Measurement Science and Standards Engagement

to support activities that promote the compatibility of United States national measurement standards with those of other nations.

The program has been designed to support activities that strengthen and enhance exchanges in measurement science between the U.S. and other nations, promoting U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness in support of the NIST mission. NIST seeks to support organizations that advance measurement science, standardization, and conformity assessment within the science and technology community. The program will fund efforts that enhance scientific exchanges in metrology, improve quality infrastructure, and promote compatibility between U.S. measurement standards and those of other nations. The program will support scientific, industrial, and legal metrology activities and related quality infrastructure endeavors. Financial support may be provided for conferences, workshops, or other technical meetings that are relevant to the NIST mission. However, NIST cannot be an official sponsor or co-sponsor for any event funded through this program. The contact person for program, who may be contacted for clarification of the program objectives, is Magdalena Navarro and she may be reached at (301) 975-2130 or by e-mail at magdalena.navarro@nist.gov.

(1) Rationality: The rationality, innovation, and creativity of the application and the fit of the proposed work to the objectives of the IAAO Grant Program. (2) Technical Merit of Contribution: The potential effectiveness of the proposed activity, its value to U.S. measurement science and standards, and the likelihood and potential impact of the applicant's technical application of the proposed activity. (3) Staff and Institutional Capability. The quality of facilities and experience of the staff to the likelihood of achieving the objectives of the proposed work. (4) Match of Budget to Proposed Work. Assessment of the budget compared to the proposed work to ascertain the reasonableness of the request. Each of these factors will be given equal weight in the evaluation process.

Proposals, reports, documents, and other information related to applications submitted to NIST and/or relating to financial assistance awards issued by NIST will be reviewed and considered by Federal employees, Federal agents, and contractors, and/or by non-Federal personnel who have entered into confidentiality and conflict of interest agreements covering such information, when applicable. Applications are reviewed as received on a rolling basis to determine whether they are eligible, complete, and responsive to this NOFO and aligned with the respective program objectives and research grant areas as described in the Program Description. Applications determined to be ineligible, incomplete, and/or non-responsive based on the initial screening will be eliminated from further review. However, NIST, in its sole discretion, may continue the review process for an application that is missing non-substantive information that can easily be rectified or cured during the review process. NIST reserves the right to negotiate the budget costs with the applicants that have been selected to receive awards, which may include requesting that the applicant remove certain costs. Additionally, NIST may request that the applicant modify objectives or work plans and provide supplemental information. For international applications, NIST will follow applicable U.S. laws and policies. NIST also reserves the right to reject an application where information is uncovered that raises a reasonable doubt as to the responsibility of the applicant. NIST may select some, all, or none of the applications, or part(s) of any particular application. In some cases, NIST may ask applicants to consider combining projects. The final approval of selected applications and issuance of awards will be by the NIST Grants Officer. The award decisions of the NIST Grants Officer are final.

At least three (3) objective individuals knowledgeable about the particular area described in the application will review the merits of each application, based on the evaluation criteria (see Section V.1.h. of this NOFO). The reviewers may discuss the applications with each other, but scores will be determined on an individual basis, not as a consensus. The Selecting Official, who is the IAAO Director or designee, will make final application selections, taking into consideration the results of the reviewers' evaluations, relevance to the objectives described in the IAAO Grant Program Description, and the availability of funds.

Renewals or extensions will be considered.