Standing Committee Meeting Report PASSCAL

March 2017

Preliminary Draft

**PRELIMINARY DRAFT**

Action Items

1. (Anderson) PM requested to provide further detail on budget from previous year before budget meeting.
Resolution: Further detail provided

2. (Anderson) PM requested to provide information on usage and delay time for various sensors.
Resolution: PM provided details in the budget presentation with the caveats that the database was not designed to capture this information accurately.

3. (Anderson and Wagner) Draft letter to the Board requesting flexibility to reallocate M&S funds in NSF SAGE year 5 to retain capabilities in PASSCAL until NGEO funding is known.
Resolution: Letter drafted and sent to the PASC for review.  Letter was sent to Board and Board approved flexibility.  PM will work with PIC to develop budget for FY18 with this flexibility until NGEO funding is known.

4. (PASC) Draft results of discussion of impacts of CCArray on the PASSCAL program for Board meeting.
Resolution: Letter drafted and distributed to Board prior to board meeting.  Discussed at CoCom.

5. (PASC) Draft results of discussion on feedback on virtual meetings for Board meeting.
Resolution: Letter drafted and distributed to Board prior to board meeting.  Discussed at CoCom.

6. (PASC) Draft letter for Board on need for Governance/Management training for Roles and Responsibilities.
Resolution: Letter drafted and discussed at CoCom.  Board has action item now to develop a Roles and Responsibilities document.

7. (PASC) Provide a list of SC Chair candidates for Board review.
Resolution: List provided to Board, but not in time to make the Board agenda.  Board deferred discussion.

8. (Kaip) Notify Okaya, Magnani, Schwartz, and Harder when the SSF website is up and ready for review.
Resolution: Work in progress.

Virtual Meeting Summaries

Call #1 on February 14, 2017

Attendees: Lara Wagner, Beatrice Magnani, Bob Woodward, Kent Anderson, Justin Sweet, Susan Schwartz, Doug Christensen, Steve Holbrook, Bruce Beaudoin, Kate Allstadt, Galen Kaip, Mark Leidig, Brandon Schmandt, Donna Shillington, Sue Bilek

Board Guidance Discussion
Program Manager introduced the plan to address the flat-funded NSF SAGE year 5 budget.  PASSCAL received a continuation of the $375k bump for maintenance and supplies.  Subawardees are submitting their preliminary budget proposals to PM by 2/15/17, and he will combine those and distribute to the committee by the end of the week ahead of next week’s budget call.  Board also requested feedback on the CCArray proposal by 3/23 and on the virtual SC meeting process.

Program Manager’s Report
PM summarized the close of NSF SAGE year 3 budget (ending Sept 2016).  Portable expended all funds, and in addition, received $180k in carryover funds to address RT130 GPS issues (purchase of new antennas).  SAGE year 4 budget (beginning Oct 2016) is underway and so far looks good (slight underspend at the moment) and expects to close the year with zero balance.

PM gave a brief summary of the scope management plan (SMP) and why it was created.  The SMP comprises a prioritized list of capabilities from the facility that are guided by the science needs of the community.  The intent is to review the SMP from time to time to make sure that this committee is happy with the current prioritization of capabilities to help guide management in the event that cuts or reductions in capabilities become necessary.  The Portable Program has already begun to implement some of these cuts/reductions and is now at a place where additional cuts impact core functions.

Chair noted that it would be helpful to have the budget numbers prior to having the full SMP discussion.  She also requested a plot of the PI wait-time for different types of instrument requests (BB, SP, etc.) and to see how that varies by the size of the instrument request.  She also wants to see how these trends vary over time.

PM mentioned that given the strategic vision laid out for NGEO, it may be appropriate for some of the scope management decisions for NSF SAGE year 5 to “lean forward” towards the instrument pool described for NGEO.

Chair expressed reluctance to change the current instrument pool until NGEO funding was in-hand.

There was no further discussion of the SMP.

PASSCAL and UTEP Subaward Questions
PASSCAL: The PASC discussed several specific topics including: L22 retrofit, node documentation, Q330 RMA issues, testing of new instrumentation (Guralp Minimus and Radian, Trimble RT 160, and Nanometrics Meridian), current state of GEOICE project, and recently decommissioned sensors (40T-1s, old BBs, 9 Clies).
UTEP: The PASC discussed several topics including: Seismic Source Facility website progress, and finite element modeling to understand and improve shot coupling.

Nominations for PASC Chair
Nomination list for potential chair rotation was discussed.

Call #2 March 2, 2017

Attendees: Lara Wagner, Beatrice Magnani, Bob Woodward, Bob Detrick, Kent Anderson, Justin Sweet, Susan Schwartz, Doug Christensen, Steve Holbrook, Bruce Beaudoin, Kate Allstadt, Galen Kaip, Mark Leidig, Brandon Schmandt, Donna Shillington, Jake Walter, Tim Ahern, Sue Bilek

NSF SAGE Year 4 Budget Discussion
PM began with a budget overview presentation and proposed budget to meet the goals of the SMP.  The NSF SAGE year 4 budget is flat relative to last year but includes a board augmentation of the materials & supplies line item to meet a shortfall in the NSF SAGE appropriation for PASSCAL.  The PASC discussed redirecting some of the materials & supplies money to help offset FTE shortfalls at the PIC.  PM expressed concern that this was counter to the scope management plan and we were at risk of going against the Board of Directors’ (BoD) wishes when they granted the extra M&S funds.  There was unanimous agreement within the PASC to request authority from the BoD to redirect these funds.  Chair and PM will draft a formal request, to be circulated within the committee prior to sending to the BoD.

Call #3 March 8, 2017 – executive session

Attendees: Lara Wagner, Beatrice Magnani, Susan Schwartz, Doug Christensen, Steve Holbrook, Kate Allstadt, Mark Leidig, Brandon Schmandt, Donna Shillington, Jake Walter.  Kent Anderson was asked to participate for first portion of the call.

Budget:
With the BoD’s approval for flexibility on the M&S to retain capabilities until the NGEO award is granted, the PASC passed the budget from the PM as proposed.

CCArray input:
PASC discussed impacts on CCArray on PASSCAL program with primary concern that TA equipment is needed to support PASSCAL experiments after TA completed.  

Feedback on Virtual meetings:
Unanimous PASC agreement that the virtual meetings are not conducive to good interchange for SC meetings and lead to misunderstandings, extended time commitments and inadequate time for valuable side-bar conversations.

SC Chair nominations:
Potential names discussed, but list of candidates deferred to email discussion.
    
Governance versus Management discussion
PASC discussed a need to have training on roles and responsibilities for governance and management.

PM excused – no further notes.