The past few months have been busy at SERDP and ESTCP. In addition to the normal business of managing cutting edge research, there have been a number of substantial changes within the Programs. Here is a quick update on the happenings within our office.

FY17 Proposal Selection

The SERDP and ESTCP FY17 proposal selection process is in full swing. Currently SERDP proposals are being peer reviewed and recommendations for funding will be made by the SERDP Technical Committees (STC) in the June timeframe. For those who have proposals under consideration, announcements for funding will be made in early to mid-July.

FY17 ESTCP pre-proposals are currently being evaluated by the ESTCP Technical Committees. Requests for full proposals will be made by the end of June for all Program Areas. All proposers will get official notification from ESTCP whether or not a full proposal will be requested. Proposal review is always a strenuous but rewarding task. We appreciate and look forward to the significant number of high quality proposals we receive every year.

FY18 Solicitation Development

Another critical process that is gearing up is the development of Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 solicitation topics. For those who may not be aware, the ideas for topics come to SERDP and ESTCP in different ways.

One of the main sources of development is through technical workshops and special studies. Focused technical workshops draw on the input of key experts and Government stakeholders in a technical area with the objective of extracting the most critical needs of the Department of Defense (DoD). Special studies are occasionally commissioned to survey current practices and the state-of-the-art technologies in a specific area to determine technology gaps.

We also rely heavily on the assistance and support of our Technical Committees throughout this process. The results of special studies and workshops are vetted by the Committees to ensure that DoD’s top priorities are being addressed. The Committees also assists in gathering information from around the services throughout the year on current and potential environmental issues. This benefits the various services in that they are able to express their specific needs and possibly find a solution.

In-Progress Review Meetings

This time of year we are spending a lot of time preparing for and conducting our annual Spring In-Progress Review (IPR) meetings. All SERDP and ESTCP projects are required to give an update to the Program Office each year. We find this to be an invaluable tool for managing the wide variety of research and demonstration projects we fund. At IPR meetings we often learn about exciting new developments and hear about noteworthy progress in projects. We like to share this important information with a wider audience through social media and blogs, like this one. I remind Principal Investigators to consider this as they prepare their IPR briefings and be sure to highlight any important technical achievement, breakthrough, or award related to their project.

Upcoming Technical Conferences

Below is a list of upcoming technical conferences that SERDP and ESTCP will be attending. If you have questions about the Programs this is an excellent opportunity to stop by our booth and chat about the work you do and find out more about SERDP and ESTCP.

Changes at the Program Office

As some of you may know, there have been a number of changes in staff within the SERDP and ESTCP Program. In December 2015, we were pleased to welcome Mr. Timothy Tetreault as the new ESTCP Energy and Water Program Manager. Tim came to us from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory where he specialized in renewable energy and energy efficiency project technical and financial analysis, energy strategy development, and energy project financing mechanisms. More recently we bid farewell to Dr. Anne Andrews, the Director of SERDP and ESTCP and Dr. John Hall, SERDP and ESTCP Resource Conservation and Climate Change Program Manager. Both of these individuals made significant contributions to the success of SERDP and ESTCP and we offer both our sincere thanks. While transition can be challenging in the near term, we look forward to introducing new faces to the Programs and are excited to see what direction we will head in in the future.

As always, I encourage you to connect with SERDP and ESTCP via social media and thank you again for your continued support.