The objective is to identify proposals that offer the best prospect of having a significant impact on our ability to manage or utilize marine resources, and to sustain healthy marine and coastal ecosystems, as well as coastal economies and communities. The pre-proposal stage also provides an opportunity to give applicants advice on how their proposals might be improved. The pre-proposal review is primarily focused on the relevance and potential of the project, rather than scientific merit, although obvious flaws will be identified. The pre-proposal panel's evaluations are advisory and all applicants are allowed to submit a full proposal regardless of the panel's recommendation. Each proposal receives 4 or 5 reviews.
Applicants suggest potential reviewers, and identify potential conflicts of interest.
In general, about half of the reviewers are those suggested by the applicant, although this is not guaranteed. Applicants will have the opportunity to write rebuttals to the reviewers' comments. Conversely, a proposal of outstanding scientific merit would be funded in preference to a weak scientific proposal that was ranked higher by the pre-proposal review panel. Final project selection also takes into account programmatic considerations, such as the overall balance of projects and disciplines across the Maine Sea Grant Program, and encourages new investigators and institutions to become involved in Sea Grant research. D. Preliminary Proposal Guidelines Remember that project review and selection is a two-step process.