Research

1) Transportation-energy topic identified by Board of Advisors (BOA)

2) Task Group is developed utilizing volunteers from Contributing Partners

3) Task Group develops scope of work and creates a request for proposal (RFP)*

4) RFP is sent out to research organizations who then competitively bid on the project

5) BOA reviews all proposals and votes on which organization should do the work

6) Fuels Institute staff oversees and manages the flow of the project

7) Fuels Institute staff reviews the first draft, while the task group and BOA provide line-edits

8) Final draft is sent to BOD for acceptance or rejection

9) Accepted report is published on Fuels Institute website and available to the public at no charge

*White paper topics are line-edited and approved for publication by the BOA in a similar fashion as outsourced reports. Typically, white papers are written in-house by Fuels Institute staff.

The Fuels Institute (FI) welcomes bids from any and all types of researchers, whether we have worked with you in the past or not. We highly encourage researchers to reach out with questions or for clarification throughout the process.

The proposal must include all the elements contained in the project scope of the RFP, but FI is always open to and interested in any other elements that the researcher believes should be included to adequately address the topic at hand.

Once proposals are received, they are reviewed by FI staff and then sent to FI Board of Advisors (BOA) for review. The Board of Advisors then convenes to discuss and vote on the proposals. At or prior to this meeting, researchers may be called on to give short presentations of their proposals and/or to answer any questions the BOA may have regarding the proposals.

Next, the BOA makes a recommendation to the Board of Directors (BOD) regarding the proposals. The BOD then votes, and FI enters into contract negotiations with the winning firm. If you have any questions about this process, please contact Amanda Appelbaum, Director of Research, for more information.