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Questions and Requests for Information, NASA Applied Sciences Program
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As a supplement to the information available on the AIWG site, can a matrix be provided for the 80+ projects in the Applied Science Program (ASP) that shows their relation to the six ‘Focus Areas’, the twelve ‘Applications Areas’, the data platform used (MODIS or otherwise), the year started, the year of completion, the benchmark report date (past or projected), and external benchmark publication/citation (if any)? It was mentioned that about 60 of these 80+ projects were competitively awarded. Were the other 20+ all earmarks, or were some NASA initiatives?
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Can we be provided with the written annual Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements to NASA ASP and with the Congressional language that prohibits direct decision support? We are particularly interested in language that sets limits on what ASP is and is not allowed to do (e.g., reporting on measurements below 10 meters due to commercial concerns).
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What were the ASP evaluation metrics sent to the OMB for each of the past five years?
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Why were the original seven Application Areas expanded into twelve? What were the seven original?
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What are the technical definitions of the Applications Areas (NASA ASP specific) and the Focus Areas (NASA-wide)? What are the practical differences and relationships between these two areas in terms of categorizing projects and measuring project progress and success in ASP?
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How does ASP document adoption, incorporation, implementation, and/or use of benchmark reports (through general public literature (peer reviewed or other), ISI citations, patents, conferences, web site citations, etc.)? Is ASP required to record such evidence?
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What are the best resources for assessing the benefits of ASP for the broader community, especially the private sector and local governments? Is there information about the most active nonfederal users of NASA/ASP products? Was there an assessment of NASA services to these categories of users before NASA was directed not to undertake direct decision support?
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Does ASP record website hits for the Earth Science Gateway and AIWG? If so, can we be provided with these hits, sorted by whatever user identifications are possible (preferably by e-mail extension [e.g., .org, .gov, .com, .edu])?
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Can we be provided with a case study or studies of research-to-operations transition for selected users in agriculture and/or water resources?
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How have the “Decadal Outcomes of Agencies Use of NASA Data and Information” been measured (found on pp. 38-39 of Earth Science Applications Plan, far right column)?
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Could you provide us with a list of all funded and non-funded proposals to the ASP over its history (since the inception of the 2001-02 systems engineering structure), with either the proposing organization stated explicitly or a categorization according to federal agency, nonfederal government agency, tribal agency, academic organization, private company, and any other category (if confidentiality must be maintained for the non-funded proposals). The AIWG site does a great job listing the active proposals, but the non-funded proposals and those dating back to the early years (funded/non) are not available as far as we've seen.
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We were told at one time of a 2006 Earth Science Applications Plan (draft)--could you tell us the status of this document and whether or not the committee might be able to see the document or receive a summary of the content/highlights?
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The memoranda of understanding or of agreement (MOU/MOA) were mentioned fairly often last Thursday. How many such MOU's does ASP have with other agencies--could these be listed according to agency (with which ASP has the MOU) and the time at which they were initiated? Does such an MOU/MOA structure exist for private/non-federal entities (between those entities and ASP)? If ASP has some of these arrangements with non-federal groups, could these also be listed for us?
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Somewhat related to the above (3), what sort of officially documented governance structures, if any, does ASP have to establish and develop new interactions/partnerships (whether federal or otherwise)?
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Enterprise Architecture--is ASP actively involved with this?
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Could a list of the current interagency and cross-disciplinary working groups/arrangements in which ASP is involved be provided to us?