Eligibility and Funding Rules
Science Cloud usage is exclusively limited to NASA‑funded projects. External funding from non-NASA entities cannot be used, and all funds must be formally obligated to the Science Cloud before any cloud resources can be used.
Our FinOps staff is available to support your budget development for both new proposals and awarded projects. If you are preparing a proposal, cost estimates should be integrated into your planning as early as possible. Once awarded, funds designated for the Science Cloud remain with NASA (rather than transferring to your institution) and are applied directly to your cloud costs.
How to Obligate Funds
Ames Research Center (ARC) manages all commercial cloud contracts for the Science Cloud. To add money to your account, Principal Investigators must coordinate with their Resource Analysts (RAs) to transfer funds.
Your funding obligation will cover two distinct components:
- Cloud service costs: Direct charges for compute, storage, usage, and enterprise support.
- Overhead fees: Administrative costs that support the Cloud Computing Services (CCS) team at ARC.
Transfer Pathways: ARC financial staff will provide you and your RA with the exact dollar amounts needed for both the cloud usage and the overhead obligations. Funds can be transferred in two ways:
- Direct transfer: Funds are sent directly from NASA HQ.
- Center‑to‑center transfer: This requires two separate Purchase Requests (PRs)—one specifically for the cloud usage, and a second for the CCS overhead.
The Billing Cycle and FIFO Rules
In order for funds to be recognized in the current month, transfers must reach ARC by the mid‑month deadline. If they arrive late, they will be listed in your dashboard as "Expected funds" until fully processed.
Funds in the Science Cloud are spent using a First‑In‑First‑Out (FIFO) method. This means the system automatically uses your oldest obligated funds to pay your monthly invoices. If you close an account, same‑year funds can typically be deobligated and returned, but prior‑year funds usually cannot (though they can still be used to pay for active cloud invoices).
Note: When opening a brand new cloud account, an initial obligation is normally required. This verifies that funds are available and familiarizes the new team with the transfer process.