Solicitation Number: NNH17ZDA003C
CAN Release Date: February 27, 2017
Step-1 Proposal Due: April 12, 2017
Step-2 Proposals Due: July 6, 2017

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate has released a Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) soliciting team-based proposals for membership in the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI).

The goal of CAN Cycle 8 is to maintain a multidisciplinary institute by selecting focused, interdisciplinary teams that complement without replicating the strengths of the continuing teams. The teams selected in Cycle 8 will replace the teams selected in Cycle 6, whose five-year Cooperative Agreements are expiring.

The CAN for Cycle 8 will require a brief Step-1 proposal to be submitted six weeks after the release of the CAN. Based on a programmatic review of these Step-1 proposals, proposers will be encouraged to or discouraged from submitting a full proposal. Other changes to previous solicitations are described in section 1.7 Public Access to Research Materials and Results of the CAN.

Issuance of this CAN is dependent on programmatic factors, including NASA receiving an appropriation and operating plan containing adequate funding within the NASA Planetary Science Division budget. Any costs incurred by prospective investigators in preparing submissions in response to this CAN are incurred completely at the submitter’s own risk.

A preproposal conference was held on March 10, 2017 to provide interested parties with the opportunity to better understand the intent, scope, and selection criteria of this CAN. Information from the preproposal conference is posted at https://nai.nasa.gov/funding/can-8/. Programmatic questions regarding this solicitation should be submitted in writing or via E-mail no later than 10 days prior to the Step-2 proposal due date to:

Dr. Mary Voytek
Senior Scientist for Astrobiology/ NAI Program Scientist
Science Mission Directorate NASA Headquarters
300 E Street SW
Washington, DC 20546
Phone: (202) 358-1577
E-mail: mary.voytek-1@nasa.gov

The CAN 8 Solicitation (NNH17ZDA003C) and instructions for submitting proposals can be downloaded from the NSPIRES website.