The U.S. National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that supports science and engineering in all 50 states and U.S. territories. NSF was established in 1950 by Congress to promote the progress of science, advance the national health, prosperity and welfare, and secure the national defense.
The NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is a community-inspired and community-serving large scale research facility enabling ocean science research. It consists of an integrated network of instrumentation arrays, distributed in various coastal and global ocean locations that collect, archive, and distribute quality oceanic and marine atmospheric data to the ocean and Earth science communities. NSF has established the NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative Facility Board (OOIFB) to engage the user community through workshops, community meetings, and other interactive mechanisms to provide the NSF OOI and the NSF with a better understanding of the current and future community needs as they relate to the scientific and technological innovation that the OOI supports. This solicitation invites proposals for an Administrative Support Office to support the OOIFB in carrying out its responsibilities. The Support Office is responsible for organization of meetings and workshops, coordination and support for travel for OOIFB members and workshop participants, maintenance of the OOIFB website, as well as other activities described within the Program Description section of this solicitation.