Supported EPA National Center for Environmental Research panel meetings
In September 2006, MDB, Inc. was contracted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to plan, develop, coordinate, facilitate, and document panel meetings in support of the National Center for Environmental Research (NCER). Under this contract, MDB plans, develops, and conducts quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) evaluations of all data in EPA's Peer Reviewer Panelists Information System (PRPIS), and provides hotline support for all of NCER. MDB also provides technical, administrative, and logistical support for NCER's peer-review panel conferences.
Each year, NCER issues 50 to 75 Requests for Applications (RFAs) in such topics as pollution prevention, biochemistry, homeland security, and nanotechnology. NCER assigns a Senior Research Associate (SRA) to facilitate each of the 50 to 75 research topics; the SRA then convenes a panel of subject-matter experts (SMEs) to weigh the scientific merit of each application. MDB maintains the PRPIS Registry—an Access database of experts used by NCER to identify appropriate SMEs for these panels—by performing QA/QC on Web-based database records completed by the panelists and by generating monthly statistics on the 6,500 database records for inclusion in monthly Progress Reports. MDB also develops new PRPIS records, requests missing files, and conducts searches of the Registry in order to generate lists of potential reviewers for specific panels.
For each of the SME peer-review panel meetings, MDB provides project-management services by coordinating, planning, facilitating, and documenting each meeting. MDB coordinates all logistical arrangements for participants and documents individual as well as panel summary reviews produced at the end of each meeting.
MDB also operates NCER's voice-recorded, user-activated phone and Web-based information hotlines, which provide important information to potential and actual applicants. In operating these hotlines, MDB provides information regarding requirements for completion and submission of applications and proposals for federal assistance; additional information on NCER's grants and fellowships; copies of solicitations and application kits; assistance with the electronic-submission process through the Web; and information regarding the status of applications and proposals already in the peer-review process. MDB also maintains and updates the Grants and Fellowships Hotline and E-mail Protocol Manual for the Hotline Operators and ensures that callers receive appropriate responses in a timely manner.
