The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has rejected a protest over the award of a $10 million surplus radio antenna to an international consortium.
As we reported February 25, the University of Arizona (UA) president Robert Shelton wrote to NSF protesting the award to an international collaboration including the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) in Taipei, Taiwan. UA had submitted a competing bid to place the antenna atop Kitt Peak in Arizona. Shelton protested the selection of ASIAA on a number of grounds including a perception of apparent cronyism, citing the involvement of Fred Lo, the director of the National Radio Astronomical Observatory, who is on the advisory board of ASIAA, in the NSF process. (In an interview for a Nature story in February, Lo admitted to writing the call for proposals at NSF’s direction and to talking to ASIAA about their bid for it, but said he was not involved in the final decision.)
NSF has now responded. In the letter, sent by Ed Seidel of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division at NSF and obtained by Nature via the University of Arizona under the state’s public records laws, Seidel writes that he has consulted with the Office of General Counsel and the Division of Contracts and Complex Agreements at NSF and that “They have found appropriate procedures were followed in determining the recipient of this property,” he writes. Seidel says in a statement from NSF that “the process was conducted with reasonable rationale and scientific judgment based on technical assessments, the potential for science and broader impacts, the availability of funding to support the proposed project, and other strategic factors such as the Astro2010 Decadal Survey recommendations.”
Lucy Ziurys, the astrochemist who led the UA’s competing bid for the antenna, says she doesn’t find the NSF’s response letter reassuring. “It does not address our concerns. It’s like a form letter,” she says.
NSF’s response to Nature’s Freedom of Information Act request for an internal report justifying the award to ASIAA and for emails between Lo and NSF officials that mention the antenna award, also seems unlikely to reassure those concerned about procedural transparency at the agency. The report was withheld in its entirety under exemption five of the act. This is a discretionary exemption that an agency can choose to apply to protect its deliberative process. Large portions of emails between Lo and agency officials were also withheld.
Updated 4.30pm to reflect statement from Ed Seidel.
Correction April 13th: a sentence was removed that mistakenly stated Lucy Ziurys was thinking of taking the issue to the Inspector-General of the NSF.
Image: ALMA Vertex Prototype Antenna / NRAO