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Originally Posted by tkwetzel
Well, I don't think they knew the difference between metric and standard a few years back...sorry Dave.
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OK, that one was the last straw. First off, NASA does indeed know the difference between metric and standard measurements. Unfortunately, Lockheed-Martin doesn't. Go check your facts. I'm really tired of taking the rap for this one.
With regard to the selections for the NASA Challenge Grant awards, I was the approving official for the full set of selections. The selections were made under my authority, and I signed off on the full list. I have final responsibility for every one of the selections, and responsibility for every choice not to award a grant. If you don't agree with or don't understand the selections, you can complain to me.
But when you call to complain, the very first thing that I will do is ask five simple questions:
1 - did you read (and I mean really
READ) the grant application and eligibility criteria to find out if your team was able to submit an application?
2 - if you submitted a rookie application, then I will ask, "did you satisfy all the required criteria for a rookie team?" (e.g. Did your application answer ALL the questions? Was it submitted on time? Did you supply
ALL the required information? Do you have official, documented support from your school or parent organization? Did you
pay attention and make sure that you submitted an application for an event where rookie grants were available? [this was not the case for all events] Did you make a valid case for why NASA should want to fund you? You are responding to a legally binding Federal Government procurement solicitation - does your application indicate that you are taking this seriously and have given the application the appropriate amount of time and effort that it deserves?)
3 - if you submitted a second-year application, then I will ask "did you satisfy all the required criteria from your rookie year for continuation funding?" (i.e. Did you send NASA the required copy of your Chairman's Award submission? Have you made arrangements to mentor a rookie team? Did you submit the application on time? Did you raise $6000 in matching funds from another sponsor? And by that, we mean
$6000 Not $3000. Not $5500. Not $5999. Did you get a rookie grant from us last year? Did you actually show up at the competition event for which you were funded, and participate? These are all binary items - you either did them or you didn't. Again, you are choosing to participate in a Federal Government procurement action, and you have to satisfy the qualification criteria - close doesn't count.)
4 - did you bother to read
this message?
5 - did you make any effort to find out the specifics of the situation about which you are calling to complain? Is all your information based on hearsay and miscellaneous posts by other people that don't know what they are talking about? Or have you taken the trouble to actively seek out and discuss the methods, procedures, criteria, and philosophies under which that NASA Challenge Grants are evaluated and selected with one of the seven people who actually run the system (and don't you DARE say that you can't find out who they are - if you ever wanted to know, all you had to do was ask)? Do you really have factual information regarding the situation associated with a team's application, including how and why they applied? In other words, do you have a serious, well-researched concern, or are you just rumor mongering?
After we have discussed these questions, we will go back through the five questions again. Because the answers to all the issues are right there. Just where they have been all along.
-dave