NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement: Grant for Remote STEM Learning through Informal Education Institutions

NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, collaborating closely with the Mission Directorates, and also in cooperation with NASA Headquarters’ Office of Communications and Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, solicits proposals led by Informal Education Institutions (IEIs) to provide inquiry- or experiential-based educational opportunities with direct alignment to major NASA missions for students and the public.

This one-time Teams Engaging Affiliated Museums and Informal Institutions (TEAM II) Remote Opportunity Rapid Response (RORR) competitive solicitation will provide financial support in the range of $100K-$175K for up to one year for Informal Education Institutions to amplify or create an innovative remote or distance-learning program, opportunity, or platform/project to reach K-12 students using relevant NASA content during the 2020-2021 school year and/or in summer 2021 and continuing beyond. 

The goals of this TEAM II Remote Opportunity Rapid Response (RORR) are to:

• ·      Build on and augment the innovative work and ideas of IEIs for delivering content in a remote-learning environment
• ·      Amplify and broaden the reach of innovative STEM engagement projects for youth in grades K-12 implemented in a remote delivery format
• ·      Increase access to NASA-themed STEM learning opportunities by helping youth in grades K-12 and those traditionally underserved in STEM cross the “digital divide” (that is, helping to minimize the inequities faced by communities without ready access to information and communication technology)

The specific outcomes are delivery of an innovative program, opportunity, or product capable of reaching a diverse set of students, with specific focus on underserved and/or underrepresented students in STEM and helping to minimize the inequities faced by communities without ready access to information and communication technology. Projects are required to partner with a NASA Center or entity and shall be aligned with NASA Communication themes . Project shall target STEM engagement for youth for an age range subset of grades K-12, and their support systems of families and informal and formal educators and institutions. The proposed program, opportunity, or product shall also be scalable and have the capability to be made available on a national level through networks, partnerships, or other dissemination means. Programs, opportunities or products need not be created anew; existing innovative responses to the COVID-19 closures are eligible to be augmented and/or amplified to serve a wider and more diverse audience.

Organizations submitting a proposal under this Appendix are certifying that they meet the following criteria to propose as the lead or managing IEI organization: 

•       legally recognized by a federal, state or local authority as a non-profit; 
•       located in the United States or its Territories; and 
•       provide STEM education programming; identify as or have a component that meets the definition of a museum, youth-serving organization, or library; and can partner other IEIs, K-12 schools, commercial entities, higher education institutions, and/or other agencies that support Federal STEM education goals.

An eligible institution is not required to have the words museum, visitor center, science, planetarium, youth, or library in its legal name. All types of NASA Visitor Centers (e.g., private, state or federal entities) are eligible to propose.

Proposers to this NRA are required to have the following no later than the due date for proposals:

1) a DUNS number;

2) a valid registration with the System for Award Management (SAM);

3) a valid Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code; and

4) a valid registration with NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) (this also applies to all entities that are proposed for sub-awards or subcontracts)

Note: Beginning December 2020, the DUNS number will no longer be the official identifier for entities doing business with the government. Instead, proposers will be required to have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). Please visit https://gsa.gov/entityid for more information.

Proposers submitting through Grants.gov shall register on Grants.gov. Every institution that intends to submit a proposal to this NRA, including the proposed lead institution or any partner whether an IEI, other non-profit institution, state and local Government agency, and any other organization that will serve as a sub-awardee or contractor, shall also be registered in NSPIRES. In order to submit a proposal, all team members and their institutions shall first be registered in the NSPIRES (http://nspires.nasaprs.com) system.

WARNING: The required NSPIRES Program Specific Data Form is not available via grants.gov. Be sure to include your answers to the program specific data sheet (PSD) in grants.gov immediately before the Proposal’s Table of Contents.

Additional programmatic information for this NRA may develop before the proposal due date. Such information will be added as a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) or formal amendment to this NRA and posted at NSPIRES homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/(select “Solicitations” then “Open Solicitations” then “NNH20ZHA002N-TEAMIIRORR”). Prospective proposers shall regularly check this NRA’s homepage for updates concerning the activity(s) of interest. FAQs may be updated until the proposal due date. 

When new FAQs are posted, a notice will be sent via the NASA Education Express listserv. To subscribe to NASA Express, go to: http://www.nasa.gov/education/express.