The National Science Foundation (NSF) has advised that a revised version of the NSF’s Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) will become effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after January 29, 2018.
The Office of Research and Economic Development would like to call your attention to the following selected significant changes that go into effect with this new version that could impact submission of proposals:
• Chapter I.E.6, Foreign Organizations, has been revised to indicate that NSF will consider proposals for cooperative projects involving US and foreign organizations, provided support is requested only for the US portion of the collaborative effort. In cases however, where the proposer considers the foreign organization’s involvement to be essential to the project (e.g., through subawards or consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain why local support is not feasible and why the foreign organization can carry out the activity more effectively.
• Chapter II.C.1.e, Collaborators & Other Affiliations Information, has been significantly revised to request information regarding collaborators and other affiliations (COA) be provided through use of a standard NSF COA excel based template.
• Chapter II.C.2.g, Budget and Budget Justification, has been revised to increase the number of pages allowed for the budget justification to no more than five pages per proposal. This change applies to budget justifications for both proposers and subawardees.
• Chapter II.C.2.d, Project Description, has been modified to reflect that the Project Description must now contain a separate section specifically identified as “Intellectual Merit”.
• Chapter II.C.2.d(iii), Results from Prior NSF Support, clarifies the timeframe during which any PI or co-PI that has received NSF support must report on such funding to include an award with an end date in the past five years; or any current funding, including any no cost extensions.
• Chapter II.C.2.g(viii), Indirect Costs, has been updated to state that amounts for indirect costs should be specified in the budget justification. Additionally, use of an indirect cost rate lower than the organization’s current negotiated indirect cost rate is considered a violation of NSF’s cost sharing policy.
For additional details on all changes and clarifications that go into effect with this new version of the PAPPG please review the summary of significant changes and clarifications provided in the Introduction section of the PAPPG.
Please note that until this version of the PAPPG becomes effective on January 29, 2018 the guidelines contained in the current PAPPG (NSF 17-1) continue to apply. See the revised PAPPG (NSF 18-1).
If you have any questions about these revisions to the NSF PAPPG please contact your ORED Pre-Award representative at 305-348-2494 for further assistance.
