H Scan/AHP advanced technology proposal evaluation process

It is anticipated that a family of high value/impact projects will be funded by the Hydrogen Program to field test hydrogen technologies that are at advanced stages of development. These projects will add substantial value to the Program in several ways, by: demonstrating successful integration of multiple advanced technologies, providing critical insight on issues of larger scale equipment design, construction and operations management, yielding cost and performance data for competitive analysis, refining and deploying enhanced safety measures. These projects will be selected through a competitive proposal evaluation process. Because of the significant scope and funding levels of projects at these development phases, Program management has indicated the need for an augmented proposal evaluation strategy to ensure that supported projects are implemented by capable investigative teams and that their successful completion will optimally advance programmatic objectives. These objectives comprise a complex set of both quantitative and qualitative factors, many of which can only be estimated using expert judgment and opinion. To meet the above need, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Energetics Inc. have jointly developed a proposal evaluation methodology called H Scan/AHP. The H Scan component of the process was developed by NREL. It is a two-part survey instrumentmore » that substantially augments the type and scope of information collected in a traditional proposal package. The AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) component was developed by Energetics. The AHP is an established decision support methodology that allows the Program decision makers to evaluate proposals relatively based on a unique set of weighted criteria that they have determined.« less