Proposals may only be submitted through the HRC Cooperative Agreement Administrator after receiving a request for proposal (RFP) from DOE. Proposals should include a detailed budget for the first year and a summarized annual budget for any out years.
The proposal should contain a schedule that identifies specific products that will be produced under the task and what those products contain. For instance, it is not sufficient to say that an interim report will be produced without stating the specific items that will be contained or addressed in the report.
Since DOE can approve a task at any time, and since the approval process frequently takes several months to complete, schedules should not be written in terms of specific academic, fiscal, or calendar years, but rather "month 1," "3rd quarter," "year 2," etc.... In a related matter, researchers should only submit proposals if they are reasonably certain that sufficient personnel and resources will be available throughout the duration of the task. This is particularly important with respect to students whose availability tend to change from semester to semester.
When planning a task, one should take in to consideration the fact that the task approval process usually takes several months and the duration of a proposed task may not extend beyond the end date of the cooperative agreement (September 30, 2008). Workscopes should therefore be adjusted accordingly.
The proposal should describe the methods to be used and how those methods compare or contrast with methods currently being used by YMP. If the methods to be used include computer modeling or analyses, the software to be used or developed should be stated.
The proposal should identify input sources, if applicable. These sources should be contacted or investigated before submitting the proposal. Many tasks have experienced difficulties because they have erroneously assumed that they could readily get suitable inputs from national labs or other YMP entities.
Please note: UCCSN personnel are not to attempt to contact members of Yucca Mountain Merit Review Board (which reviews proposals) in an attempt to discuss pending proposals. In the past, attempts to sway board members have resulted in unfavorable consequences.