NSF’s FastLane QEM Career Workshop March 6 - 7, 2015 Hilton Baltimore BWI Airport Linthicum Heights, Md. Evelyn F. Baisey-Thomas [email protected] Ques%ons: Contact: Evelyn F. Baisey-Thomas Program Overview 3/9/15 PAGE 52 Automated Compliance Checking in FastLane of GPG Required Proposal Sections Proposals Not Accepted • A new category of non-award decisions and transactions • Defined as “FastLane will not permit submission of the proposal” • Category applies to: - Project Summaries - Data Management Plans - Postdoctoral Mentoring Plans • As of March 2013 FastLane began checking for all GPG required sections of proposals. GPG Required Sections of the Proposal • Project Summary * • Project Description • References Cited • Biographical Sketch(es) • Budget • Budget Justification • Current and Pending Support • Facilities, Equipment & Other Resources • Supplementary Documentation * Data Management Plan and Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan (where applicable) are already being auto-compliance checked FastLane Will now Check • FastLane will check for the presence of GPG required sections of the proposal • If a section is not included, FastLane will not permit submission of the proposal • FastLane will now also check: - Formatting - Page Length - Content Automated Compliance Checking GPG-specific auto-compliance checks, implemented September 15, 2014: • Enforce page count rules for the following proposal sections: - Project Description - Budget Justification - Mentoring Plan - Data Management Plan • Budget Checks: implement duration and requested amount compliance checks (Example: maximum requested amount cannot exceed $200,000 for a RAPID Proposal) • Funding Mechanism/Proposal Section auto-compliance checks, anticipated January 26, 2015: - Enforce proposal sections depending on the funding mechanism type (Example: enforce a project description for a research grant) Automated Compliance Checking • March 2013, NSF enforced the following GPG required proposal sections during proposal intake: (* already being auto-compliance checked) -Project Summary* - Project Description - References Cited - Biographical Sketch(es) - Budget - Budget Justification - Current and Pending Support - Facilities, Equipment & Other Resources - Supplementary Documentation -Data Management Plan * -Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan (where applicable) * • Non-Compliance Findings: - Triggered when the PI checks the proposal, forwards it to the SPO, and when the SPO submits to NSF - Error (hard stop) or Warning Message Auto Compliance Checking • Principal Investigators (PI) - Will receive warning messages if any of the GPG required sections are missing - Will be able to forward proposal to their institution’s SPO • Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) - FastLane will prevent submission from the SPO if any of the GPG required sections is missing Auto Compliance Checking cont’d • If the program announcement submission instructions do not require one of the sections, proposers will need to insert text or upload a document in that section of the proposal with “Not Applicable” - This will enable FastLane to accept the proposal. Auto Compliance Checking cont’d • Biographical Sketches and Current and Pending Support - FastLane permits biosketches and current and pending support sections to be uploaded as a single PDF for the PI, co-PI and senior personnel - For FastLane to accept the proposal, proposers must insert text or upload a document that states, “Not Applicable” for all co-PI’s or senior person Proposal Margin and Spacing Requirements The proposal must be clear, readily legible, and conform to the following requirements: a. Use one of the following typefaces identified below: • Arial10, 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 A font size of less than 10 points may be used for mathematical formulas or equations, figure, table or diagram captions and when using a Symbol font to insert Greek letters or special characters. PIs are cautioned, however, that the text must still be readable; b. No more than 6 lines of text within a vertical space of 1 inch; and c. Margins, in all directions, must be at least an inch. *Note: These requirements apply to all uploaded sections of a proposal Automated Compliance Checking Impact on Grants.gov Proposals The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide specifies the same general content requirements for proposal submission. • Grants.gov may allow a proposal to be submitted even if one of the required sections is missing. • If a section is missing, a proposal may be returned without review. • Proposals submitted through Grants.gov must include all GPG-required sections or include a document stating that the section is "Not Applicable. NSF Implementation of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) • Compliant with new OMB-OSTP approved RPPR format and data dictionary • Implemented in March 2013 in Research.gov for PIs, co-PIs, SPOs • Replaces annual, interim, and final project reports in FastLane Structured data collection Award Cash Management Service (ACM$) • NSF’s new financial and accounting system • Financial services were unavailable from September 19 to October 13, 2014 • Last date to submit draw downs for awards was September 18, 2014 • Beginning October 1, NSF began making all payments using System for Award Management (SAM) banking information .