Print

Supplemental information on PESOSE experiential activities and budget preparation

PESOSE experiential opportunities

Pathways to Enable Secure Open-Source Ecosystems (PESOSE) Track 1 and Track 2 awardees must participate in mandatory open-source ecosystems (OSE) experiential activities, known as "I-Corps for PESOSE." These activities will enable each team to ascertain the potential for a relevant and sustainable OSE for their open-source product, learn best practices for building a secure, private and sustainable OSE and identify the broader societal impacts for their OSE. Experiential activities in ecosystem discovery will focus on community building, governance and the sustainability of OSEs.

Note: Track 2 awardees who successfully completed I-Corps for PESOSE as a Track 1 awardee may waive this requirement by indicating the dates of their I-Corps for PESOSE activity on the first line of their project description and describing the outcomes of their activities in the body of the project description.

Upon the award of a Phase I or Phase II PESOSE award, teams are required to complete the following:

Team registration

Register for the I-Corps for PESOSE training program at https://nsfgov.my.site.com/mywork. Once users create an account, please submit an I-Corps Executive Summary, which requests brief biographies of the team members who will participate in the training, a description of the OSE, application/market (commercialization applications) and current sustainability plan (current commercialization plan).

Designation of team members

The team must designate individuals to participate in the I-Corps for PESOSE program and fill the following three roles:

  • Technical lead (TL)/community manager: The TL or community manager is typically the principal investigator (PI), co-PI, senior personnel or subawardee who possesses deep expertise in the technology/innovation being developed and has decision-making authority over project direction. The TL will serve as the technical director and is responsible for analyzing information from end-user discovery from the point of view of the technical understanding of the desired capabilities, functionalities and potential applications. The TL works with the team to ensure that the technical aspects of the innovation align with the identified OSE community needs and opportunities.
  • Entrepreneurial lead (EL)/team lead: The EL is the team lead and will serve as the outreach coordinator for the team and should be active and engaged in the OSE project activities, including devising a strategy for sustaining the OSE beyond the PESOSE award. This individual acts as the team lead/organizer by focusing on outreach, identifying and setting up interviews with stakeholders, and preparing weekly reports. The EL could be a graduate student, postdoctoral fellow or early-stage investigator seeking an opportunity to develop leadership skills.
  • Industry mentor (IM): The keyword here is "mentor." This team member is someone with extensive experience developing OSEs and a deep understanding of how they operate. The IM could be someone already serving with the PESOSE project team, possibly on an advisory committee, a key collaborator or an experienced OSE leader who wants to support development of the OSE. The IM plays a pivotal role by offering insights from their perspective on industry practices, OSE governance, and OSE standards and sustainability models. The IM works with the team to ensure there are linkages between the work being done internally and the real-world needs of external OSE stakeholders.
  • Additional team members: The team may invite a co-EL or co-TL to participate on the team. These individuals should only be included if they plan to attend all sessions and engage in all ecosystem discovery activities.

All team members should review and agree to the following program requirements:

The I-Corps for PESOSE activities have been discussed and agreed to by the training team. I-Corps for PESOSE training requires a substantial commitment, including:

  • Attendance by the entire team at the course kick-off.
  • Participation by all team members in weekly web sessions following the completion of the kick-off.
  • Approximately one day of effort per week by the EL and TL in conducting interviews with potential customers (ecosystem discovery).
  • Weekly involvement by the IM in the I-Corps activities in addition to attending I-Corps meetings.
  • Attendance by the entire team at the lessons learned closing meeting.
  • Completion of at least 100 interviews during the I-Corps for PESOSE training.
  • Exceptions will be given to the above requirements in the case of a medical or family emergency.

I-Corps for PESOSE program description

The I-Corps for PESOSE training team is required to participate in all meetings and to conduct a minimum of 100 interviews over the course of the training. This curriculum includes a kickoff session, weekly sessions and a closing session. More course information will be provided by the NSF I-Corps program in the weeks before the training start date.

The I-Corps for PESOSE experiential activities provide real-world, hands-on, immersive learning to help develop an implementation strategy for the OSE community. The main activity is ecosystem discovery to evaluate potential stakeholder engagement and develop a sustainable governance structure and business model. The team's progress in ecosystem discovery will be shared with other teams in the cohort to facilitate group learning. In the end, teams are expected to have performed interviews with potential users, developers, stakeholders and potential partners from their target OSE community. The EL and TL will be expected to spend time each week conducting discovery activities, including attendance at the required program activities (weekly sessions and office hours). The IM will be required to spend approximately a few hours per week on I-Corps for PESOSE activities, in addition to attendance of the required program activities.

Note: Senior personnel documents are required if the training team includes any senior personnel who were not included at the time the proposal was submitted.

The requested I-Corps for PESOSE training budget may be for up to $30,000 to support participation of the team in the I-Corps for PESOSE training and ecosystem discovery activities.

The budget and budget justification must include the following components: 

Participation fee
A participation fee for I-Corps for PESOSE training is required for each team. This fee will be posted on the PESOSE website and may be updated periodically. Please use the fee that is in effect at the time of PESOSE proposal submission.

Budget and budget justification. 
The budget and budget justification for I-Corps for PESOSE training may include the following components:

  • Ecosystem discovery
    • Virtual tools to facilitate participation in the program, such as Zoom meeting subscriptions, LinkedIn Premium membership, headsets and recommended books.
    • Conference registration fees for attending in-person or virtual conferences (not "booths" or other marketing expenses) to conduct ecosystem discovery interviews.
    • Travel expenses associated with travel in the U.S. to conduct in-person interviews, including travel to attend conferences. International travel is not allowed.
  • Personnel expense
    • Time and effort for the EL and TL for participating in the I-Corps for PESOSE not to exceed their current salary rate. Support for the IM is also allowed. You may include fringe in this request.

Please note that the following items are not allowable expenses:

  • Gifts, gift certificates, meals and beverages as incentives for interviewees.
  • Expenses that would be classified as "marketing" or "sales" related.
  • Purchase of survey tools such as Survey Monkey.

 

PESOSE budget and budget justification

The maximum budget must not exceed $300,000 for up to one year for Track I proposals and $1,500,000 for up to two years for Track 2 and Track 3 proposals. Proposals that exceed these limits may be returned without review.

  1. Salary Rates (Lines A and B):
    1. Institutions of Higher Education; State and Local Governments (see Section IV. Eligibility Information):
      1. For existing employees: Personnel on budget lines A and B may request salary support at a rate up to their current salary rate. The budget justification should include a statement for each person affirming that the requested salary rate is no greater than the current salary rate for the person and anticipated Institutional escalation rates as applicable.
      2. For new employees: Salary and escalation rates must be consistent with the established, written policies of the organization.
    2. Nonprofit and for-profit organizations: The requested salary rates for personnel on budget lines A and B should be no greater than the relevant 75th percentile Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) rate corresponding to the responsibilities of the position and geographic location where the work will be carried out, and for each employee the budget justification must include a standard occupational classification (SOC) code and a live link to the relevant BLS web page. NSF may question the reasonableness of any personnel salary rates that exceed the relevant 75th percentile BLS rate. Any rates exceeding this level must be strongly justified in the budget justification. Note that NSF does not recognize the C-level roles for the determination of salary rates — the BLS rates must correspond to specific responsibilities.
    3. Note that the normal two-month per year limit on salary support is not enforced in the PESOSE program, but requests for cumulative NSF support in excess of two months per year will need an explicit justification per the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide II.D.2.f.(i)(a).
    4. The budget should include salary support sufficient to accommodate the mandatory PESOSE experiential activities. All Track 1 teams must budget for participation by a team of at least three and no more than five individuals (see the description in Section II of this solicitation). Track 2 proposers that have not previously participated in experiential activities under a Track 1 award are required to participate and should also budget for salary support for this purpose.
  2. Use 173.33 hours per month in salary calculations, where appropriate.
  3. All personnel on lines A and B of the main budget must be employees of the proposing organization.
  4. In the budget justification, provide title, salary rate information, time commitment, total requested salary and a description of responsibilities for the PI and other senior/key personnel (Line A) and for all individuals listed in budget Line B.
  5. The number of calendar months shown in the budget should reflect the number of person-months for which PESOSE funding is requested.
  6. Fringe benefits (Line C): In the budget justification, provide rate and base information for fringe benefits and provide a breakdown of the request for fringe benefits funding, including the escalation rates for salaries.
  7. Equipment (line D):
    1. Funding requests for equipment are not allowed for PESOSE Track 1 proposals.
    2. Funding requests for equipment are allowed for PESOSE Track 2 and Track 3 proposals, if the equipment is specifically necessary for the activities described in the proposal. The budget justification should include a description of the equipment for which funding is requested and an explanation of why the equipment is needed to perform the project. 
  8. Travel (Line E): The budget justification must include a description of the proposed travel and an explanation of why it is necessary to perform the project. A detailed breakdown of the funding request for each trip must be provided in tabular format. For-profit organizations are subject to 48 CFR 31.205-46, while all other organizations are subject to 2 CFR § 200.475.
  9. Materials and supplies (Line G): In the budget justification, include an explanation of the need for the requested materials and supplies in excess of 10% of the total budget.
  10. Consultant services (Line G): The budget justification must include the time commitment, consultant rate, a brief description of the consultant's responsibilities and the total funding request for each consultant. For consultants who will receive more than $50,000 over the entire award period, a signed letter/statement from each consultant confirming availability, time commitment, role in the project and the agreed consulting rate must be provided and should be uploaded to other supplementary documents.

    Note that owners of, or equity holders in, the proposing entity may also not be paid via PESOSE funds as consultants, contractors or under a subaward.
     
  11. Subawards (Line G): For each subaward, the budget justification must include a description of the purpose of the subaward, key tasks to be performed, the requested funding amount and a short statement from the PI on the subaward which indicates their willingness to collaborate and responsibilities, be signed by the proposing institution's business office. The following must also be provided:
    1. For Track 2 proposals, an executed copy of an intellectual property allocation of rights agreement between the proposing organization and each subaward institution, to be uploaded to Other Supplementary Documents.
    2. The following requirements apply to each subaward request:
      1. The subaward budget must include an accompanying budget justification that follows essentially the same format as for the main budget.
      2. Each line item of the subaward budget must be identified by its letter and number in the subaward budget justification.
      3. The subaward co-PI should be identified and listed on Line A (senior/key personnel) of the subaward budget.
      4. Equipment (Line D): The purchase of equipment is not allowed on a subaward budget.
      5. Travel (Line E): Travel costs are allowed on a subaward budget. The budget justification must include a description of the proposed travel and an explanation of why the travel is necessary to perform the project.
      6. Note that owners of, or equity holders in, the proposing entity may also not be paid via PESOSE funds under a subaward.
  12. Other (Line G): The budget line is typically used for fee-for-service costs and subcontracts. The budget justification must include a description of services for which funding is requested.
  13. Indirect Costs (Line I):
    1. If the proposing organization has a current federal Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA), the negotiated rate must be used.
    2. If the proposing organization does not have a NICRA, the organization may elect to use a de minimis rate of 15% of the modified total direct costs. Refer to guidance on indirect cost rates.
Top