NIW RFE question

L

laser

Registered Users (C)
I got an RFE from VSC on Oct. 21 requesting for reference letters from the funding agency of my project (in my case the DARPA). Apparantly the examination officer misunderstood the structure of the agency. The lawyer wrote sth like:" This project is supported by the office of A, DARPA, the central research and development organisation of DoD" The lawyer did not do a very good job here either. The examination officer requested letters from Office A, DARPA and the central research and development organisation of DoD. Now the program manager is willing to give me a letter, who works for Office A under DARPA. My question is will this one letter be sufficient? How do I prove that my funding is from only one agency, instead of 3 parallel ones? Is the print out from DARPA webpages enough? In my original 7 letters, all of them stated my contribution to the DARPA project and its potential impact to the military, but without a letter from DARPA to back them up. So I think the RFE is reasonable. Now the question is I have one letter, is this enough? My lawyer asks for another one, which is nearly impossible.

Also, RFE requested relevant pages of the grant project that I am currently employed indicating my rank and duty. What kind of documents are needed? There is virtually no documents with my name on, mostly the PI's, although I did the work. I will ask my boss to write me a letter, list everything I did and contributions I made for the project. Will is help? I was the PI of a NSF project from Jan to June '03. Can I also include this info?

Many thanks.

ND: July 2002
Non-concurrent
 
Originally posted by laser
I got an RFE from VSC on Oct. 21 requesting for reference letters from the funding agency of my project (in my case the DARPA). Apparantly the examination officer misunderstood the structure of the agency. The lawyer wrote sth like:" This project is supported by the office of A, DARPA, the central research and development organisation of DoD" The lawyer did not do a very good job here either. The examination officer requested letters from Office A, DARPA and the central research and development organisation of DoD. Now the program manager is willing to give me a letter, who works for Office A under DARPA. My question is will this one letter be sufficient? How do I prove that my funding is from only one agency, instead of 3 parallel ones? Is the print out from DARPA webpages enough? In my original 7 letters, all of them stated my contribution to the DARPA project and its potential impact to the military, but without a letter from DARPA to back them up. So I think the RFE is reasonable. Now the question is I have one letter, is this enough? My lawyer asks for another one, which is nearly impossible.

I think the most important thing you need to clarify in your response is that Office A is actually working UNDER Darpa (unless I misunderstood). You should clarify this in a covering letter from your attorney. This will make it clear to the examining officer that the only real competent authority to vouch for your funding is the person from Office A. Attach the letter from Office A and the print outs of the webpages from DARPA that substantiate that Office A is working under DARPA and that establish a direct connection between DARPA ---> Office A ----> and your funding. That should probably be sufficient. Ofcourse your attorney is the best judge.


Also, RFE requested relevant pages of the grant project that I am currently employed indicating my rank and duty. What kind of documents are needed? There is virtually no documents with my name on, mostly the PI's, although I did the work. I will ask my boss to write me a letter, list everything I did and contributions I made for the project. Will is help? I was the PI of a NSF project from Jan to June '03. Can I also include this info?


Definitely have your boss write a letter clearly stating that you worked on the grant and what your exact duties were. However, if you were the PI on an NSF project, is there any kind of paperwork (i.e. grant cover sheet etc.) that states you as being PI on the project. Attach anything that looks official and substantiates your claim of involvement and rank.

Good luck


Many thanks.

ND: July 2002
Non-concurrent
Click to expand...
 
I think the most important thing you need to clarify in your response is that Office A is actually working UNDER Darpa
Click to expand...

I agree.

Though your attorney knows how to, it would be good if you can establish this in the few opening lines of the letter, so that the officer does not skip these lines(if somewhere in the middle) and jump to unnecessary conclusions.
 
Thanks

In the letter the Program manager wrote, it has sentences like:" This project is initiated by Office A under DARPA. I am the program manager, so I am qualified to judge XXX's contribution."

Sure I have the award letter, cover page of the final report that shows my name as PI.
 
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