Abstract
This paper provides an overview of the xDD/LAPPS Grid framework and provides results of evaluating the AskMe retrieval engine using datasets included in the BEIR benchmark. Our primary goal is to determine a solid baseline of performance to guide further development of our retrieval capabilities. Beyond this, we aim to dig deeper to determine when and why certain approaches perform well (or badly) on both in-domain and out-of-domain data, an issue that has to date received relatively little attention.