NAIRR Pilot allocation management policy

Citation

U.S. National Science Foundation, National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot. “NAIRR Pilot Allocation Management Policy.” Web page, nairrpilot.org, publication date not stated. https://nairrpilot.org/allocation-management-policy. Read 2026-10-16.

Bottom line

The NAIRR Pilot takes back compute that a project does not use. This is a written “use it or lose it” rule for a public allocation program.
At three months with no use, a Resource Provider (RP) may cut the allocation by half. At six months with no use, it may end the allocation.

Background

The NAIRR Pilot is a federal program led by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It gives researchers no-cost access to compute, models and data from many providers. Its review and matching process is on the NAIRR Pilot resource allocations (web) page. This policy covers what happens after a project gets an award.

Key claims

Projects “that are not making use of their allocations in a timely manner may be subject to reductions in their allocation amounts so that resources can be made available to other projects.”
The reductions are “at the discretion of the Resource Providers”. The program gives “general guidelines” so that “all projects are treated consistently”.
At three months: “if the project has made no use of the allocated resources, the RP may reduce the project’s allocation by 50%. Projects that have made limited progress may have their allocation reduced by only 25%.”
At six months: “if the project has made no use of the allocated resources, the RP may choose to end the project’s allocation in full. Projects that have made limited progress may have their allocation reduced by only 50%.”
A project with a partial cut can ask for more “once they have consumed their reduced allocation amount”.
A project that loses all of its allocation is closed. A new proposal must “address why resource usage was delayed or reviewers will likely review the request unfavorably.”

Evidence and method

A program policy on the program’s own website. It states the program’s rules, so it is a primary source for them. The page gives no date and no version.

Limits

The page does not say how often providers apply the rule, or how much capacity it returns.
The page does not define “limited progress”.
The rule applies only to projects “awarded through review of full proposals”.

Source file: wiki/sources/NAIRR Pilot allocation management policy.md, updated 2026-10-16.