In order to be considered, proposing PIs must use data that are in the public domain 90 days before the CDAP proposals due date, and they must make clear to the peer reviewers that the data are publicly available. This applies to the first year of proposed work only. It is understood that the second or third year of work will address data that have come into the archive during the first year of the investigation. Data that are otherwise in the public domain via open literature publications and other freely available sources are also eligible. Proposals must be focused on the Saturn system and make significant use of data returned by Cassini instruments.

In the first two years of the CDAP program data from the Cassini Jupiter flyby in 2000 were eligible. This is no longer true. Proposals that address Jupiter data should be directed to the Outer Planets Research program.