Among other things, this revision implements the new NSF merit review
criteria that were approved by the National Science Board on March 28,
1997, and disseminated in Important Notice 121, New Criteria for NSF
Proposals, dated July 10, 1997. Other sections of the GPG have been
revised, as appropriate, for clarity as well as to make the Guide
consistent with current NSF policies, practices and procedures. A
complete list of significant changes is included on pages iii and iv
of the GPG. Highlights from that list, for use in proposal
preparation, are included below.
As stated in Important Notice 121, the new merit review criteria for
reviewing proposals will be effective for proposals submitted on or
after October 1, 1997. For consistency with this requirement, this
version of the GPG also will be effective October 1, 1997.
The complete text of the revised GPG is now available electronically
on NSF's home page at http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/cpo/gpg/start.htm. The
Proposal Forms Kit containing revised forms formatted in Microsoft
Word for Windows 6.0. also is available on the NSF home page.
Effective October 1, 1997, these electronic versions may be used in
submission of proposals to NSF. We are strongly encouraging our
customers make use of the Web in accessing the new GPG.
Paper copies of the revised GPG will be sent to NSF customer
communities in late August.
Please address any questions or comments about the GPG to the Division
of Contracts, Policy & Oversight, Policy Office, on 703-306-1243 or by
e-mail to policy@nsf.gov.
Jean I. Feldman
Head, Policy Office
Division of Contracts, Policy & Oversight
______________________________________________________________
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT PROPOSAL PREPARATION CHANGES
o Chapter I, Introduction, Paragraph E, "When to Submit Proposals"
has been revised to clarify that it is when the proposal is received
by the Foundation that determines whether a proposal has met an
established deadline date. For late proposals, the "postmark" policy
has been expanded to include carriers other than the U.S. Postal
Service. This section also has been supplemented with language
regarding deadlines that fall on weekends and holidays.
o Chapter I - Paragraph F has been renamed "How to Submit
Proposals" as well as reorganized to:
- clarify that a proposal only needs to be submitted once to
NSF, even if review by multiple programs is envisioned. This should
help reduce the submission of multiple copies of the same proposal for
simultaneous review by different program offices. The submission of
duplicate or substantially similar proposals concurrently for review
by more than one program without prior NSF approval may result in the
return of the redundant proposals.
- expand the coverage to include a "receipt policy" for
proposals submitted electronically via the NSF FastLane Project.
- revise the address to move the NSF program from the first
line of the address in order to avoid having proposals delivered
directly to NSF program offices.
o Chapter II, Instructions for Proposal Preparation, has been
supplemented with language indicating that, "For standard proposals,
FastLane preparation and submission is the preferred method. Unless
otherwise specified in a program announcement or solicitation,
however, proposals may continue to be submitted in paper form."
o Chapter II - Paragraph C, Format of the Proposal, has been
modified to permit copies other than the original to use a simple
binding, such as a comb binding, for use in proposal submission.
o Chapter II - Paragraph D, Sections of the Proposal, has been
revised to delete the following four proposal forms:
- Project Summary, NSF Form 1358;
- Project Description, NSF Form 1360;
- References Cited, NSF Form 1361; and
- Biographical Sketch, NSF Form 1362.
In lieu of these forms, proposers are requested to use the
instructions in the Grant Proposal Guide to complete these sections of
the proposal.
o Chapter II - Paragraph D.2, Project Summary, has been updated to
require the Project Summary to also describe the potential impact of
the project on advancing knowledge, science and mathematics education,
and/or human resource development.
o Chapter II - Paragraph D.4, Project Description, has been revised
to:
- remind proposers that proposals to NSF will now be reviewed
using the new merit review criteria
- require the proposal to indicate as part of the Project
Description, "any broader impacts of the proposed activity."
o Chapter II - Paragraph D.5, References Cited, has been clarified
to require the names of authors to appear in the same sequence in
which they appear in the referenced publication.
o Chapter II - Paragraph D.6, Biographical Sketches, has been
revised to require one listing of persons who have collaborated on a
project. Previously, this information was located in two places in
the Biographical Sketch. In addition, when providing names of
individuals, the organizational affiliation should be added to
differentiate between individuals with duplicate names.
o Chapter II - Paragraph D.7.f.(v) has been updated to specify that
subaward budgets need to be signed by the Authorized Organizational
Representative of the organization receiving the subaward.
o Chapter II - Paragraphs D.12.d. and e. Vertebrate Animals and
Human Subjects, have been modified to reflect "just-in-time"
submission for organizational approvals for use of Vertebrate Animals
and Human Subjects in the proposal submission process.
o Chapter III - NSF Proposal Processing and Review, Paragraph A,
has been revised to reflect changes to NSF's merit review criteria.
o Chapter IV - Withdrawals, Returns, and Declinations, Paragraph B,
has been updated to include two additional reasons for the return of
proposals by NSF: (1) the proposal was previously reviewed and
declined and has not been substantially revised; or (2) the proposal
is a duplicate of or substantially similar to a proposal already under
consideration by NSF.
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