Notice
May 7, 2009
NSF recently issued a revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPP), NSF 09-29 (http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf0929), which was effective for proposals received on or after April 6, 2009. The summary below highlights the changes that are most significant and relevant to SDSU proposals, such as the inclusion of a mentoring plan and new formatting guidelines.
Please work closely with your RF development specialist to ensure you are following these new policies and procedures, as they are very important to the successful acceptance and review of your proposal.
Notable Changes and Updates Specific to SDSU Proposals:
Mentoring Plan Requirement
Part I of the PAPP Guide, which consists of the Grant Proposal Guide, has been revised to update NSF’s implementation of the mentoring requirement contained in the America COMPETES Act. Beginning April 6, 2009, each proposal requesting funding to support postdoctoral researchers must include, as a supplementary document, a description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals. In no more than one page, the mentoring plan must describe the mentoring that will be provided to all postdoctoral researchers supported by the project, irrespective of whether they reside at the submitting organization, any subawardee organization, or at any organization participating in a simultaneously submitted collaborative project.
Project Description
This section has had entirely new guidance added regarding mentoring activities to address the mentoring requirement of the America COMPETES Act. Each proposal that requests funding to support postdoctoral research must include, as a separate section within the 15-page project description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals. Examples of such activities are provided and the mentoring plan will be evaluated during the merit review process, under the Broader Impact criterion. Proposals that do not include a separate section on mentoring activities within the Project Description will be returned without review.
Salaries & Wages
This section has undergone a major revision of NSF’s salary reimbursement policy. The Foundation will now limit salary compensation for senior project personnel to no more than two months of their regular salary in any one year. This limit includes salary compensation received from all NSF funded grants. This change moves away from the concept of summer salary and allows for reimbursement of two months of salary per year whenever appropriate during the year.
Definitions of Categories of Personnel
This section has had the (co) Principal Investigator definition clarified to state that NSF does not infer any distinction in scientific stature among multiple PIs, whether referred to as PI or co-PI. All of the senior personnel are equally responsible for the conduct of the project and submission of the requisite project reports.
Formatting Guideline Changes:
- Proposal Pagination Instructions
Proposers are advised that FastLane does not automatically paginate a proposal. Each section of the proposal that is uploaded as a file must be individually paginated prior to upload to the electronic system. - Proposal Margin and Spacing Requirements
The proposal must be clear, readily legible, and conform to the following requirements:
- Use one of the following typefaces identified below:
- Arial11, Courier New, or Palatino Linotype at a font size of 10 points or larger
- Times New Roman at a font size of 11 points or larger
- Computer Modern family of fonts at a font size of 11 points or larger
- No more than 6 lines of text within a vertical space of 1 inch; and margins, in all directions, must be at least an inch.
- Use one of the following typefaces identified below:
- Page Formatting
Since many reviewers will be reviewing proposals electronically, proposers are strongly encouraged to use only a standard, single-column format for the text. Avoid using a two-column format since it can cause difficulties when reviewing the document electronically.
The guidelines specified above establish the minimum type size requirements; however, PIs are advised that readability is of paramount importance and should take precedence in selection of an appropriate font for use in the proposal. Small type size makes it difficult for reviewers to read the proposal; consequently, the use of small type not in compliance with the above guidelines may be grounds for NSF to return the proposal without review. Adherence to type size and line spacing requirements also is necessary to ensure that no proposer will have an unfair advantage, by using smaller type or line spacing to provide more text in the proposal.
Other Changes:
Letter of Intent
This section has been supplemented to make it clear that Letters of Intent are not binding on the proposer. The Foundation realizes that changes may need to be made to the information or the plans outlined in the Letter of Intent, should a full proposal be submitted.
Full Proposal
This section has been clarified to state that proper scholarship and attribution is the responsibility of the authors of the proposal. All parts of the proposal should be prepared with equal care for this concern. Serious failure to adhere to this standard may result in a research misconduct finding.
NSF ID
This new section explains that NSF IDs are being issued to PIs and proposers and are replacing the use of Social Security numbers in the NSF systems. The NSF ID is a unique numerical identifier assigned to FastLane users by SNF. The NSF ID will be used throughout FastLane as a login ID and identification verification.
Proposal Certifications
This section has been expanded with regard to Nondiscrimination Certifications. Proposers are advised that these obligations also apply to subrecipients, subgrantees, and subcontractors under the award. Procedures that the proposer should follow to obtain the NSF Nondiscrimination Certification from their subrecipients are then discussed.
Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) and Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research
These sections have replaced the Small grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) program. RAPID is a funding mechanism to support quick-response research on natural or anthropogenic disasters and similar unanticipated events. Requests may be for up to $200K and of one year duration. The EAGER mechanism supports high-risk, exploratory and potentially transformative research. Requests may be for up to $300K and of up to two years duration. RAPID and EAGER proposals are only required to be reviewed internally at NSF; further submission information is contained in these sections.
Proposals Involving Human Subjects
This section has been updated to reflect that, for projects that will be performed outside of the United States and involve human subjects, evidence of IRB approval is required. If such approval is not provided, NSF may decline to support the project.
Projects Requiring High-Performance Computing Resources, Large Amounts of Data Storage, or Advanced Visualization Resources
This new section explains for projects that require access to large amounts of computational, data storage or visualization resources in order to complete the work proposed, NSF provides the TeraGrid. It is a collection of very powerful supercomputers, a high-throughput computing environment, high-volume data storage facilities, and advanced visualization services, connected by a high-bandwidth private network.