Our recent Call for Preproposals highlights our interest in holding a Performance-Based Green Infrastructure Competition. We’re seeking a team that can design – and potentially run – the competition. A number of people have contacted us on this topic and some Frequently Asked Questions have emerged.

How do you define green infrastructure? We’re using the term “green infrastructure” as shorthand for distributed solutions to stormwater management. It’s really up to the team and their technical advisors to define the types of installations that are eligible to compete.

What performance metrics do you have in mind? We’d love the competition to consider performance using both volumetric and water quality metrics. But, really, it’s up to the team and their technical advisors to figure out.

Are you interested in evaluating the performance of discrete installations, or installations that work together as a system? The competition could have different categories for each. Or not. This is up to the team and their technical advisors to figure out. (Are you detecting a pattern?)

Will this competition fund the installation of new green infrastructure? No.

Must the projects already be installed? We’re interested in on-the-ground actual performance, not modeled performance. Projects must either already be installed, or installed during the course of the competition solicitation period. If the latter, the installation must be ready to demonstrate performance at a date to be determined (by the team).

How do you expect the performance of installations to be evaluated? Monitoring is really expensive. Ah… herein lies the issue we’re seeking to advance. Too few installations are actually evaluated for performance. We’d like to help make performance monitoring more efficient and effective. For the competition, it’s possible that a set of finalists will be selected based on specific criteria. Then, the Fund could finance a monitoring period that obtains the data needed to rate finalists on the metrics selected by the team and their advisors. We’ll look to the team to help us understand what that could look like, or if there’s another approach to take.

What’s the prize for the competition? There will likely be a cash prize of some amount – and we’ll look for the design process to inform us on that – but the most significant prize will be regional and national recognition and publicity. As a result, a team’s ability to plan and execute that recognition and public relations effort is important to the Fund.

What’s the geographic boundary of the competition? We’re interested in installations located throughout the Great Lakes Basin watershed, in both the U.S. and Canada.

How much are you looking to spend on this? As with any proposal to the Fund, you should ask for what you need to do high-quality work in the way that you envision doing it.

I’m very knowledgeable about green infrastructure and would love to be involved but I can’t lead this effort. That’s fine! Please let us know you’re interested. We’ll pass your name and contact info along to prospective applicants, and they may contact you. They are in need of a range of technical advisors.

Have a question that wasn’t answered above? Contact us. We look forward to hearing from you! +

–Stephanie Lindloff, Project Development Manager