Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1 | 24 598

Opportunity Information: Apply for 24 598

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1 (Mid-scale RI-1) opportunity is a foundation-wide grant program meant to fill the funding gap between NSF's smaller Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) awards and the much larger Major Multi-user Facilities (Major Facilities) projects. The goal is to provide an agile path to support research infrastructure that is too big or complex for MRI, but not at the scale of a major facility. NSF uses the term "research infrastructure" broadly, meaning any mix of facilities, equipment, instruments, or computing hardware/software, along with the human expertise needed to plan, build, operate, and commission that capability. Mid-scale RI-1 is intended to strengthen the experimental and computational capabilities U.S. researchers depend on and to help the U.S. remain competitive internationally by addressing clear community needs or national needs.

This program supports two distinct proposal tracks: Implementation and Design. Implementation projects focus on acquiring, constructing, upgrading, integrating, and commissioning mid-scale research infrastructure. These awards can cover major equipment and instrumentation, cyberinfrastructure, widely used large-scale datasets, and the specialized personnel required to successfully bring the infrastructure online and make it usable by the research community. Design awards, by contrast, fund the planning and engineering work needed to get a prospective mid-scale infrastructure project ready for a future build. That can include conceptual and technical design, prototyping, risk reduction, requirements definition, costing, scheduling, governance and operations planning, and other preparatory activities that meaningfully increase "readiness" for a later implementation proposal. Design awards are explicitly not a promise of future construction funding, and they are not a prerequisite for submitting an Implementation proposal.

The budget boundaries are central to Mid-scale RI-1. Implementation projects must have a total project cost from $4 million up to but not including $20 million (the award ceiling is $19,999,999). Design activities typically request less than $4 million, with a minimum request of $400,000, but they may request up to but not including $20 million when justified by the scope needed to prepare for an eventual mid-scale implementation project. Projects that fall outside these cost limits, whether at submission or after later cost revisions during review, can be returned without review. Projects that exceed the Mid-scale RI-1 ceiling are handled under a separate NSF solicitation, Mid-scale RI-2.

NSF places heavy emphasis on scientific and technical merit and expects proposals to make a compelling case that the infrastructure is unique, broadly valuable, and responsive to demonstrated demand in the research community. Strong technical and management planning is required for both tracks, including appropriately scaled planning documents referenced in NSF's Research Infrastructure Guide (RIG), such as a Project Execution Plan (PEP) for implementation efforts or a Design and Execution Plan (DEP) for design efforts. These plans should match the complexity of the project and show credible approaches to governance, scheduling, cost control, risk management, commissioning, and operations, rather than being treated as box-checking exercises.

A major theme of Mid-scale RI-1 is workforce development and broad participation. Projects are expected to include training components that engage a diverse STEM workforce in the design and/or implementation of the infrastructure, with concrete plans for mentoring and professional development for students and other trainees. NSF also strongly encourages project teams to build supportive, healthy working environments and to include participants who contribute to that culture at all levels. In line with NSF-wide priorities, the program aims to broaden participation among principal investigators and institutions, including geographically diverse organizations and especially institutions in EPSCoR jurisdictions. Collaborative proposals and partnerships between institutions are encouraged, both to expand access to the infrastructure and to distribute expertise and benefits across the community. Accessibility is also highlighted: proposers are encouraged to incorporate accessibility for persons with disabilities into both design and implementation so that the resulting infrastructure and associated activities are usable by as many researchers and trainees as possible.

Eligibility is limited to U.S.-based organizations. Proposals may be submitted by accredited U.S. institutions of higher education (both Ph.D.-granting and non-Ph.D.-granting) with a main campus in the United States or its territories/possessions, by domestic U.S. nonprofit non-degree-granting organizations that support national research activities (such as museums, observatories, science centers, and research laboratories) with a U.S.-located administrative structure and 501(c)(3) status, and by eligible consortia. Consortia can be formally incorporated nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status, or informal consortia led by at least two eligible organizations, where the proposal identifies a PI and co-PI(s) from at least two submission-eligible institutions and makes clear in the title that a consortium is proposing. For-profit companies cannot submit as the lead, but they may participate through subawards or subcontracts when they bring a clearly justified, unique capability that the eligible organizations do not otherwise have, and when the partnership is substantive and capacity-building. Unless an award specifies otherwise, the eligible performing organization is expected to retain title to the resulting infrastructure.

Finally, there is a specific restriction tied to large NSF construction efforts: Mid-scale RI-1 will not accept proposals whose purpose is to augment an ongoing NSF Major Multi-user Facility or Mid-scale RI-2 project that is already in the construction stage, because those projects already have defined scopes. In practical terms, Mid-scale RI-1 is for new or upgraded mid-scale capabilities (including upgrades to existing infrastructure), but not for add-ons to major construction projects currently underway.

Key administrative details from the opportunity notice include: the agency is NSF; the instrument is a grant; the expected number of awards is about 10; the application deadline listed is 2025-03-19; and the maximum award amount is $19,999,999. The program spans NSF's broad research portfolio (multiple NSF CFDA areas are listed), so the main determinant of fit is whether the infrastructure will directly enable advances in NSF-supported research domains and whether the project is appropriately scaled to the mid-range between MRI and Major Facilities.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.049, 47.050, 47.070, 47.074, 47.075, 47.076, 47.083.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-08-20.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-03-19. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $19,999,999.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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