ALMA Development - North America

Current Calls for Proposals

The release date for the North American Development Cycle 5, Call for ALMA Project Proposals is 10 October, 2016.  The closing date is 30 January 2017. Provisional awards (subject to review and approval by the ALMA Board) will be announced on 30 May 2017. Final awards will be made on 01 December 2017.

Detailed instructions on how to prepare and submit your Project Proposal are available HERE.

Call for ALMA Development Projects

As announced in the NRAO eNews this week, a Call for Proposals for NA ALMA Development - Cycle 5 Project Proposals was issued 10 October 2016. To support this new Call, a Development Workshop was held on 24-25 August, at NRAO headquarters in Charlottesville, VA. An overview of the current ALMA Development Plan and its projects and studies past and continuing was given and presentations are available on-line at the workshop site.

ALMA image of the young star HL Tau and its protoplanetary disk. This best image ever of planet formation reveals multiple rings and gaps that herald the presence of emerging planets as they sweep their orbits clear of dust and gas. Credit: ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ); C. Brogan, B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)
ALMA image of the young star HL Tau and its protoplanetary disk. This best image ever of planet formation reveals multiple rings and gaps that herald the presence of emerging planets as they sweep their orbits clear of dust and gas. Credit: ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ); C. Brogan, B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

This Call is to invite proposals to conduct studies of ideas that may be further developed and implemented in a subsequent funding cycle. The primary aims of this Call for Project Proposals are to:

  • encourage the flow of development ideas from the North American ALMA community into the ALMA Development Program Plan;
  • support the development of conceptual and detailed designs by the North American ALMA community for possible future inclusion in the ALMA Development Program Plan;
  • support ALMA-relevant, long-term research and development by the North American community; and
  • support, in particular, strategic initiatives consistent with a long-term vision for ALMA development, e.g., the "ALMA 2030" studies.

Limited funding is available from NRAO to support Projects within the North American partnership community and will be allocated on a competitive basis. Projects partly or fully supported from external sources are also solicited and, if presented, will be considered in the preparation of the ALMA Development Plan. Prototype/pre-production and full production initiatives (hereafter referred to as "Projects") are typically funded every few years. Calls for Projects will be governed by, and conducted through, a similar process to that followed in the previous (2013) Call. All members of the North American ALMA partnership, and the North American radio astronomy community at-large, are invited to participate in the ALMA Development Program.

The release date for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Call for Project Proposals is 10 October 2016. The period of performance for funded Projects will run from the award date, Quarter 1, Fiscal Year 2018, to no later than a mutually agreed date ending a subsequent Fiscal Year.

Proposers are requested to submit a Notice of Intent by 28 October 2016. The closing date for this Call will be 30 January 2017. Proposals received after the closing date may be rejected, at NRAO's sole discretion.

Further details are can be found in the Conditions Governing the Call for Project Proposals, available via the Proposal Documents table at the Documents section of the Call webpage.

A total of 11M USD is available for funding Projects during the FY2018 Development Program cycle (subject to the FY2018 Federal Budget and continued allocation of funds). As a guideline, the NRAO expects to fund at least two Projects. No individual Project will be funded in excess of $1.5M USD annually over a multiyear period.

Disclaimer: the entirety of available funds will not necessarily be awarded. Acceptance of the Project proposal and granting an Agreement for the Project does not guarantee that the upgrade will be implemented at the Observatory as part of the ALMA Development Plan.

Please submit questions concerning the present Call for Project Proposals, including any request for documentation referred to in this document, by email to the address linked on the Call webpage by 16 December 2016. Queries will be directed to, and answered by, appropriate persons unassociated with this Call.

Activities Funded Under Previous Calls

ALMA Development Documents

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