At, and after, the PCW, a number of international in-kind proposal teams, that either have complex proposed in-kind programs to describe and/or that had many team members on vacation in August, gave feedback about needing additional time beyond the September 25 proposal deadline to fully define all of their proposed contributions. In order to meet these needs while keeping the teams on track to secure their LSST data rights by the US funding agencies’ June 2021 deadline, we proposed the following adjustment to the schedule, which NSF and DOE have approved.
All proposals will be submitted by or on the September 25 deadline as planned. However, exceptions for specific contributions may be requested, for up to 6 weeks beyond September 25. During this period, the Rubin International Program Coordinators will carry out some basic checks for compliance with the Handbook, and carry out a technical review of the proposed contributions. After November 6, all proposals will be considered complete, and the CEC’s scientific review will begin.
The CEC proposal review will now continue through February 26, 2021, at which time, they will transmit their reports to us. We will then make, for each proposal received, a recommendation to the Rubin Management Board, and then, by around the end of March, to the US funding agencies, in order to move ahead with negotiating a data rights agreement (DRA) based on the draft Statement of Work and Detailed Plan derived from that proposal.
The end of March is only 3 months from the agencies’ June 2021 deadline, when currently all existing international data rights expire, as per the May 2019 talking points. In recognition of this, the, NSF and DOE have agreed that in Spring 2021 they will decide whether to provide “approval to Rubin to establish a data rights agreement and grant interim data access” for each proposal. The idea is that as soon as this approval is obtained, the international PIs and JAs will have affirmed data rights that extend beyond the June 2021 deadline and through to the signing of the DRA, and that in that interim pre-signing period we will be able to give, as resources allow, Rubin user accounts to data rights holders who are looking to use the Data Preview Zero data.
Negotiation of the final DRAs would begin right after the agencies grant these approvals, based on the solid frameworks that SLAC, AURA and the agencies will be putting together over the next 9 months.
See below for the adjusted timeline. We hope this addresses the proposal teams’ concerns about both the proposal deadline, and also any residual uncertainty about loss of data rights in June 2021. Comments and questions most welcome in the thread below. We are looking forward to getting on with preparing for LSST science with all of the US, Chilean, and international teams next summer!
Best wishes,
Phil & Bob
In-kind Proposal Review Timeline, 2020
| Key Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| Friday September 25, 2020 | Proposal deadline, Rubin review begins |
| Friday November 6, 2020 (6 weeks after proposal deadline) | Proposals considered complete (including contributions with exceptions), CEC review begins |
| Friday February 26, 2021 | CEC/Rubin proposal reviews due |
| March 2021 | Management Board review and approval |
| April 2021 | Agency decisions on “approval to Rubin to establish data rights agreements and grant interim data access” |
| Summer 2021 | Final DRA negotiations and signing |