Request for Proposals: NYC Life Sciences Innovation Infrastructure RFP

There are definite upsides with the downsides. I know a lot of people are very interested in having a BSL2 lab for the reasons you mentioned. I agree that making things cheaper is an important aspect of the DIY movement.

I am not an expert, but there is a common misperception about the number of people who effectively contribute to open source work. I heard an expert say that you could destroy the open source software movement worldwide if you assassinated the right 200 people. Furthermore, since it is a small world, the main reason people contribute is to show off their programming skills to their peers or possible employers. It is a great way to get recognition if you make really good additions to a well-known package, and the initial work is usually done by a few people. Finally, you do not pay a fee to contribute.

My experience is people are not good at acting collectively, and some kind of leader is necessary (as also exists in the open source world). And most members have no interest in setting up BwoB-type organizations or securing funding for them per se. For the right person, it would be a great achievement though.

Hi @Susan Harrington, we do have a core team of people dedicated to working on reopening and defining the new lab space. I think the open nature of the loomio and our willingness to entertain multiple different types of ideas (including this RFP) is a part of making sure that as we reopen, we are serving the needs of the bwob community effectively. During this stage, there is some back and forth on ideas (like talking about an RFP, realizing that there might be eligibility concerns, and having to potentially backtrack) which I think occurs naturally in any organization but is perhaps more transparently visible here? Either way I don't think those of us working on getting the lab reopened are truly treating the entire project like an open source initiative - like Danny mentioned above we are building a organization that has strong community elements but is still fundamentally structured. It's hard to open source a lease into existence!

If you have concerns about communication from us being unclear, please do reach out and let us know where we need to be doing better - it might be that we genuinely don't know yet, or it could be that we do have a specific plan that we aren't communicating clearly. Either way we owe the community strong communication and it would be invaluable if you could share with us where things might be falling short.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your active participation in this thread!

Head on this RFP as if there are no limitations for BWOB. If there is a half hearted approach to this RFP then its not worth doing. It has to work, and if BwoB is not what EDC is looking for, ask it to bend the rules. The organization obviously needs help. $20M won't wait for anyone.

BwoB was a BSL 2 lab. There is no other with a competitive pricing like the one offered by BwoB. It shouldn't have a lengthy and bureaucratic application process. The appeal is greater than its shortcomings.

Has anyone checked if the city can just stiff BwoB for spending if the city goes bankrupt or deem the funds are not going according to terms?

What is this core team?

Serving BwoB's community need is to open, not continue with the lip service, of something along the lines of [we are doing it, but we have jobs, so we need to reach a consensus on when to meet online to reach a consensus on what the policy should be.] 😂 Was there ever an old one? If yes, can't we keep an old one?

The only thing BwoB has to do is to inspire people, to come to it, not to serve the nebulous community. The more eyeballs one can direct to BwoB the more it can serve "the community" in the long run. Right now, above all else, BwoB has to help itself. Keep it in the blueprint but STEM/STEAM/community outreach - next summer. After opening, we'll still have dry runs, making sure all the equipment is still up to par.

All this being said, this RFP is not that difficult to write .we are just not doing it. If we agree we want to offer a public biolab with supporting education programs then why aren't we writing that proposal already? why aren't we compiling a list of equipment with costs? Why haven't we searched for and downloaded biolab floor plans from any number of biolab best practices sites? Why don't wee already have per sq ft pricing for the type of space we would lease so that we can be calculating estimated costs once we find a place. we can probably even submit a proposal outlining in detail an ideal lab space, demonstrating our understanding of this, without even having selected a location, simply saying we would use the award to find a suitable place . so we are posting pools to 3 or 4 people about everything instead of just getting to work on this beginning with taking a close look at the other community labs around the country to cherry pick ideas for details about our proposed offering.

This should be the bread and butter of those in charge. An intelligent person could have a decent draft proposal done in a couple of days. Or you could pay someone to do it. But even if you did this and won, you would need someone to follow up on the million other things that need to be done. I've been paying a monthly fee since 10/2019, and I've been assuming that they were planning the basic steps. If you want to see why leadership is necessary, I think this inefficient back and forth is exhibit A in neon.

If we won and had a space to design and build out it would likely be much less difficult to attract qualified volunteers to help out with those million details. If we won we would certainly need to have submitted an implementation plan. When you have a good plan, things get done.

I do want to reassure you that we've begun reopening and work on that is well underway. I shared some thoughts on that here: https://www.loomio.org/d/R7ab0NgY/request-for-proposals-nyc-life-sciences-innovation-infrastructure-rfp/78

The RFP is separate from just plain reopening - the RFP is a nice to have and we are getting the lab up and running with or without it. We are currently actively scouting spaces in LIC, finalizing governance documents, putting together a budget for restarting operations, and looking at options for raising the initial funds we would need for reopening (security deposit etc). I think in the next week or so we'll be having a community meeting regarding fundraising to get a sense of the viability of crowdfunding vs donors etc. Thanks to members contributing now, we are able to keep our equipment in storage and essentially keep the organization alive through this process, and we're grateful to everyone who is contributing. This is a challenging period since 33 flatbush was such a unique location and without its advantages, we have a new set of hurdles to overcome, but we are definitely making progress, and I'm excited to get Bwob up and running again!

I appreciate the reassurances. And I don't mean to give anyone a hard time. If BwoB is not eligible for a particular grant, that's not a big deal. But not applying because of lack of focus or disorganization is a different story.

Did we get an answer yet form EDC on the question of whether funding can cover operational costs including staff salaries? If not, does anyone else think the next step should be to call them directly on Monday morning? I would be happy to do that. Don't they provide a phone number for that purpose?

I just read all the messages from the last two days and don’t know where we stand. So I’d like to ask some questions that will indicate to me if this has a chance. Please try to answer. Thanks

1. do we want to pursue submitting a viable proposal?

2. if so who is willing to take responsibility for making sure this happens?

3. Can we have the questions we sent EDC answered and an agreed upon detailed outline of the proposal content by Tuesday?

4. Is there anyone currently associated with this capable of writing the financial part of the proposal?

5. Is there anyone who can put in the time to collect necessary information for the proposal such as a more detailed list of public biolabs than the one I posted, equipment costs, etc.?

6. Who is willing to own obtaining a list of available spaces for lease with cost and terms for each?

7. Who is proficient using Sketchup or similar 3d software that can create 3d renderings of the lab interior from floor plans?

8. Who is capable and willing to write parts of the proposal and to start on Tuesday?

9. If EDC says the funding does cover operations and staff, who is interested in formally working in a defined role a minimum 20 or 40 hours?

Thanks.
Would you please post the answer to the question we sent them about operations vs capital expenditures?

I think they will post it to the website. The questions I submitted are:

• Does the Project site need to be controlled (owned/leased) by the nonprofit before submission of the proposal, or can the Project site be acquired (owned/leased) after an award is made?

• Is the cost to purchase/lease a Project site considered an infrastructure cost?

• Are any operational costs of the Project site covered by the NYCEDC contribution?

• Does the Respondent nonprofit have to purchase and maintain the insurance (as per Appendix 6) or can a for-profit partner make this purchase on their behalf and list them as insureds? If the latter case is acceptable, would ownership stake be demonstrated if the Respondent leases the Project site from their for-profit partner with the intent to occupy and develop the Project site?

I stopped seeing posts after july 11th. did something end , the rfp ieffort, this thread, something else? would someone update me please?

I think that they are thinking things over.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c22rf8ooR-7CqSY18ga2x9VV4oHYzPIiGaCClnAKczM/edit?usp=sharing

I hope you can see and use that link. It's an example of a proposal for a biospace in Elm City, NC. It's interesting to see how simple and straightforward it is and also to see the space and equipment available in a town in NC that is not available in NYC.

Yes, thank you for the example. It really doesn't look that difficult, does it? I imagine the RFP is more involved, but still. This little town isn't that far from the NC research triangle though, which they might want to make a quadrilateral :). NYC's biotech sector is sadly underdeveloped given the strength of its research institutions, and BwoB and similar labs should help to grow it.

Thanks Danny for the post. My thoughts in a nutshell are that we all have to come to terms with what we are actually, in reality, willing and able to do. You talk about ideas and discussions that can lead to more ideas and discussions, but BWoB is supposed to be opening a biospace, a public biolab. For that purpose I think you have all the ideas and discussion you need. So why has no one including yourself written any text for the proposal or even for a business plan. I don't mean conceptual ideas about inclusion but practical, organizing, planning content that tangibly moves the project ahead. If i had the time it would take to write this I would but i am currently underwater with stuff to deal with.

If no one is capable of writing, or curating an equipment list, or taking a first shot at a financial plan spread sheet in all the time that has passed since the RFP was announced, then would you bet your money on this group opening a usable public biolab any time soon, let alone submitting a proposal to the EDC? There is nothing wrong with that. Plenty of brilliant people with great ideas are not so good at making things happen. I think it only serves BWoB well to be realistic by basing its perception of what it can do on observable history rather than future vision.
Finally, now that the EDC has stated that operational expenses are off the table, in addition to the capital expansion project proposal you'd also have to show a business plan for funding the operations because you currently have no operations . That's too much to accomplish unless you happen to be a partner in a venture capital firm.
I do think you can open a lab if you modify your approach and start taking action even if you still have questions, and recruit other people along the way. I hope that wasn't too much of a downer and that you see it constructively.

Frank

I agree.

Whether or not BwoB applies for the RFP, the leadership do need to know how they plan to run the organization (including funding it and renting lab space), and they should have some kind of time frame.

Also, as a general point, eligibility is a very flexible concept, and people are awarded grants all the time that they might not strictly be eligible for. You have to choose the best of the available possibilities to apply for, and the funders usually have to pick the best of those that apply even if their eligibility isn't perfect.

Not a downer at all. It's important be able to articulate a perspective for others to see even if it isn't some sort of pep rally type speech.

I think your perspective has a realism to it which is valuable. My thought is there is the capability in our group but the challenge is aligning it towards a common goal that satisfies the vision of a community lab as we articulated in the Mission Vision and Values that is both shared among those who would write the application (but also more generally doing the work of operating such a space) and those who want to use the facilities. I believe Susan said in a previous comment this task is sometimes referred to as "herding cats".

I have a slight disagreement that we should base our perception of what we can do on observable history because those conditions are quite different than they are now. My interest in thinking about a future vision is to see what folks may articulate if given the space to because then we will better know the commonalities between our visions and how they intersect to form this organization. I think you have articulated such a vision in a previous comment. And there are elements I resonate with in that plan and elements I do not. This encourages me that we will find a way to reopen the lab.

I know you are still seeking the articulation of a more concrete plan to reopen, Susan. There was a point earlier in the pandemic where I thought the only way we would open is if we had folks willing to split the rent together. I still think this is our best path to start. When this RFP opportunity was brought to us it seemed like it might represent an alternate path to reopening. But as I expressed in the proposal above, I'm less convinced of that possibility now. Soon after RFP meeting #3 Vik and I did align that the plan for reopening shouldn't be tied to winning a grant and there were already things we were working on that needed to be done regardless of the RFP. Along with the folks that have expressed interest in using the lab since our close (including some in this group) I think a crowdfunding campaign represents a promising avenue to pursue funding our space.

Thanks, Danny. This is concrete and helpful. That is a stripped-down and inward-facing vision, but probably one of the easier ones to implement. (It doesn't require much approval or grant-writing, at least initially.) But in an even split of minimal running costs (rent + waste disposal and utilities in a properly zoned building), do you have a rough guess about the fee per member?

It can be done: There are even cat circuses! :) I also agree that the past might not indicate much since BwoB has been dormant.

OK so let's go this way for a moment because I've heard you talk about this before but it would seem more real to me if you provided some numbers because I sort of don't see it being affordable. So, can anyone here post:

1. approx sq ft needed (I figure 1000??)
2. actual monthly rent that you've seen for suitable space in the past year. (amount and sq ft)

Exactly. If this is the default model in the minds of the leadership, we should have some sense if it's actually feasible. Otherwise, we need a new plan and to be serious about applying for grants, etc. :)

Did anyone find the questions I posted on 7/11 useful.? https://www.loomio.org/d/R7ab0NgY/request-for-proposals-nyc-life-sciences-innovation-infrastructure-rfp/84 I took no answer to that to mean that we couldn't pull it off.

A well executed public biolab in NYC is a major operation with significant costs (rent, insurance, equipment, utilities, staffing., etc.) . I assume this requires either a long list of reliable contributors, relationships with sponsoring organizations, or other substantial sources of income along with an adequate number of people (like a dozen) very actively managing just that aspect of the operation. Am I wrong?

Hi Frank,

I definitely appreciated your questions, and I think others have mentioned that they did too. You seem to be the most serious about actually getting things done, although I can't see what is going on behind the scenes.

Chirag does seem to want to apply for the RFP and has set up a session to do so.

You are not wrong, and I agree with you completely about this. I think the leadership need to consult with the board, other community biolabs, and knowledgable advisors about their plans ASAP. If you are taking membership fees, you need to have plans for funding and everything else. It's fundamental, but not easy.

Average cost per sq ft in 2019 in queens was $40/sqft/yr. I wish we had specific quotes for current pricing, but we don't right now. We'd obv try to come in less than that number, by a significant margin if possible, but we might have missed the pandemic price lows. Probably max around 1000 sq ft. It's all very wishy washy, but including that, lab waste fees, other expenses like insurance etc, I think we can shoot for around $3500-$4000 max monthly spend, as maybe low as $2000. That's a pretty significant range and the modeling becomes a lot more precise once we have some quotes. There are a lot of other unknowns in terms of cost as well, like fixed costs (security deposit, any work we need to do). If we get a rent concession (first few months no rent), that gives us time to hit breakeven on a cash flow basis.

Also uncertainty in revenue sources. How many people are willing to be members, and how much are people willing to pay ($100/month vs $200/month cuts in half the number of people we need, if people are willing to pay different amounts then how do those dynamics work, etc). Also, a significant source of revenue is courses. If we can make a few hundred bucks margin per course taught, that significantly lowers the number of members needed to keep the space open, but there are questions on how many people will attend in a post pandemic world, how good the new location would be, etc. And final major unknown source of revenue is crowdfunding/donations. Those might be required for overcoming fixed costs to reopen.

Major advantage is that we own all our equipment and aren't constrained by things like high traffic areas/retail space/needing fancy offices etc. We are also traditionally entirely volunteer run. I think it's doable financially to go ahead and reopen, but as you can see, there are a lot of sources of uncertainty that we need to begin derisking.

I didn't see a place to dive into drafting this RFP but maybe if we try to block off a time to try to draft together for a few hours we can have a viable draft. We have many writers who are capable of doing this and with multiple minds on the document at the same time I think some of the inertia (at least my own) could be overcome to pursue the goal. I am available Monday to do this later AM or all afternoon.