The Telescope System
Instrumentation Program (TSIP)
INTRODUCTION
A. OVERVIEW OF THE TSIP PROGRAM
The highest priority "moderate initiative" recommended in the recent report of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee (AASC) is the Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP). This initiative was envisioned by the Panel on Optical and Infrared Astronomy from the Ground as a $5 million per year program that would have several positive effects on the emerging paradigm of the "integrated observing system," a perspective of the public and private facilities used for ground-based O/IR astronomy in which complementarity and cooperation provide motivation for strategic decisions. The O/IR panel report describes TSIP as having three goals:
- "...guid[ing] the evolution of the telescope system so that it becomes more powerful and more diverse; it would do this by, for example, favoring instruments with unique capabilities and those that would be particularly effective in reaching ... scientific goals..."
- "achieving greater public access to these facilities"
- "encouraging and leveraging the contribution of institutions that contribute nonfederal funds to the U.S. astronomy enterprise"
TSIP will work to accomplish these goals by funding the development of instruments or other improvements for the private observatories, in exchange for which telescope time on those facilities will be made available to the community.
Funding for TSIP will be provided by the Division of Astronomical Sciences of the National Science Foundation (NSF). This funding will be administered through subawards issued by NOAO and approved by NSF, and NOAO will be responsible for project oversight to assure cost and schedule performance for these subawards. All funds designated by NSF for TSIP will be passed to successful proposers through the NOAO subawards. NOAO will also make avail-able some personnel resources to support the TSIP program, in addition to the new funds supplied by NSF.
This initial call for proposals to TSIP represents a significant step towards making the system envisioned in the AASC report a reality. In devising rules and guidelines for TSIP, an attempt has been made to balance the intent of the goals listed above with the realities of a program that will be perceived as effective and desirable by proposers, the community, and the NSF.
B. TWO TYPES OF TSIP PROPOSALS
There are two types of TSIP proposals: instrumentation proposals and improvement proposals.
1. TSIP Instrumentation Proposals are proposals for the design and construction of new, facility-class instruments for existing or pending large telescopes.
- Optical or infrared instrumentation of any kind for any telescope larger than 6-m aperture now in operation or under construction. Such proposals should include plans for two clearly distinct phases: a definition and design phase (Phase AB), and a construction and commissioning phase (Phase CD). The design phase concludes with a Critical Design Review (CDR) that verifies the cost and schedule for the construction phase.
- Proposals may request funding for up to five years of effort, including both phases AB and CD. All funded projects will be evaluated at the time of Critical Design Review (CDR). If the CDR leads to significant changes in cost and schedule compared to the original proposal, the decision to renew the proposal for continuing effort through the construction phase will be made based on peer-reviewed re-evaluation.
- Proposals for this instrumentation construction should provide community observing time equivalent in value to 50% of the NSF-supplied cost of the proposed new instrumentation.
2. TSIP Improvement Proposals are proposals for improvements other than new instrumentation for existing large telescopes.
- Any improvement that enhances scientific utility or efficiency other than the construction of a new instrument may be proposed for any telescope larger than 6-meter aperture. This includes upgrades to existing instruments, improvements to telescope image quality or operational efficiency, improvements to data handling and distribution infrastructure, improvements in support or services for visiting users of the telescopes, and any other improvements that can increase the telescope capabilities.
- Proposals may request funding for up to five years of effort. Funding will be provided in annual increments, contingent on satisfactory progress as evaluated by an annual progress review conducted by NOAO and reported to NSF.
- Proposals for this infrastructure improvement should provide community observing time equivalent in value to 100% of the NSF-supplied cost of the improvements.
Both categories of proposals must contain a description of the amount, scheduling, and nature of observing time to be made available to the U.S. community as a consequence of the requested funding. This observing time will be allocated by NOAO through the same mechanisms of merit review of observing proposals used to allocate time on the NOAO telescopes. Instrumentation proposals will be considered based either upon current availability of observing time or upon anticipated availability of observing time at future dates. Improvement proposals will only be considered for telescopes already in operation as of the first incremental funding date so that observing time can be made available as soon as the proposed effort begins.
Instrumentation proposals must have clear staffing and budgeting profiles and schedules for development of the proposed instrument. A management plan with clear milestones must be well defined. In particular, proposals should be clearly divided into a concept and design phase (Phase AB), and a development and construction phase (Phase CD). Staffing and budgeting profiles for the two phases should be distinct. Proposals should contain full costs for both phases, and sources of uncertainty or needs for contingency should be clearly explained. Proposals should also contain a science justification explaining how the proposed instrument fits into the overall context of scientific capability needed by the entire U.S. astronomical community. Proposals may reference scientific priorities and needs as stated in various community studies or workshops.
Improvement proposals must show clearly what improvements in capabilities will be a consequence of the requested funding. A management plan with clear milestones against which progress can be measured must be well defined. Requests for funding that are simply substitutes for existing operations funds for telescopes are not appropriate.
For both categories of proposals, the value of community observing time to be allocated as a consequence of the requested funding is to be described and justified in the proposal. Determination and justification of the value of observing time is the sole responsibility of the proposers. Further details are given below.
C. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION
This program is open to U.S. institutions that have a mechanism for providing observing time on a telescope of aperture 6 meters or greater through the NOAO time allocation process. This includes U.S. institutions that operate such telescopes, as well as U.S. institutions that can provide assured access through negotiated arrangements for observing time on U.S. or non-U.S. optical/infrared telescopes.
D. AWARD INFORMATION
It is anticipated that $4 million will be available for the first year of funding for the TSIP program, eventually increasing to $5 million per year.
Awards will be fixed price contracts administered to institutions as subawards from NOAO divided into multiple stages. Instrument development contracts will have a minimum of two stages (AB and CD); these may be further subdivided upon negotiation. Payment will be made in advance for all of Phase AB. The funding profile for Phase CD will be negotiated at the time of Critical Design Review. Infrastructure improvement proposals will be funded annually in advance, subject to satisfactory progress reviews.
In addition to the NSF-provided funds, NOAO will make available a limited amount of effort from its Engineering and Technical Services group to assist in project activities and oversight. In the first year of TSIP, this available effort will be:
- 0.5 FTE Project Manager
- 0.5 FTE Optical Designer
- 0.5 FTE Mechanical Engineer
- 0.5 FTE Mechanical Designer
- 0.5 FTE Electrical Engineer (for detector/controller work)
Proposers who wish to use NOAO support for their project may request it in their proposal, up to a maximum of 1 FTE distributed among the above categories. Depending on total requests from successful proposals, the actual NOAO effort to be made available may be negotiated.
For further information about this NOAO resource, proposers should contact:
Larry Daggert
Engineering and Technical Services
NOAO
PO Box 26732
Tucson, AZ 85726-6732
(ldaggert@noao.edu)
E. COMMUNITY ACCESS TO TELESCOPES
Each proposal must include a commitment of observing time on the telescope for which the instrument or improvement has been proposed. For improvement proposals, the value of the time offered must be equal to 100% of the NSF-supplied funds. For new instrument proposals, the value must be equal to 50% of the NSF-supplied funds.
For both types of TSIP proposal, the value of community observing time is to be described by an explicit calculation in the proposal. Determination and justification of the value of observing time is the sole responsibility of the proposers. Following each annual selection and awards, a description of the successful proposals and the costing of the observing time will be published through the NOAO system web site.
Proposers must specify in their proposal any conditions they wish to impose on the community access they are offering. NOAO is willing to provide interface and support services for community access, and the details of such arrangements can be negotiated following the successful review of a TSIP proposal. Proposers may specify particular modes of access, including limits on observing run lengths or their intent to carry out surveys on behalf of community-based teams.
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