Summer is a time when things are a little bit quieter in the SERDP and ESTCP Office, but only for a brief stretch. The rest of the year is anything but slow for the Programs. SERDP and ESTCP kept busy this spring with our annual proposal review efforts and In-Progress Review (IPR) meetings. Now with summer almost over, ESTCP is gearing up for our proposal selection meetings in September.

SERDP

In January of this year, SERDP received 240 pre-proposals in response to the FY 2016 Core Solicitation and subsequently requested 107 full proposals. These proposals represented the most qualified pre-proposals in response to the solicitation. The full proposals were first peer reviewed by technical experts then sent on to the SERDP Technical Committees (STCs) who met in June and early July to deliberate on which of the proposals to recommend for funding. The STCs also reviewed 24 proposals that were submitted in response to the FY 2016 SERDP Exploratory Development (SEED) Solicitation. Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) meetings will be held in September and October, during which 36 investigators will present their proposals to the SAB in Arlington, VA.

ESTCP

ESTCP released the FY 2016 Environmental Technologies and Installation Energy Solicitations in February and received a total of 152 and 107 pre-proposals respectively. The ESTCP Technical Committees (ETCs) reviewed the pre-proposals in May and June, and then made recommendations for full proposal requests to the ESTCP Director. ESTCP disseminated full proposal requests to 48 investigators under the Environmental Solicitation and to 25 investigators under the Installation Energy Solicitation.

ESTCP also released two supplemental FY15 solicitations earlier this spring. The first was for Innovative Technology Transfer Approaches. This solicitation received 75 proposals of which, 14 were selected for funding. The second was for Post Remediation Performance Assessment. This solicitation received 20 proposals of which, 11 were selected for funding. 

In-Progress Reviews

In the midst of proposal review season, each of the five Program Areas also held their winter and spring IPR meetings during which principal investigators for nearly 200 projects presented status updates on their research and demonstrations as well as their plans for the coming fiscal year.

Looking Ahead

SERDP is gearing up for another round of IPRs in the fall as well as our previously mentioned SAB meetings. ESTCP will be making FY 2016 proposal selections in the September and October timeframe and both programs will be evaluating requirements and budgets for planned FY 2017 solicitations. Watch our website or follow us on Twitter for announcements, and enjoy the final weeks of summer.