The Mid-scale RI program provides a flexible, yet robust, competitive opportunity to support research infrastructure of intermediate scales above the MRI and below the MREFC thresholds, respectively. This solicitation calls for mid-scale projects in the lower portion of that range, from $400,000 to below $20 million in total project costs. This funding range will support a wide variety of research infrastructure design and implementation activities for any combination of equipment, instrumentation, upgrades to major research facilities, computational hardware and software, and the necessary commissioning, all leading to the direct advancement of fundamental science, engineering and STEM education research. With the exception of design awards, infrastructure acquired or developed with support from the Mid-scale RI-1 Program is expected to be operational by the end of the award period to enable the research for which the infrastructure was proposed. Examples of projects that may be supported by Mid-scale RI-1 include, but are not limited to, upgrades and major new infrastructure for existing major facilities, infrastructure that supports high-priority research experiments/campaigns, major cyberinfrastructure that addresses community and national-scale computational- and data-intensive science and engineering research, and major shared community infrastructure and resources as may be required to enable community scale research and upgrades and/or major new infrastructure for existing facilities. Proposals for infrastructure that advances research on climate science and the impacts of climate change are encouraged.
To organize the diverse range of projects expected across the research areas supported by NSF, with a wide range of project types and costs, the Mid-scale RI-1 program is planned to be divided into the following categories.
- Mid-scale RI-1: Implementation Projects (M1:IP) (e.g., Procurement, Assembly, Construction, and Commissioning) Implementation projects may a) enable well-defined, limited-term research experiments with broad community buy-in and shared data resources and/or b) shared-use, mid-scale infrastructure for broad community use. M1:IP provides for acquiring, assembling, constructing and/or commissioning mid-scale infrastructure e.g., at labs, facilities or in the field, but does not support the construction or operations of labs/facilities or the science or operations undertaken with the infrastructure. Operations and maintenance costs are discussed below.
- Mid-scale RI-1: Design Projects (M1:DP). Design proposals may be submitted to prepare for future mid-scale (greater than $4 million total project cost) and larger-scale research infrastructure. Design may cover Preliminary or Final Design, preparing a future midscale or larger project to a level of readiness that allows for a determination of the feasibility for implementation (assembly/construction). Only M1:DP projects may ask for less than $4 million. The minimum M1:DP budget request is $400,000, with the upper request for M1:DP being the maximum allowable Mid-scale RI-1 request of below $20 million as needed to prepare for a future mid-scale or larger infrastructure implementation project. Mid-scale RI-1 will not support early phase Research and Development that addresses technological issues that are appropriate for funding through regular research programs, or conceptual designs. Successful award of an Mid-scale RI-1 design project does not imply NSF commitment to future implementation of that project. M1:DP projects that submit to future NSF competitions for implementation must re-compete against all other proposals in any competition.
The Mid-scale RI-1 Program does not provide operating or maintenance funds for projects it supports through this solicitation. However, both preliminary and full proposals must describe viable plans for continuing operations and maintenance of any awarded infrastructure.
Mid-scale infrastructure is expected to serve a wide community and lead to public access to data resources. Mid-scale RI-1 investments are expected to demonstrate high potential to significantly advance the Nation's research capabilities. Support for infrastructure to be located at other Federal agencies or their FFRDCs may occur through proposals from Mid-scale RI-1 submission-eligible organizations only when the infrastructure meets one or more of the exceptions for "Other Federal Agencies" in the PAPPG. Broadly accessible infrastructure to be located at NSF-supported FFRDCs may be requested through direct submission of Mid-scale RI-1 proposals by the FFRDC's managing organization.
Mid-scale projects are ideal training grounds for the next generation of leaders in technological innovation. To maximize the impact of Mid-scale RI-1 investments, proposals must focus on innovative, potentially transformative research infrastructure that enables a strong component of student training in state-of-the-art infrastructure development and/or use.
The science justification in all proposals must demonstrate the importance of the proposed capability relative to that currently available to the general US research community. Investigators whose preliminary proposals are for capabilities similar to those currently available to the U.S. research community are unlikely to be invited to submit full proposals. All proposals must show the project's value and benefit to the U.S. research community. Examples of benefit include, but are not limited to, new and unique research capability, broad access to research infrastructure, dedicated community observing time on the infrastructure, access to unique data products and software, and cooperation and sharing of technology with other projects. Strong project management and robust cost estimation will be emphasized in Mid-scale RI-1 proposal review, particularly for more costly or complex projects. Proposers are strongly encouraged to account for all foreseeable costs in the project budget, including adequate plans for risk mitigation. Prior to final selection, some implementation projects may be evaluated through a cost, schedule, and management review, involving a site visit or a reverse site visit with specialist reviewers, as a prerequisite for an award.
Past awards can be found here: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/advancedSearchResult?ProgEleCode=108Y&BooleanElement=Any&BooleanRef=Any&ActiveAwards=true&#results
The Mid-scale RI-1 Program seeks broad representation of PIs and institutions in its award portfolio, including a geographically diverse set of institutions (including those in EPSCoR jurisdictions) and MSIs. PIs who are women, early-career researchers, members of underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply. For the latter group, Mid-scale RI-1 encourages PIs to consider Facilitation Awards for Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities (FASED) requests as part of an Mid-scale RI-1 proposal submission (see the current PAPPG). The total amount requested, including the base Mid-scale RI-1 budget and any FASED request must not exceed the Mid-scale RI-1 program's budget limit.
The Mid-scale RI-1 program will consider proposals for research cyberinfrastructure (CI) projects that aim to significantly enable new science and engineering research at the community, regional, national, and international scales. Such research CI proposals must be strongly driven by the identified research needs of one or more science and engineering communities supported by NSF, advance the Nation's holistic research cyberinfrastructure ecosystem (i.e., spanning one or more of data, software, networking, and/or cybersecurity), and comprise innovative, focused technical and operational objectives. Proposals to the Mid-scale RI-1 Program that are primarily focused narrowly on data storage or seek support for broadly provisioned high-performance computing resources will not be supported by the Mid-scale RI-1 Program. Prospective principal investigators (PIs) with questions should contact the Mid-scale RI-1 Program team.