White Papers

White papers should be no more than three pages in length.  They should address the following in a concise manner:

• What work is being proposed
• Why it is in the interest of YMP to fund the work
• What type of collaborative interactions with YMP entities (e.g. National Labs, USGS, etc...) have, or will, take place in the planning or execution of the work
• Why you (your team, organization, lab, etc.) are qualified and should be selected to conduct the work
• The total duration of the task
• The annual and total cost of the work

Also, please keep in mind the following:

• DOE pays Bechtel-SAIC and the Lead National Laboratory (Sandía National Lab) to do critical path work. If you are proposing critical path work, it is less likely to be funded under the Cooperative Agreement (co-op).
• Detailed budgets and schedules should not be included in the white paper.
• Government regulations and security policies tend to increase the cost and time required to complete tasks.
• Everything else being equal, shorter duration/lower cost tasks are more likely to receive funding.
• Budget estimates should be realistic. Do not knowingly submit a low budget estimate in anticipation of being able to inflate the costs after funding has been approved. 
• All tasks must have a fixed duration (i.e. no open ended, continuous tasks) and the duration of the task may not extend beyond the end of the Cooperative Agreement (September 30, 2008).
• If new techniques or processes are being proposed as part of the workscope, it is not necessary to detail the technique, but the paper should emphasis the advantages of the new technique.
• Work generally should not be a duplication of work previously or currently being conducted.
• Due to schedule constraints, it is unlikely that any future work products produced under the co-op will be ready in time to be directly incorporated into DOE's initial license application.
• NSHE personnel are not to attempt to contact  members of the DOE  Merit Review Board (which reviews white papers) in an attempt to discuss pending papers.  In the past, attempts to sway board members have had unfavorable consequences for the specific task as well as for NSHE in general.