NASA Grant App posted

[Mark McLeod]

Semantically, I don't see how that rule quote (from last year) can be applied. It makes no reference to a season at all, it only references a single day (Kickoff), when some FRC schools are not even in session much less a month afterwards. At least locate an official quote that says "competition season."

But I didn't mean to derail this thread into semantic arguments. I just like to poke fun at the difficulty of contractual wording...

[Gary Dillard]

I guess semantically it applies as much as your quote which doesn't refer to a competition season at all.

[Mark McLeod]

Touché

[Gary Dillard]

So this kinda got me interested in the "semantics", and there appear to be conflicting "inferred" definitions of the competition season in the 2010 manual.

Under definition of Withholding allowance, there is a note that refers to "the entire period between robot ship date and the start of the competition season", which would infer that it starts with the actual competition events. However, in Rule 25 an example of the fabrication schedule describes a part which is fabricated "during the competition season" being illegal because it was designed prior to kick-off, which would imply that the build season is part of the competition season and thus it starts at kick-off.

Hmmmmmm..............

[RoboMom]

Appreciate all the interpretations here from people I respect.
But as someone who is trying to mentor (ya know, all that non-robot stuff) teams and mentors both in FIRST programs as well as other robotics programs like VRC, I am flummoxed. For FRC teams, there is a considerable chunk of $$ maybe in the offering, and there are dozens of teams in this area who have benefited from this terrific partnership over the years.

But is this clearly not worth the effort for VRC?

ps. I would love to have a Mark/Gary thread on interpretations. I have a few I can throw in from my fat file "I'm really not making this up" but not appropriate for this thread.

[Mark McLeod]

I think it's still worth it to apply. NASA has still left the door open to do whatever they want.

If your proposal does not fall within the scope of the ROC winner NASA apologizes that we will be unable to award you a scholarship for your requested competition at this time, with one caveat. That caveat being at NASA's discretion we may choose to award registration scholarships for some of the winning proposals.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by DeepWater

As far as I can tell, probably for contracting reasons, NASA is trying to not play favorites with FIRST.

From what I can gather NASA has reached some sort of contracting issue or limit with the way they have done the grants in the past and are now going through new contracting procedures

NASA's "Memorandum of Understanding" with FIRST that allocated funding and NASA support to FIRST has expired and must be rebid, essentially.

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by DeepWater

Travis, have you seen this? It will probably help answer some of your questions. Particularly section 3.

Has this link been disabled?

[ChuckDickerson]

Originally Posted by RoboMom

Has this link been disabled?

Works fine for me but try here: http://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/ then click "Solicitations" and look in the list for "Robotics Outreach Competition (ROC)" #NNA10332111C.

[dlavery]

I'll make this short and sweet, with a little practical advice:

For all the FRC teams interested in applying for a NASA team grant, do what you always do. Don't over-analyse the effects of the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations) upon the contracting language that is being used right now to implement two different, but related, grant activities. Trying to understand every nuance behind all that other procurement-related stuff won't make it any easier to understand what you have to do to apply for a team grant, and will only give you a headache. Just do what you always do.

-dave


.

[rick.oliver]

Originally Posted by dlavery

... , and will only give you a headache. Just do what you always do.

-dave

Thanks for the Tylenol.

[RoboMom]

From FRC Director's Blog:

Reminder: The NASA grant deadline is Saturday, October 30, 2010 – spread the word. FIRST is currently involved in a NASA grant competition for more than $20 million dollars over five years. Please do not reach out to any employee at NASA between now and December 3rd. It is a grant requirement that we do not contact any NASA employee regarding future NASA funding, this proposal, or team grants between now and the conclusion of this grant competition.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by dlavery

I'll make this short and sweet, with a little practical advice:

For all the FRC teams interested in applying for a NASA team grant, do what you always do. Don't over-analyse the effects of the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations) upon the contracting language that is being used right now to implement two different, but related, grant activities. Trying to understand every nuance behind all that other procurement-related stuff won't make it any easier to understand what you have to do to apply for a team grant, and will only give you a headache. Just do what you always do.

-dave


.

How are people viewing what Dave said?

Are you applying for regional challenge grants even if there are none stated in the grant app? Deadline is coming up real fast.

[IndySam]

Well today is supposed to be the day of the announcement of this years grants. I hope they don't make us wait until after thanksgiving

Good luck to the teams and a special thanks to everyone at NASA for the opportunity to apply and their hard work reviewing the applications.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by IndySam

Well today is supposed to be the day of the announcement of this years grants. I hope they don't make us wait until after thanksgiving

Jinx.