers to the flowchart step in Section 5.**

  -------- ----------------- --------------------------------------------------
  **\#**   **Responsible     **Activity Description**
           Party**           

  1        Enterprise        When unsolicited proposals are received, it is
           Official          determined whether there is an immediate need for
           (DD)/Enterprise   the research being proposed.
           Scientist         

  2        Enterprise        If there is not an immediate need for the proposed
           Scientist         research, then the proposal is returned to the
                             proposer who may re-submit the proposal in
                             response to a later NRA.

  3        Enterprise        If there is an immediate need for the proposed
           Official          research, then a decision is made whether to
           (DD)/Enterprise   conduct a review of the proposal by mailing the
           Scientist         proposal to a peer review panel or to conduct an
                             in-house staff review.

  4        Peer Review       If this review is conducted through the mail, then
           Contractor        the Peer Review Contractor organizes distribution
                             of the proposals and evaluation material. The
                             results of the peer review conducted by mail are
                             returned to the process at Step 12 of Section 6.1
                             for review of the results.

  5        Enterprise        After an in-house review is conducted, the
           Scientist         evaluations are returned to the process at Step 12
                             of Section 6.1 for review of the results.
  -------- ----------------- --------------------------------------------------

## 7. Quality Records {#quality-records .unnumbered}

+---------------+--------+--------+------+------+------------------+
| #####         | *      | *Loc   | *Me  | *    | *Retention/      |
| #### Record I | Owner* | ation* | dia* | Sche | Disposition*     |
| dentification |        |        |      | dule |                  |
|               |        |        | *    | &    |                  |
|               |        |        | Elec | Item |                  |
|               |        |        | tron | Nos  |                  |
|               |        |        | ic/* | .\** |                  |
|               |        |        |      |      |                  |
|               |        |        | *    |      |                  |
|               |        |        | Hard |      |                  |
|               |        |        | C    |      |                  |
|               |        |        | opy* |      |                  |
+---------------+--------+--------+------+------+------------------+
| Approved NRA  | Ente   | NASA   | El   | Sche | Transfer all     |
|               | rprise | Web    | ectr | dule | files to the     |
|               | Of     | Site   | onic | 7,   | responsible      |
|               | ficial | ht     |      | Item | division/project |
|               | (DD)   | tp://p |      | 8    | 2 years after    |
|               |        | eer1.i |      |      | award. Records   |
|               |        | di.usr |      |      | will be          |
|               |        | a.edu/ |      |      | incorporated     |
|               |        | peer_r |      |      | into the         |
|               |        | eview/ |      |      | official project |
|               |        | nra/nr |      |      | file, or         |
|               |        | a.html |      |      | grant/contract   |
|               |        |        |      |      | file.            |
+---------------+--------+--------+------+------+------------------+
| Peer Review   | Ente   | Peer   | Hard | Sche | File             |
| Evaluation    | rprise | Review | Copy | dule | documentation    |
| Documents     | Of     | Cont   |      | 7,   | with the related |
| (for          | ficial | ractor |      | Item | grant or         |
| proposals     | (DD)   | Fa     |      | 9    | contract file;   |
| resulting in  |        | cility |      | .A.1 | destroy          |
| projects)     |        |        |      |      | accordingly      |
+---------------+--------+--------+------+------+------------------+
| Peer Review   | Ente   | Peer   | Hard | Sche | Retire to FRC    |
| Evaluation    | rprise | Review | Copy | dule | when 1 year old. |
| Documents     | Of     | Cont   |      | 7,   | Destroy when 5   |
| (for          | ficial | ractor |      | Item | years old.       |
| proposals not | (DD)   | Fa     |      | 9    |                  |
| selected)     |        | cility |      | .A.2 |                  |
+---------------+--------+--------+------+------+------------------+
| Copies of     | Ente   | Peer   | Hard | Sche | Retire to FRC 2  |
| Proposal      | rprise | Review | Copy | dule | years after      |
| Selection     | Of     | Cont   |      | 5,   | completion of    |
| Letters       | ficial | ractor |      | Item | grant. Destroy   |
|               | (DD)   | Fa     |      | 37.A | when 6 years, 3  |
|               |        | cility |      |      | months old       |
+---------------+--------+--------+------+------+------------------+
| Copies of     | Ente   | Peer   | Hard | Sche | Destroy 3 years  |
| Proposal      | rprise | Review | Copy | dule | after rejection  |
| Rejection     | Of     | Cont   |      | 5,   | or withdrawal    |
| Letters       | ficial | ractor |      | Item |                  |
|               | (DD)   | Fa     |      | 37   |                  |
|               |        | cility |      | .A.1 |                  |
+---------------+--------+--------+------+------+------------------+
| Copy of       | Ente   | Peer   | Hard | Sche | Retire to FRC 2  |
| Direction     | rprise | Review | Copy | dule | years after      |
| Letter to     | Of     | Cont   |      | 5,   | completion of    |
| Lead Center   | ficial | ractor |      | Item | grant. Destroy   |
|               | (DD)   | Fa     |      | 37.A | when 6 years, 3  |
|               |        | cility |      |      | months old       |
+---------------+--------+--------+------+------+------------------+
| Copies of     | Ente   | Peer   | Hard | Sche | Destroy 3 years  |
| Proposal      | rprise | Review | Copy | dule | after rejection  |
| Deferral      | Of     | Cont   |      | 5,   | or withdrawal    |
| Letters       | ficial | ractor |      | Item |                  |
|               | (DD)   | Fa     |      | 37   |                  |
|               |        | cility |      | .A.1 |                  |
+---------------+--------+--------+------+------+------------------+

\* Quality Records are retained in accordance with the referenced
schedule and item number from NPG 1441.1, *NASA Records Retention
Schedules*