4.1 Overview and Schedule of Process

Announcement of the selection of Stage 1 proposals is estimated to take place during July 2006.

4.2 Proposal Content and Format

Both the electronic submission and the hardcopy of the EPO proposal must include:

• Cover Page Form (with institutional signature on hardcopy);
• Detailed Budget Form; and
• Program Description & Detailed Budget Justification in response to the 8 evaluation criteria sub-factors.
Optional (attach to hardcopy):
• Letters attesting to customer/audience need (see Sub-factor 2)
• Letters of commitment or partnership (see Sub-factor 3)

Where applicable, character limits are listed in Table 4.1. The EPO proposal must be submitted electronically (see Section 4.3 for proposal submission instructions). The forms must be completed in the requested format. Any letters supporting customer/audience needs or commitments or partnerships with educational or science outreach institutions or organizations or other necessary supporting material that cannot be entered into the proposal form may be attached to the hardcopy of the proposal. Such material will be provided to the peer review panel.

Table 4.1: Character limits (including spaces between words)
(If a section exceeds its assigned length, it will automatically be truncated at the character limit when entered into the database.)
Section	Character limit
Abstract	3000
Response to sub-factors 1-8	3000 characters each

All proposal text must be in English.

4.3 Access to Proposal Forms

The EPO proposal forms may be accessed via the EPO proposer page at http://cxc.harvard.edu/. Choose the EPO option. Chandra EPO proposal forms can be accessed directly through the World Wide Web (WWW) at: http://chandra.harvard.edu/edu/proposals/epo.html.

4.4 Electronic Submission Process

All EPO proposals are required to be submitted electronically according to the instructions given below. Electronic submission facilitates efficient proposal processing and reduces the likelihood of transcription error in the various databases. Proposers who do not have access to electronic communications should call the Chandra EPO Office, (617) 496-0924.

On submission, you will receive an e-mail acknowledgement of successful receipt of your proposal.