Project Solicitation Conference

The National Institute For Hometown Security hosted a Project Solicitation Conference for the Kentucky Critical Infrastructure Protection Institute Program on August 14, 2007, at the Center For Rural Development (2292 US 27 South) in Somerset, KY, to provide information about the program’s 2007 project solicitation cycle. No registration fee was required. The conference started at 10 a.m. (EDT) and concluded at 3:30 p.m. with the following agenda:

  • 10:00 AM –Opening/Welcome- Dr. Sam Varnado, NIHS CEO
  • 10:20 AM –Program History/Background- Ewell Balltrip, NIHS President
  • 10:40 AM –Review of 2007 Technical Topics- Dr. Varnado and Mike Matthews, DHS
  • 11:20 AM –Break
  • 11:30 AM –R&D Project Contract Terms and Obligations- Hugh Haydon, G&H Intl Services
  • 12:30 PM –Lunch - Speaker: Denise Swink, Council on Competitiveness
  • 1:30 PM –Discussion of White Paper Template and Submission Process- Stephanie Stumbo, G&H International Services
  • 2:00 PM –Discussion/Explanation of Selection Criteria- Dr.Varnado
    • Technical Merit- Mr. Matthews
    • Technical Feasibility- Dr. Varnado
    • Relevance and Integration-Dr.Varnado and Mr. Matthews
    • Commercialization/Conversion to Use- Don McAllister, Chris Gesswein, CTC; Shannon Rickett, NIHS Director of Commercialization
    • Project Management and Execution-Mr. Balltrip
  • 3:30 PM –Adjourn


Project Solicitation Conference Call

NIHS hosted a conference call from 10:00 AM through 11:00 AM (EDT) on Tuesday August 21 to provide principal investigators an opportunity to pose questions and gain additional information about the 2007 KCI Project Solicitation. A summary transcript of the conference is provided below.

Project Solicitation Conference Call Transcript

Purpose of the call was to respond to questions and follow up to issues raised concerning the Kentucky Critical Infrastructure Protection Program project solicitation. Major points of the call:

  • NIHS is being paid by DHS based on milestones and the NIHS contract agreement with DHS requires that NIHS pay universities receiving project awards based on milestones
  • NIHS anticipates negotiating milestones specific to each project prior to the start of work. Those who are asked to submit a full project proposal will need to include a milestone payment schedule as part of their proposal.
  • Execution of the contract agreement may be considered a payment milestone. This upfront payment should be carefully calculated to allow the project to proceed until the next scheduled payment milestone.
  • Upfront payments to acquire equipment necessary to complete the project may also be considered.
  • Once a project has been selected for award NIHS will schedule a time to meet with the PI and other appropriate project personnel to finalize project objectives, review budget, agree to any modifications/adjustments based on scope, and to establish the payment milestones. Universities will be under no obligation to begin work on the project or to enter into a contract until they are satisfied with the proposed budget, milestones, objectives and scope.
  • Thorough support documentation for the overall project budget will be required initially but once budget and payment milestones have been agreed upon, NIHS will not seek to document cost accounting during the course of the project. This should provide universities significant flexibility and ease of management during the course of the project.
  • Each university will be provided a copy of the proposed contract agreement prior to any party being asked to commit.
  • Universities are allowed to adjust budgets between the white paper and full proposal stage. Adjustments should be reasonable and there should be justification.
  • Universities will be allowed to use their own internal overhead rates in determining budgets. There is no bias toward rates (although dramatically higher rates may impact competitiveness).
  • Universities may propose payment milestones specific to their private commercial partners to give those partners additional confidence of being paid.
  • Foreign nationals are not prohibited from working on projects although these individuals will need to be identified and, depending on the nature of the project and circumstances, there may be some instances where these individuals will be excluded.
  • There is no benchmark for the amount of participation for a university that is not a member of the Consortium.