NSF Proposal and Award Policy Newsletter, Issue V, May 2018 (Nsf18078)

n ISSUE V n MAY n 2018 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Proposal & Award Policy

Draft PAPPG Published in the What’s Federal Register for Public Comment Inside NSF recently published notice of the availability of the “For Comment” version of the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) in the Draft PAPPG Published Federal Register. The draft PAPPG may be accessed on the NSF website. To in the Federal Register facilitate review, revised text has been highlighted in yellow throughout the Page 1 document and explanatory comments have been included in the margins, where appropriate. NSF greatly values the feedback that we receive from the research community Proposal Submission in and looks forward to receiving your comments. The 60-day comment period Research.gov is Here runs through July 13, 2018. n Page 1 Proposal Submission in Research.gov is Here NSF is pleased to announce that since April 30, 2018, proposers may now New Account Management System prepare and submit full, research non-collaborative proposals in Research. gov. The initial release of this new Research.gov capability runs in parallel with Page 2 existing FastLane proposal preparation and submission capabilities, so proposers can choose to prepare and submit full, research non-collaborative proposals in Research.gov or in FastLane. Note that there will be no impact to Grants. Revision of NSF Award gov and Application Submission Web Services (ASWS), and NSF will continue Terms and Conditions to fully support these proposal submission methods. Currently there is not a Page 3 timeframe for full transition from FastLane to Research.gov, and both applica- tions will operate concurrently.

Public Access Expansion Feedback on the New Research.gov Proposal Repository Preparation and Submission Site Page 4 Feedback on the new Research.gov proposal preparation functionality is vital to NSF and can be provided via a survey site. Feedback from the community will be used to implement enhancements and expand functionality incrementally, Faculty Compensation – A Reminder with the goal of eventually transitioning all proposal preparation and submission functionality from FastLane Page 5

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Contact Links Contact the Policy Office via Proposal & Award Policies NSF Grants Conference This issue showcases images from e-mail at [email protected]; or & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) Environmental Biology – one of by phone at 703.292.8243 Presentations from Recent the many research and education FAQs on Proposal Preparation Events areas funded by NSF. SOURCE: & Award Administration https://nsf.gov/news/mmg. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PROPOSAL & AWARD POLICY NEWSLETTER

New Account Management System NSF has made major changes to the Helpful Links registered in the System for Award way the research community regis- Users with existing NSF Management (SAM) and have ters for NSF accounts and maintains accounts can access the NSF DUNS number. account and user profile information ID Lookup page for their NSF Organizations not already in FastLane and Research.gov. At the ID. Forgotten passwords for registered with NSF should be end of March NSF introduced a new established NSF accounts may aware that completion of the SAM centralized and streamlined account be retrieved here: https:// registration process could take up registration process in Research. identity.research.gov/sso/ui/ to two weeks. gov for the research community that NSFPWResetUserValidation?org=/ provides each new user with a single research. Note that the majority of profile and unique identifier (i.e., proposers are already registered New users can register directly NSF ID) for signing in to FastLane and with NSF via FastLane. with NSF through Research.gov via Research.gov for proposal and award this link: https://www.research. activities. Planned Releases gov/accountmgmt/#/registration. The new centralized account man- New Functionality agement functionality is being re- The new account management func- Notes About Grants.gov leased first to the Administrator, tionality: and ASWS PI, AOR, Sponsored Project Officer Principal Investigators (PI), (SPO), Graduate Research Fellowship Allows users to create and self- all co-PIs, and the Authorized Program (GRFP) Coordinating Official manage accounts, and request Organizational Representative and Financial Official, and Award Cash roles; (AOR) listed on a Grants.gov Management Service (ACM$) groups. proposal must all be registered Eliminates the need for NSF plans to eventually expand the organizational Administrators with NSF prior to proposal new functionality in the future to to create accounts and maintain submission. NSF IDs for the PI, additional groups including reviewers, profile information for their users. all co-PIs, and the AOR will need GRFP applicants, and NSF staff. This will allow Administrators to be included in the proposal to focus on managing roles for submission. Training Resources Available their organizations through a – When a proposal is submitted NSF has developed a number of re- dashboard with functions to to NSF through Grants.gov and sources such as job aids, Frequently approve, disapprove, assign, and ASWS, the NSF system will cross- Asked Questions (FAQs), and instruc- remove roles; and check the DUNS number and tional videos. These materials are organization name with NSF now available on an “About Account Replaces the existing FastLane records. If there is no match Management” page accessible on and Research.gov account to the DUNS number and/or the Research.gov homepage. management functions. organization name, the proposal For IT system-related questions, will be rejected and the PI/AOR please contact the NSF Help Desk at Existing NSF Accounts listed on the proposal submission Existing NSF account holders, includ- 1-800-381-1532 or [email protected]. will receive an email notifying that ing Grants.gov and Application Sub- Policy-related questions should be the proposal submission was not mission Web Service (ASWS) users, directed to [email protected]. accepted by NSF. will be migrated to the new account If you would like to stay up-to-date management system through a sim- New NSF Registration on upcoming events or future en- ple, one-time operation when initial- Requirements for Organizations hancements to Research.gov and ly signing in to FastLane or Research. Organizations new to NSF must also FastLane, subscribe to our System gov. Account holders will be required register via the account management Updates NSF listserv. This listserv to verify information to transfer it to system in Research.gov. is available to both the research the new system. In accordance with community and to NSF staff. To the Proposal & Award Policies & Pro- New organizations can register via subscribe, simply send an email to cedures Guide (NSF 18-1), Chapter this link: https://www.research. system_updates-subscribe-request@ I.G.4., each user will have an NSF ID. gov/accountmgmt/#/registration. listserv.nsf.gov and you will be auto- Before a new organization can matically enrolled. n register with NSF, it must first be

2 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PROPOSAL & AWARD POLICY NEWSLETTER

Revision of NSF Award Terms and Conditions NSF’s suite of Award Terms and regulations at 37 CFR § 401 Cooperative Agreement Conditions has been revised and is effective May 14, 2018. Modifications and Supplemental available on the Policy Office website Financial and Administrative Each set of terms and conditions at: https://www.nsf.gov/awards/ Terms and Conditions for Major is accompanied by a summary of managing/award_conditions. Multi-User Research Facility changes made to that document. jsp?org=NSF. Projects and Federally Funded The revised Terms and Conditions Research and Development Important changes include: will apply to all new NSF awards and Centers; funding amendments to existing NSF Revision of the Equipment article awards made on or after May 14, Grant General Conditions (GC-1); to align with 2 CFR § 200.313 2018. Revisions have been made to and requirements for all equipment the following documents: purchased under NSF awards Small Business Innovation and provide clarity on reporting NSF Agency Specific Requirements Research (SBIR)/Small Business requirements for NSF-owned to the Research Terms and Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase equipment; and Conditions (ASR); I & II Grant General Conditions (SBIR-I) (SBIR-II). Revision of the Patent Rights Cooperative Agreement Financial article to implement government- and Administrative Terms and Questions regarding these chang- wide changes to the Department Conditions (CA-FATC); es should be directed to the Policy of Commerce Bayh-Dole Office at [email protected]. n

3 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PROPOSAL & AWARD POLICY NEWSLETTER

Public Access Expansion Repository to Allow Publications Jointly Funded by NSF & Department of Energy to Be Deposited The National Science Foundation’s ship with the Department of Energy is found, the system will upload (NSF) Public Access policy is in- (DoE) to enable NSF-funded investi- it to NSF-PAR for submission. The tended to expand public access to gators to meet this deposit require- uploaded record will also be linked the results of its federally-funded ment and to include the relevant automatically to the project report research. This aligns with the Foun- information in their annual and final associated with the award. This dation’s long-standing commitment project reports. integration will only be available to clear and open communication for jointly-funded publications by of research results, which is central Public Access Expansion NSF and DOE, but future efforts will to fulfilling NSF’s primary mission of As of March 26, 2018, NSF authors engage additional agencies. promoting the progress of science, who are jointly funded by the Na- Additional information is available advancing the frontiers of knowl- tional Science Foundation (NSF) and on the Research.gov “About Public edge, and helping to ensure the the Department of Energy (DOE) Access” page and in the Frequently nation’s future prosperity. can retrieve previously submitted final manuscripts from the DOE Asked Questions (FAQs) (NSF 18- NSF’s Public Access policy requires system and pull them into NSF-PAR 041) on the NSF.gov website. NSF-funded investigators to deposit to meet NSF’s Public Access require- For IT system-related questions, peer-reviewed, published jour- ment. When an author indicates please contact the NSF Help Desk at nal articles and juried conference they have deposited a record into 1-800-381-1532 or [email protected]. papers in the NSF Public Access the DOE E-Link system and a Dig- Policy-related questions should be Repository (NSF-PAR). NSF-PAR was ital Object Identifier (DOI) match directed to [email protected]. n launched in late 2015 in partner-

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4 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PROPOSAL & AWARD POLICY NEWSLETTER

Faculty Compensation – A Reminder Subscribe! “Note that once NSF makes now believe to be misleading and Want to subscribe to this we would like to remove any ambi- newsletter? There are a an award, the grantee has full guity regarding this issue. couple of ways to do this. responsibility for the conduct of Note that once NSF makes an NSF Update the project and for the results award, the grantee has full re- The NSF Update mechanism sponsibility for the conduct of the that are achieved.” allows you to choose to be noti- project and for the results that are fied on many types of information Last year an article was published achieved. NSF’s longstanding faculty about NSF programs, policies and in the August/September Propos- salary policy states that compensa- events. To do this, navigate to al & Award Policy Newsletter that tion for senior project personnel is https://www.nsf.gov, and click on covered the much-discussed NSF generally limited to “no more than the envelope icon in the “Follow faculty salary policy. The article two months of their regular salary Us” section of the website. After included coverage when NSF prior in any one year. This limit includes entering your e-mail address, you approval is required to transfer salary compensation received from can select all the various topics funds from another budget catego- all NSF-funded grants… If antici- you’re interested in learning ry to increase salary support from pated, any compensation for such about. To receive this newsletter, what was originally approved in the personnel in excess of two months check the boxes for Newsletters/ proposal budget. Per NSF policy, no must be disclosed in the propos- Journals and Publications: Poli- prior approval from NSF is neces- al budget, justified in the budget cies and Procedures. sary unless the transfer constitutes justification, and must be specifi- a change in objective or scope to cally approved by NSF in the award Grants Conference and the project. The article further stat- notice budget.” (See PAPPG, Chap- Events Website ed that “since salary can amount ter II.C.i(a)). Further information on You may also sign up to be no- to a large part of the budget, there this NSF policy can be found in the tified about this newsletter and may very well be a scope change PAPPG, Chapter X.B.1a, as well as future policy outreach opportuni- with addition of salary…” The article Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ties on the NSF Grants Conference then provided an example that we On Proposal Preparation and Award website. To do this, navigate to Administration. n https://nsfgrantsconferences.com and click “Get Notified.” We hope you continue to enjoy Continued from page 1 – Proposal this newsletter and share it with to Research.gov. 1-800-381-1532 or [email protected]. your colleagues! Policy-related questions should be NSF invites users to keep these directed to [email protected]. goals in mind as they prepare and submit feedback on the new func- If you would like to stay up-to- tionality, so that the Foundation date on upcoming events or future may improve the new Research.gov enhancements to Research.gov and interface and develop additional FastLane, subscribe to our System available features. Additional infor- Updates NSF listserv. This listserv mation about this new functionality is available to both the research is available on the About Proposal community and to NSF staff. To Preparation and Submission site on subscribe, simply send an email Research.gov. to system_updates-subscribe-re- [email protected] and you will For IT system-related questions, be automatically enrolled. n please contact the NSF Help Desk at