Status of ARPA-E Negotiations

Discussion

• SOPO
  • Meeting Review: Monday, Feb 26 2-3pm CST
  • Mathew, Lesley and Doug Wick will be on the call
• Budget
  • DoE does not pay up-front, invoices or receipts are required before dispersal.
    • What is the difference between an invoice and a bill?
  • Invoices will work for labor
  • Ely is talking to Apple about working with us to get the servers
  • Biggest up-front expenses will be compute infrastructure and CPA costs
  • We need to expect a tax audit in 2025 as we will exceed $750k
  • Outstanding Documents:
    • Budget sheet with ARPA-E specific travel
    • Salary justification and internal document
• All paperwork beyond budget-related

Action Items

Selection of CPA Services

Discussion

Two broad categories for CPA Services:

• Local Service
  • Two possibilities:
    • A local firm that does not seem interested
    • “A dude named Rob”
      • Has experience with government contracts
      • Noted that we are in the audit territory without being prompted
      • Possibly more expensive with limited support team
      • Provided a quote: ~$4k/year
      • Pros:
        • Roughly 20 years experience
        • Individual with good knowledge, seemed helpful
        • Local, so we can meet with him in person
      • Cons:
        • Without a support team, he may not be reliable
• “Big Box” Firms
  • Two possibilities:
    • Jitasa specializes in non-profits
    • Belay offers virtual administrative assistant services as well
  • Both would provide basic services for ~$4k/year without audit prep
  • Pros:
    • More possible services
    • Availability with Belay nationwide and Jitasa international
  • Cons:
    • Outsourced labor could be a security concern

The consensus is that Rob is our best option at the moment. He should be able to start in March. All of these options will be able to help setup a payroll system.

Action Items

2023 Taxes and Form 1099s for Contract Labor

Discussion

990N and 1099s are not yet filed. The deadline for filing paper 1099s was Jan 31. Digital forms are due by Mar 31.

Action Items

Hiring an Administrator

Discussion

• Are we looking for someone to manage a handful of tasks, or will be be investing in someone to take on more responsibility over time? The consensus is that we would prefer to hire someone to retain and train over the long term. This rules out a virtual assistant.
• What is the person’s role going to be? Overseeing and managing the administrative aspects of the ongoing projects:
  • First point of contact for CPA, etc…
  • Booking Travel
  • Managing client emails/phone calls
  • Scheduling
  • Website updates
  • Identifying grant opportunities
• Will this person work full-time or part-time? Two days per week is probably sufficient to start.
• Is it preferable to bring on a low-skill employee/contractor? We could train them up and “invest in talent”.
• Should we hire them as W2 or 1099? We will revisit this in the future, but we will likely start them off as 1099. If they transition to a more full-time role, we will move them to W2.
• Desirable characteristics:
  • Intangibles such as curiosity, enthusiasm, etc…
  • Strong writing skills
  • Some scientific understanding, e.g. a minor in STEM

Action Items

NSF GCR Possible Proposal

Discussion

We are interested in putting a proposal for NSF GCR. For this project, multiple small teams at different universities and institutions will work on projects related to the how environmental information propagates to and from organisms.

We are interested in being involved with a possible project centered at 39 Alpha Research.

Action Items

Next Meeting’s Agenda (2024-03-08)