NSF Issues ‘Dear Colleague Letter’ on NSF GAGE and NSF SAGE Facilities

Dear IRIS Colleagues,

The IRIS Board of Directors wishes to draw your attention to the Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) on the “Competition of Operations of an NSF-supported Geophysical Facility to Succeed the NSF GAGE and NSF SAGE Facilities” issued by NSF on January 23, 2020.

This DCL outlines NSF’s plans for an open recompetition of the management of the NSF SAGE and NSF GAGE facilities and its expectation that this process will result in a single, integrated facility managed by a single entity at the end of the current NSF SAGE and NSF GAGE cooperative agreements on September 30, 2023. NSF plans to issue a solicitation for this new facility in the second quarter of calendar year 2021 with a due date for full proposals in the first quarter of 2022.

As you will recall, the IRIS and UNAVCO Boards have formed a joint Negotiating Committee to advise the two Boards on best strategies for integrating our two consortia and communities in an effective and timely manner so that we may respond to the 2021 solicitation with a community-led proposal. Please expect a communication on the progress of the negotiation process soon.

NSF is encouraging comments from the community on desired capabilities, and associated rationales, for this future geophysical facility. Comments should be submitted as a pdf document not to exceed 3 pages in length and sent to Maggie Benoit at earfacilities@nsf.gov.

The IRIS Board of Directors strongly encourages community members to make their voices heard and to submit white papers to NSF. The deadline for submission of these white papers is June 1, 2020. 

Regards,
Rick Aster, Chair, IRIS Board of Directors
Bob Detrick, IRIS President