top of page

Starting New NC Development Committees (NCDCs) or 500 Series Projects

Before starting, please browse our current projects at www.nimss.org. Once you are certain your project/committee is not redundant, contact the NCRA Office and inform us of your intent to set up a proposal request. Please DO NOT submit NCDCs into NIMSS yourself! The NCRA office must be involved in the process and aware that a new project is being requested.

 

Decide which option will best suit your committee:

  • Standard NCDC or NCDC-Proposal (North Central Development/Writing Committee)

  • NC-500 Series Project (Rapid Response Project)

​

NCDC projects - Development Committees (2-year projects designed for preparing 5-year multistate project proposals)

  • NCDCs follow the federal fiscal year (October to September), so all NCDCs, regardless of when they start, will expire on September 30 of their second year.

  • Standard NCDC Requirements (see below for NCDC-Proposal Requirements):

    1. ​Two letters of support from NC AES directors - one of these directors must be willing to serve as the project AA or assign someone to fill the role for them. Preferably, these letters should be sent electronically to the NCRA office.

    2. Electronic submission of a committee justification to the NCRA office. 

      • Format for an NCDC Issues and Justifications section: Include a brief statement of (1) the nature and significance of the issues for which multistate coordination is proposed, and (2) how the proposed activity addresses national and/or regional priorities; see https://www.aginnovation.info/our-promise for agInnovation Grand Challenges. (Limit this section to approximately one-half page).

      • In this statement, identify the sets of stakeholders, customers, and/or consumers for whom the activity is intended.

      • Include also a list of expected project members and/or participating stations/states.

    3. Members of the pending NCDC must name a project Administrative Advisor before submitting this request. Please be aware projects cannot form without an AA; since we must be sure the region will support a project, the NCRA will not assign AAs for you.

    4. Once you have the above ready to go, contact the NCRA office and we’ll get you started.

    5. NCDCs have roughly two years to convert to an association-sanctioned activity (either an NC-research type project, NCCC, or NCERA. Please refer to the Multistate Research Activities link at https://escop.info/resources/ for more information on these project types. The technical committee has the option, at a later date, to obtain approval as a five-year project, through normal procedures described here: https://www.ncra-saes.org/new-renewal-nc-project-instructions

 

NCDC-Proposal Committees: An NCDC-Proposal serves as a platform for the development of a multi-state or regional competitive grant proposal for submission to AFRI, NSF, NIH, or other programs. The establishment of the committee needs the concurrence of three or more SAES directors and has a duration of not more than two years. Membership of the committee is comprised of an AA, preferably the director from the lead institution on the proposal team, and scientists who intend to collaborate on the development of the competitive grant proposal. The committee must have representation from three or more states working collaboratively on the grant proposal. The expected outcome is a grant proposal submitted to a regional or national competitive program involving collaboration among three or more states with a minimum budget of $1M per year. Should the committee not reach a consensus on the development of a regional proposal, a summary report of activities is expected in place of the proposal. The committee chair is expected to submit a copy of the submitted proposal or the summary of activities to the MRC within 30 days after the grant program due date. A proposal submission or summary report would terminate the committee. Committee activities could be extended beyond the normal two-year period if the submitted proposal was not funded but received good reviews and encouragement for resubmission. Grant proposals and their reviews should be submitted to the MRC for renewal consideration.
 

NC-500 - Rapid Response Projects: The purpose of a rapid response research (Series-500/ NC-500) activity is to provide a mechanism to assure responsiveness to acute crises, emergencies, and opportunities using the multistate research approach and MRF. Requires support from two AES directors, the name of a willing AA, and an issues and justifications narrative sent to the NCRA office.
 

Requirements:

  1. Two letters of support from NC AES directors are required. Preferably, these letters should be sent electronically to the NCRA office.

  2. A report of intent is submitted to the regional association's chair (usually through the ED's office). The Chair of the regional association approves the project and serves as the AA to the project or assigns that responsibility to another director.

  3. To make the approval process move quickly, we strongly suggest the committee line up an AA before beginning the NC-500 series project request. The NCRA office will not assign an AA for you.

  4. A Rapid Response (500 series) proposal request must be submitted to the NCRA Office (via NIMSS) ASAP (Project Proposal >> New Project Proposal, then select Rapid Response (500 series) in the Form dropdown. 

  5. When all materials have been submitted appropriately, the NCRA office will notify NIFA and the NCRA directors of the proposal submission. By design, NC-500 series projects do not require review by either the appropriate North Central Administrative Committee (NCA) (committee of department heads/chairs) or the NCRA Multistate Research Committee (MRC), but they are informed of the application.
     

The technical committee for a Rapid Response Research activity is made up of an AA, NIFA representative, research scientists, and as applicable, extension specialists and/or extension agents. These activities have two years from the date of initiation to convert to an association-sanctioned activity (either an NC-research type project, NCCC, or NCERA. Please refer to the Multistate Research Activities link at https://escop.info/resources/ for more information on these project types. The technical committee has the option, at a later date, to obtain approval as a multistate research project or other multistate research activity, through normal procedures.

bottom of page