Resource Needs

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In preparation for operations and early science, Rubin Observatory would like to consider any outstanding resources needed by those within the Rubin Community to meet their goals.

We are therefore issuing a rolling call for existing and prospective Recipient groups to identify opportunities for further in-kind contributions that are targeted to meet a specific need. These can be submitted through this simple web form.

The needs can span any type of contribution listed in the in-kind handbook for contributions. e.g. developer time needed on a particular software infrastructure project, follow-up time on a particular class of telescope, a particular needed auxiliary dataset, specific types of computing resource, and so on. The proposed resource needs will be collated by the IPC team and posted on this page. We encourage Recipients to think broadly about what they really need. A review by Rubin will be carried out to check for compliance as an in-kind contribution including whether the need is already supported by federally funded Rubin Observatory activities or not.

Teams in the US, Chile, or in one of the existing international in-kind programs, who are interested in responding with an in-kind contribution to meet one of the advertised needs, can submit their ideas and start discussions with the listed Recipient group and must also include the assigned IPC in discussion by email or online.

Once the Recipient group has decided whose offer they would like to accept, they should inform the assigned IPC. The IPC will provide the selected and recipient group with a form to describe the nature of the contribution and the amount of resource committed summarizing their discussions with the recipient group. The contribution will be evaluated by the Rubin Director’s Office (RDO) and the Contribution Evaluation Committee with the RDO determining the in-kind value of the work and verifying compliance with the guidance in the Handbook for In-kind Contributions.

In the case where a prospective in-kind contribution team is still seeking funding to support their proposed contribution, any acceptance will be conditional and Rubin will follow the status of the funding with the prospective contribution team readvertising the need should the funding not be successful.

After the final review by Rubin, accepted contributions will be registered in the Rubin in-kind programs database, and tracked accordingly.

See the figure below for an illustration of the above workflow.

Please note that Rubin’s priority has been to successfully implement the approved international in-kind program with DRAs, and so we anticipate accepting only a small number of new contributions. Bids from new international programs will NOT be considered in this year’s call, but bids to expand the existing programs will be allowed. (Program expansions will need to follow the Rubin Data Policy . A change to a program that would bring in a new country would need agency approval - enquiries about this should be sent directly to Bob Blum and Phil Marshall.)

The Resource Needs form will remain open throughout the year as an ongoing “rolling call”. Outstanding needs will be advertised periodically here on community.lsst.org and at the regular in-kind assemblies.

Queries about the Resource Needs process or any posted need should be directed to the Rubin In-kind Program Coordination Team at jikh at lsst dot org.