Should we have a relationship with, or a commitment to participate from, a specific VISN (Veterans Integrated Service Network) before submitting a proposal?
There is no need to have a relationship with a specific VISN before submitting a proposal. Include in your proposal as much detail as you know or feel is relevant (for example, if you wanted to test out deployment in a rural vs. urban area, you should specify that), and as part of the evaluation process we will match up your proposal with potential VA people and facilities. If you happen to know of particular individuals that you think would be particularly helpful to your effort, feel free to list them. There is no guarantee that we can line up specific individuals, but our goal is to make the proposals that we choose as successful as possible.
