NSF 25-546: Foundations for Operating the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource: the NAIRR Operations Center (NAIRR-OC)

NSF 25-546: Foundations for Operating the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource: the NAIRR Operations Center (NAIRR-OC) is sponsored by National Science Foundation. Supports the establishment of the NAIRR Operations Center to facilitate AI research and education across the U. S.

NSF 25-546: Foundations for Operating the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource: the NAIRR Operations Center (NAIRR-OC) | NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation Active funding opportunity This document is the current version.

Important information for proposers and award recipients All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in the funding opportunity and in the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and its supplements . All NSF grants and cooperative agreements are subject to the applicable set of NSF award terms and conditions . NSF has updated its research security policies for NSF funded projects.

NSF 25-546: Foundations for Operating the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource: the NAIRR Operations Center (NAIRR-OC) Posted: September 2, 2025 To save a PDF of this solicitation, select Print to PDF in your browser's print options. U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p.

m submitting organization's local time): Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p. m. submitting organization's local time): Important Information And Revision Notes Any proposal submitted in response to this solicitation should be submitted in accordance with the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted.

The NSF PAPPG is regularly revised and it is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets the requirements specified in this solicitation and the applicable version of the PAPPG. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Summary Of Program Requirements Foundations for Operating the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource: the NAIRR Operations Center (NAIRR-OC) (NAIRR-OC) The National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot is a pioneering public-private initiative to catalyze a competitive national artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem for discovery and innovation by connecting U.S. researchers and educators to the most advanced public and private-sector computational and data platforms, datasets, software, AI models, and technological expertise necessary to accelerate AI-driven discovery and innovation.

Beginning in January 2024, U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) – together with 14 other federal agencies and 28 private sector partners – established the NAIRR Pilot, which has immediately advanced innovative AI and science research and accelerated AI workforce training and education.

As recommended by America's AI Action Plan, the NAIRR Operations Center (NAIRR-OC) will serve as a lean and sustainable operations capability and be the focal point for operational transition from the current Pilot towards a sustainable long-term NAIRR.

This solicitation seeks proposals to establish a community-based organization that will be responsible for the foundational visioning, coordination, operations, and development activities in support of an integrated national infrastructure for AI research and education.

The resulting award would advance the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) vision for a public-private partnership to accelerate AI innovation and national competitiveness.

This NAIRR Operations Center (NAIRR-OC) will be responsible for the following overarching goals and responsibilities: Organizational leadership: Establishing the operational framework, organizational management, and success metrics for the NAIRR and its successful operations according to the vision, goals, and requirements established by the NSF and other federal partners.

Building NAIRR capabilities and community: Undertaking specific development activities in support of NAIRR stakeholders, including interfacing with partner organizations and resources, deploying a unified web portal, integrating data-focused and other resources into the NAIRR, and conducting outreach and community building activities.

Interfacing with Pilot Operations: Coordinating with existing NAIRR Pilot contributing partners and interfacing with the independently supported teams conducting NAIRR Pilot operational functions, while developing tailored plans to execute such functions via the NAIRR-OC in the future. NSF anticipates making a single award for this competition.

NSF will provide oversight of award activities via the NAIRR Program Management Office (PMO) which may include representatives from partnering agencies. The awardee from this competition may be eligible for expansion of operational responsibilities and duties in a future phase, depending on NAIRR priorities, awardee performance and availability of funds.

Cognizant Program Officer(s): Please note that the following information is current at the time of publishing. See program website for any updates to the points of contact.

Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s): --- Computer and Information Science and Engineering Anticipated Type of Award: Cooperative Agreement Estimated Number of Awards: 1 Anticipated Funding Amount: $35,000,000 NSF Expects to make one (1) award at up to $35,000,000 for a period of up to 5 years.

Anticipated Type of Award: Cooperative Agreement Estimated Number of Awards: 1 Anticipated Funding Amount: $35,000,000 NSF Expects to make one (1) award at up to $35,000,000 for a period of up to 5 years.

Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs): Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members.

Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of sub-awards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.

Non-profit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies and similar organizations located in the U.S. that are directly associated with educational or research activities. For-profit organizations: U.S.-based commercial organizations, including small businesses, with strong capabilities in scientific or engineering research or education and a passion for innovation.

Other Federal Agencies and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs): Prospective proposers from other Federal Agencies and FFRDCs, including NSF sponsored FFRDCs, must follow the guidance in PAPPG Chapter I.E.2 regarding limitations on eligibility. There are no restrictions or limits.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 1 An organization may only serve as the submitting organization for one proposal to this competition. Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or co-PI: 1 An individual may participate as PI, co-PI, or other Senior Personnel on at most one proposal for this competition.

Note that any individual whose biographical sketch is provided as part of the proposal will be considered as Senior Personnel in the proposed activity, with or without financial support from the project. Other staff funded under the budget of a NAIRR-OC proposal are not subject to this restriction. Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions A.

Proposal Preparation Instructions Letters of Intent: Submission of Letters of Intent is required. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. Preliminary Proposal Submission: Not required Full Proposals submitted via Research.

gov: NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) guidelines apply. The complete text of the PAPPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www. nsf.

gov/publications/pub_summ. jsp? ods_key=pappg .

Full Proposals submitted via Grants. gov: NSF Grants. gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.

gov guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants. gov Application Guide is available on the Grants. gov website and on the NSF website at: https://www.

nsf. gov/publications/pub_summ. jsp?

ods_key=grantsgovguide ). Cost Sharing Requirements: Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations: Other Budgetary Limitations: Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p.

m. submitting organization's local time): Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p. m.

submitting organization's local time): Proposal Review Information Criteria National Science Board approved criteria. Additional merit review criteria apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

Award Administration Information Additional award conditions apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. Additional reporting requirements apply.

Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly expanding from the research lab to everyday life. Its impact can be seen in nearly every discipline, from health care to transportation, finance to education.

Maintaining unchallenged U.S. leadership in AI requires investment in foundational research, fundamental advances and new applications that can rapidly translate to economic growth and output.

To drive innovation, discovery, and national competitiveness in AI, U.S. researchers, educators, and developers must be empowered with the state-of-the-art AI capabilities and tools to maintain and accelerate progress, and to grow the next generation of AI talent. Many researchers and educators, however, lack the necessary access to the capabilities and tools to fully conduct their work and to train the rapidly expanding AI workforce.

The NSF-led National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) is a vision for a national infrastructure that aims to connect U.S. researchers and educators to advanced public and private-sector AI resources to overcome these access barriers and thereby accelerate AI-driven discovery and innovation.

The overarching goals for the NAIRR are to: accelerate AI and AI-powered discovery and innovation; expand the AI workforce and train the next generation of AI researchers and educators; increase capacity, integration, and use of world-class public and private-sector AI resources; and advance AI interpretability, security, and trust. The NAIRR Pilot is a major initiative to jump-start the path to a sustainable long-term NAIRR.

The Pilot was launched in January 2024 ( https://www. nsf. gov/focus-areas/artificial-intelligence/nairr ) and is led by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) with a consortium of 14 other agencies and 28 private sector partners who are contributing in-kind state-of-the-art AI resources and classroom tools including computing, data, foundation models, licensed tools and other resources as well as expertise.

In its first 18 months, the NAIRR Pilot has successfully connected over 400 research teams and educators across 48 states to this unique array of critical AI resources. NSF leads the NAIRR Pilot public-private consortium through light-weight governance structures, providing guidance and active oversight of Pilot operations in coordination with other federal partners.

NSF has leveraged and expanded many existing investments in high-performance computing, distributed cyberinfrastructure, and associated coordinated user services, which, in the ensemble, have allowed the Pilot to rapidly integrate the resources contributed by partners and make them available to researchers and educators through a central Pilot Portal ( https://nairrpilot. org ).

NSF has also made parallel investments to nurture the emerging NAIRR Pilot user community. These efforts include supporting workshops ( https://nairrpilot. org/news/community-workshops ) and providing outreach, training, and education opportunities ( https://www.

nsf. gov/funding/opportunities/dcl-nairr-pilot-expansion-researcher-training-community-outreach ) to expand NAIRR Pilot participation; supporting demonstration projects that explore novel AI research pathways that innovatively use — or contribute to — NAIRR capabilities ( https://www. nsf.

gov/funding/opportunities/dcl-national-artificial-intelligence-research-resource-nairr/nsf24-093 ), including secure environments for sensitive data; and to opportunities for the research and education community to contribute datasets to the Pilot ( https://www. nsf. gov/funding/information/dcl-national-ai-research-resource-nairr-pilot-seeks-datasets ).

Key definitions for this solicitation: National AI Research Resource Operations Center NAIRR Project Management Office (PMO) The NAIRR Project Management Office represents the programmatic staff that will provide federal government oversight of the NAIRR-OC. The NAIRR PMO will be administratively housed in NSF's Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure and may include participation from NAIRR partner agencies.

The NAIRR-OC will be expected to work closely with and carry out certain activities on behalf of the NAIRR PMO. The expected award mechanism for the NAIRR-OC. More information can be found in the PAPPG Introduction, Section D .

The Principal Investigator of the NAIRR-OC award The team that will oversee activities of the NAIRR-OC, as well as provide vision and strategy in conjunction with the NAIRR PMO. NAIRR-OC leadership team members include the PI, co-PIs and senior investigators on the NAIRR-OC award.

The Pilot phase of the NAIRR, launched in January of 2024 and providing initial resources to research and education communities while demonstrating the feasibility of a NAIRR. Details about NAIRR Pilot services can be found at https://nairrpilot. org/about .

A federal agency that has representation on the NAIRR Steering Committee and can provide input into the strategic direction of the NAIRR. A non-government entity (such as a for-profit, non-profit, or philanthropic organization) that is contributing resources to the NAIRR.

Resources made available to the research and education community via the NAIRR, including: Computational resources, including on-premises advanced computing, cloud computing, and emergent resources; Data resources, including search and discovery services, data commons, access to data repositories and curated data sets, models, and software relevant to NAIRR communities; Educational tool and services; Other resources deemed useful and relevant to NAIRR communities.

Such resources may be private sector or agency funded. A private sector or federally funded organization that operates or maintains infrastructure resources made available as part of the NAIRR. Federally Supported Resource A resource of the NAIRR supported by a federal government agency.

A resource of the NAIRR supported by non-government contributors, such as private corporations, non-profits, or philanthropic organizations. This solicitation seeks proposals for an Operations Center (NAIRR-OC) to lead and implement the foundational day-to-day operations for the NAIRR, a public-private partnership to accelerate AI innovation and national competitiveness.

The NAIRR-OC is expected to be awarded via a cooperative agreement between NSF and the awardee institution, with continued funding contingent on NAIRR priorities, awardee performance including achievement of agreed-upon milestones, and availability of funds.

The awardee will work closely and cooperatively with NSF on NAIRR operational activities and will have the opportunity to provide thought leadership and collaborative visioning for future directions of the NAIRR and its operations. The NAIRR is being developed in stages as a partnership between NSF, federal, and private sector partners.

The NAIRR-OC will be responsible for day-to-day strategic leadership on and technical implementation of NAIRR operations. The NAIRR will capitalize on the capabilities and successes of the NAIRR Pilot, while expanding the capabilities, scale, and integration to achieve its overarching goals.

NAIRR-OC activities will include establishing appropriate security requirements for users, partners, and resources interacting with the NAIRR while emphasizing research integrity principles of openness, reciprocity, and transparency. The NAIRR-OC will NOT be funded to carry out research projects itself, but to enable the U.S. research and education community to best utilize the resources of the NAIRR.

The NAIRR-OC will NOT be funded to acquire or operate the physical hardware or other cyberinfrastructure resources supporting the project work of researchers and educators but may operate ancillary supporting hardware or services in support of serving said resources to relevant communities. The NAIRR-OC will also NOT be funded to run competitions for selecting and funding resources that would be made available via the NAIRR.

The awardee is expected to accomplish the following overarching goals and functions during its initial 24 months of operations: Organizational leadership: Establishing the operational framework, organizational management, and success metrics for the NAIRR and its successful operations according to the vision, goals, and requirements established by the NSF and other federal partners.

Building NAIRR capabilities and community: Undertaking specific development activities in support of NAIRR stakeholders, including interfacing with partner organizations and resources, deploying a unified web portal, integrating data-focused and other resources into the NAIRR, and conducting outreach and community building activities.

Interfacing with Pilot Operations: Coordinating with existing NAIRR Pilot contributing partners and interfacing with the independently supported teams conducting NAIRR Pilot operational functions, while developing tailored plans to execute such functions via the NAIRR-OC in the future.

The awardee will be reviewed for performance 24 months into the award at which time, additional milestones will be developed and agreed to in collaboration with the NAIRR Program Management Office (PMO). A successful awardee may be renewed for an additional 5 years via consideration of a renewal proposal, subject to NAIRR priorities, continued awardee performance, and availability of funds. II.

A. Organizational Leadership Submissions to this solicitation must include a proposed operational strategy, organizational management, and execution plan for the successful day-to-day operation of the NAIRR and continual engagement with the research community to improve NAIRR services and capabilities. This plan should align with the overarching vision and goals of the NAIRR described in Section I.

Introduction. The plan is expected to be refined post-award in collaboration with the NAIRR PMO according to the vision, goals, and requirements established by the NSF and the NAIRR Federal partners. II.

A. i. Leadership Team Organizational Structure The NAIRR-OC shall be led by a robust leadership team with a management structure and operating model to successfully implement and operate the NAIRR-OC components.

This solicitation requires that the Principal Investigator (PI) of the award serve as the NAIRR-OC Director. If awarded, the NAIRR-OC Director must devote the majority (>50%) of their time to the position and oversee a leadership team that encompasses the broad set of skills necessary to manage the breadth of NAIRR-OC functions.

The proposal shall identify co-PIs and/or senior personnel who will work closely with the NAIRR-OC Director and make up the NAIRR-OC leadership team. All proposed members of the leadership team shall be included as co-PIs or senior personnel. It is expected that senior personnel will devote a significant fraction of their time to NAIRR-OC activities.

The proposal should identify which leadership team members will be responsible for leading key areas of the NAIRR-OC. The leadership team (as defined in Section I. Introduction) shall be affiliated with a single submitting organization to the maximum extent possible.

Strong central leadership and management via the submitting institution is expected. If a skill set gap exists within the submitting institution, leadership from one additional institution may be added. Proposals that include substantial use of sub-awarded partners or affiliate appointments at the leadership level will be considered contrary to the stated goals of the NAIRR-OC.

The PI and leadership team shall collectively demonstrate skills and experience consistent with leading a high-visibility national activity with technical operational components.

Such skill and experience include, but are not limited to: Demonstrated experience with management and coordination of high-level partnerships and collaborative initiatives involving the private and non-profit sectors; Demonstrated experience interacting with and convening scientific communities, -- including emerging communities, both in fundamental AI research and in disciplinary research benefiting from AI infrastructure; Technical expertise with AI research and the required cutting-edge technology, infrastructure, skills, and tools; Data infrastructure skills in support of AI workflows; and Cybersecurity and research security experience necessary to establish appropriate requirements for the NAIRR, its resources, and its userbase.

II. A. ii.

Stakeholder Engagement Strategy Interacting with relevant stakeholders will be paramount for the NAIRR-OC to determine user requirements, usage modes, services and tools for user-facing NAIRR services, feedback from partners and associated Resource Providers, and feedback on operational performance.

Stakeholder groups that will be engaged by the NAIRR-OC, include, but are not limited to: federally supported Resource Providers to the NAIRR; private sector partners and associated Resource Providers; and a User Forum representing the NAIRR userbase. More details on how the NAIRR-OC shall interact with each of these stakeholder groups are provided below.

The NAIRR-OC shall regularly engage with the federally supported Resource Providers contributing to the NAIRR to understand and track Resource availability, end-to-end user experiences, emerging AI infrastructure requirements, and technology trends; operational challenges and pain points; and other information important to successful NAIRR operations.

For similar purposes as with federally supported Resource Providers, the NAIRR-OC shall regularly engage with representatives of private sector partners who are contributing NAIRR resources, including by attending a NAIRR partner forum also attended by NSF, and by engaging with the partners' technical representatives who are directly involved in the allocation and utilization of their respective resources.

The NAIRR partner forum is an ongoing self-organized venue for private sector partners to share best practices with each other and provide individual feedback relevant to their resources and their user communities back to the NAIRR PMO and NAIRR-OC. The NAIRR-OC shall convene and maintain a User Forum comprised of NAIRR users.

The NAIRR-OC will determine the initial governance structure of the forum, and will enable the User Forum to elect a chair and board from the NAIRR user community and have independence from the NAIRR-OC. The User Forum will be a venue for users to share best practices with each other about how they use NAIRR capabilities and to collect and provide feedback to the NAIRR-OC on operational efficiencies and user needs.

The NAIRR-OC shall serve as the "voice' of the NAIRR to the public, existing and prospective users, as well as other relevant stakeholders.

The NAIRR-OC communications activities shall include: disseminating new or modified NAIRR capabilities, processes, policies, and resources; collecting and publicly describing science, innovation, education, and resource highlights; significant outreach to communities not yet informed of or affiliated with the NAIRR; presentations highlighting NAIRR resources, use cases, outcomes, and more; and other innovative ways to inform, excite, and foster communities relevant to the NAIRR.

II. A. iv.

Metrics and Outcomes for Operational Success The awardee shall develop and maintain a set of operational metrics and outcomes of the NAIRR-OC strategically tied to the four key goals of the NAIRR enumerated in Section I. Introduction. NSF expects the development of operational success metrics and tracking of outcomes over time to be a significant activity for the NAIRR-OC.

Such data should inform decisions on NAIRR-OC activities, future NAIRR offerings, and evaluation of the NAIRR investments as a whole. The operational metrics and collected outcomes will be refined in collaboration with the NAIRR PMO and will inform the performance of the NAIRR-OC.

Proposed metrics may include (but are not limited to): activity metrics for NAIRR users and Resource Providers, students and researchers served, and US geographic reach.

Longer term outcome and impact metrics may include (but are not limited to): key innovations, patents or discoveries from researchers using the NAIRR, startups launched based on research supported by the NAIRR, regional innovation activity and job impacts, and the increase in percentage of publications at top AI conferences acknowledging NAIRR resources amongst others.

In addition, NSF may separately support an evaluation entity, form an advisory board, or establish other mechanisms to examine and advise on the entire NAIRR program. The NAIRR-OC will be expected to collaborate with these entities, including by sharing information with them as appropriate. II.

B. Building NAIRR Capabilities and Community The NAIRR-OC is expected to develop and operate (via the submitting organization or via a contract/sub-award) a NAIRR Portal that will be the landing page and "one stop shop' for all communities interested in the NAIRR and NAIRR services. Once live, the NAIRR PMO will effectuate replacing the Pilot portal hosted at https://nairrpilot.

org with this new Portal. The NAIRR Portal is expected to have an integrated look and feel across all operational areas of the NAIRR and have an extensible structure such that new features and functionality can be added over time.

Other foundational capabilities of the NAIRR Portal should include (but are not limited to): a platform to request access to allocatable NAIRR capabilities and services, as well as enable access to open resources (including computing, data, model, software, tools, platforms, services and educational and training resources); documentation and/or tools regarding available resources and which resources are best suited for a given researcher or educator; mechanisms for stakeholders to view information about NAIRR usage and statistics, such as user research abstracts, science fields and institutions; highlights of NAIRR supported research projects in line with communications and outreach efforts; interactive interfaces for educational and introductory usage of certain resources; system safeguards, user access controls, and cybersecurity practices across the Portal, as appropriate; and feedback mechanisms for future improvement of NAIRR Portal functionality.

The NAIRR-OC shall finalize their plans for website development within the first 3 months of the award and must work with the maintainers of http://nairrpilot. org to allow for a smooth and well-communicated transition to the NAIRR Portal within the first 12 months of the award period. II.

B. ii. Integration of Data, Models, and Tools Access to innovative and performant data infrastructure, as well as sufficient and impactful datasets, models, and related tools, are critical to AI research and education.

Data management, access, quality, and curation remain key challenges for the AI and broader scientific research and education communities. The NAIRR-OC will be uniquely positioned to inform the vision for NAIRR data infrastructure, including understanding user requirements and usage modes; findability and accessibility of existing datasets and data repositories; related models, tools, and services; and more.

The NAIRR-OC will initially be responsible for the following areas of data and data infrastructure: determining user requirements, usage modes, services and tools for user-facing data services; assessing researcher data and workflow pain points, challenges and needs and bringing forth community requirements for new data, models or other resources and services that could be integrated into the NAIRR; in consultation with the NAIRR PMO and other relevant stakeholder communities, determining criteria for datasets to be included in the NAIRR, such as metadata standards, documentation, use cases and other criteria; and interfacing with externally funded or contributed data infrastructure resources and service providers and integrating those resources into the NAIRR to be made available to the research community.

The NAIRR-OC will initially be expected to leverage existing external resources and services for many of the above activities, rather than directly developing or funding AI-related data repositories, data discovery services, or other data infrastructure. II. B.

iii. Outreach, User engagement, and Requirements gathering Continuous engagement with the researcher and educator communities shall be critical components of the NAIRR-OC's responsibilities.

Such activities include: promulgating information about available NAIRR offerings to communities not yet informed or affiliated with the NAIRR; collecting emerging user requirements, pain points, and methods to address them; and collecting information on AI technology trends relevant to NAIRR communities and how they could inform future NAIRR offerings.

These activities are expected to complement the Communications activities enumerated in Section II. A. iii.

Communications. II. C.

Interfacing with NAIRR Pilot Operations The NAIRR-OC shall initially be responsible for interfacing with existing separately supported NAIRR Pilot operational teams. These currently include: NAIRR Pilot Portal activities – providing the primary web presence of the NAIRR Pilot at http://nairrpilot.

org , including: announcing resource opportunities for researchers and educators to request allocatable resources; maintaining a catalog of openly available resources including datasets, models, software and access to other platforms; promulgating training events and webinars; listing of NAIRR Pilot awards, principal investigators, and abstracts; and providing highlights of science outcomes and researcher statistics.

Communications and Outreach activities – reaching new and prospective users through webinars and newsletters.

Opportunities, allocations, user support, metrics collection, and other core NAIRR Pilot Activities – coordination services for integrating and allocating existing NAIRR resources, including: maintaining a catalog of federally supported and private sector resources; managing the review and allocation of resource requests, including maintaining a resource request system and a database of allocated projects; onboarding and supporting users, via user experience teams, support ticketing systems, and office hours; conducting educational trainings and webinars; and reporting operational metrics.

Currently, these NAIRR Pilot operations teams coordinate closely with the NAIRR PMO and with each other to fulfill NAIRR Pilot operational roles. Transition of the Pilot portal activities is further described in section II. B.

i The NAIRR Portal, while transition of communications activities is further described in section II. A. iii.

Communications. Within the first 12 months of the award period, the NAIRR-OC awardee shall submit a plan for how it proposes to execute the scope of work handled by remaining operational teams. The plan could: propose new, enhanced, or differently focused operational areas using new methods and team structures; propose a continued relationship with existing Pilot operational teams; or a combination of the two.

Any proposed transition of remaining Pilot services under new methods or team structures shall happen over the course of at least 6 months after NAIRR PMO approval to allow for a well-communicated and orderly transition. II. E.

Summary of Milestones The NAIRR-OC awardee shall adhere to the following primary milestones throughout the award period, subject to confirmation or revisions coordinated with the NAIRR PMO.

3 months post award: Submission of a Project Execution Plan to NSF with finalized plans and milestones for all activities taking place in the first 24 months of the award, including: a Strategic Operations Plan; an updated Stakeholder Engagement Plan; an updated Communications Engagement Plan; and an updated Pilot Portal Development Plan 6 months post award: Submission of an updated operational metrics and outcomes collection plan.

12 months post award: Complete the transition of nairrpilot. org to NAIRR-OC maintained web presence. 12 months post award: Submission of a plan for how the NAIRR-OC will execute the allocations and user support scope of work handled by the Pilot operations teams.

24 months post award: Complete transition (as applicable) of NAIRR Pilot operational activities to NAIRR-OC execution in association with operational partners. 24 months post award: NSF-conducted site visit review, reverse site visit review, or other review of project performance and out year milestones. Estimated program budget, number of awards and average award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds.

IV. Eligibility Information Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs): Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members.

Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of sub-awards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.

Non-profit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies and similar organizations located in the U.S. that are directly associated with educational or research activities. For-profit organizations: U.S.-based commercial organizations, including small businesses, with strong capabilities in scientific or engineering research or education and a passion for innovation.

Other Federal Agencies and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs): Prospective proposers from other Federal Agencies and FFRDCs, including NSF sponsored FFRDCs, must follow the guidance in PAPPG Chapter I.E.2 regarding limitations on eligibility. There are no restrictions or limits.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 1 An organization may only serve as the submitting organization for one proposal to this competition. Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or co-PI: 1 An individual may participate as PI, co-PI, or other Senior Personnel on at most one proposal for this competition. Note that any