Now Available on Research.gov Proposals: Cost Sharing and Single Copy Documents

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Dear Colleagues:
Please see the important notice below regarding the inclusion of cost sharing (Line M on the proposal budget) for proposals submitted in Research.gov forprograms with mandatory cost sharing requirements, and enhancements that were deployed to the proposal Cover Sheet and proposal upload screens to support Single Copy Documents, which include Deviation Authorization, Special Exception – Natural or Anthropogenic Event, Proprietary or Privileged Information, Disclosure of Lobbying Activities, and Additional Single Copy Documents. Automated compliance error and warning messages as well as business rules have also been implemented in Research.gov for these enhancements.

Please direct questions regarding the notice below to the Contract and Grant Officer for your unit.

Nancy Lewis
Executive Director, Sponsored Projects Administration
Office of Research
University of California, Irvine

COVID-19: In response to the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 (Coronavirus ) pandemic, the Office of Research will be telecommuting. During this time, email is the best method of contact as voicemails will be checked periodically. For information about Research Continuity planning and updates please visit:https://news.research.uci.edu/research-continuity

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Dear Colleagues:

Effective July 27, 2020, the National Science Foundation (NSF) enabled cost sharing (Line M on the proposal budget) for programs with mandatory cost sharing requirements on proposals submitted in Research.gov. In addition, enhancements were deployed to the proposal Cover Sheet and proposal upload screens to support Single Copy Documents, which include Deviation Authorization, Special Exception – Natural or Anthropogenic Event, Proprietary or Privileged Information, Disclosure of Lobbying Activities, and Additional Single Copy Documents. New associated automated compliance error and warning messages as well as business rules were also implemented. 

Research.gov Support for Full Research Proposals

Research.gov now supports all Full Research proposals that conform to standardProposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 20-1) requirements for formatting and document content including:

  • Single submissions from one organization (available since April 2018)
  • Single submission collaborative proposals with subawards (available since June 2019)
  • Separately submitted collaborative proposals from multiple organizations (available since March 2020)

Cost Sharing

The requirement to include cost sharing in a proposal is identified in the program solicitation, and Line M on the proposal budget will only be available for the select few programs that require cost sharing. Line M will appear in year one of the prime organization’s proposal budget when the selected funding opportunity includes a mandatory cost sharing requirement. Please see PAPPG Chapter II.C.2.g.xii. for additional information about NSF’s cost sharing policy.

New system-related cost sharing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are available in the “Proposal Sections” FAQ topic on the Research.gov About Proposal Preparation and Submission webpage. A new automated compliance warning message and business rules for cost sharing have also been added. Please refer to the updated Research.gov Compliance Checklist dated July 27, 2020 on the Automated Compliance Checking of NSF Proposals webpage. Compliance checks triggering an error will prohibit proposal submission to NSF, whereas checks triggering a warning will allow proposal submission to NSF.  

Single Copy Documents

Single Copy Documents are for certain categories of information that are submitted in conjunction with a proposal and are for NSF use only. They are not provided to reviewers for use in the review of the proposal. Please see PAPPG (NSF 20-1) for Single Copy Document requirements. Research.gov system-related details for Single Copy Documents are included below:

  • Deviation Authorization(PAPPG Chapter II.A.):
    • The Deviation Authorization link can be accessed both in the Optional proposal section as well as via the Deviation Authorization tab in the left navigation pane Optional menu.
    • Once the Deviation Authorization link is clicked in either location, a text entry field with a 256-character limit will be available on the screen.
    • After the Deviation Authorization text entry field is saved, the text is converted to a PDF file. Editing the text entry field and clicking save will generate a new PDF file.
  • Special Exception – Natural or Anthropogenic Event(PAPPG Chapter I.F.3.):
    • When the Special Exception to the Deadline Date Policy checkbox is selected on the Cover Sheet and the Cover Sheet is saved, the Special Exception – Natural or Anthropogenic Event upload section will be accessible either through a link in the blue information message at the top of the Cover Sheet, or by a link in the Other Information section of the Cover Sheet.
    • After a compliant Natural or Anthropogenic Event document has been uploaded,

the listed deadline due date is bypassed allowing the Authorized Organizational Representative to submit the proposal in Research.gov after the listed deadline.

    • An error preventing proposal submission will be triggered if the Special Exception to the Deadline Date Policy checkbox is selected on the Cover Sheet, but a compliant document has not been uploaded in the Special Exception – Natural or Anthropogenic Event upload section.
    • Note that checking the Special Exception to the Deadline Date Policy box on the Cover Sheet and uploading a Special Exception – Natural or Anthropogenic Event document will allow proposal submission after the listed deadline in Research.gov, however acceptance remains at the discretion of the NSF Program Officer.
  • Proprietary or Privileged Information (PAPPG Chapter II.D.1.)
    • When the Proprietary or Privileged Information checkbox is selected on the Cover Sheet and the Cover Sheet is saved, the Proprietary or Privileged Information upload section will be accessible either through a link in the blue information message at the top of the Cover Sheet, or by a link in the Other Information section of the Cover Sheet.
    • An error preventing proposal submission will be triggered if the Proprietary or Privileged Information checkbox is selected on the Cover Sheet, but a compliant document has not been uploaded in the Proprietary or Privileged Information upload section.
  • Disclosure of Lobbying Activities(PAPPG Chapter I.G.2. and PAPPG Chapter II.C.1.d.)
    • When the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities checkbox is selected on the Cover Sheet and the Cover Sheet is saved, the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities upload section will be accessible either through a link in the blue information message at the top of the Cover Sheet, or by a link in the Other Information section of the Cover Sheet.
    • An error preventing proposal submission will be triggered if the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities checkbox is selected on the Cover Sheet, but a compliant document has not been uploaded in the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities upload section.
  • Additional Single Copy Documents
    • The Additional Single Copy Documents link can be accessed both in the Optional proposal section as well as via the Single Copy Documents tab in the left navigation pane Optional menu. Once the Additional Single Copy Documents link is clicked in either location, an upload section will be available on the screen.
    • The Additional Single Copy Documents section supports multiple file uploads.

Other Related Changes for Single Copy Documents

  • New Automated Compliance Error Messages and Business Rules: Please see the updated Research.gov Compliance Checklist dated July 27, 2020 on the Automated Compliance Checking of NSF Proposals webpagefor additional details. Compliance checks triggering an error will prohibit proposal submission to NSF, whereas checks triggering a warning will allow proposal submission to NSF.  
  • New FAQs: New system-related Single Copy Document FAQs are available in the “Proposal Sections” FAQ topic on the Research.gov About Proposal Preparation and Submission webpage.

What’s Ahead in the Research.gov Proposal Submission System?

Features supporting the following types of proposals are planned for a late fall 2020 release in Research.gov:

  • Rapid Response Research (RAPID)
  • EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER)
  • Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (RAISE)

NSF is also currently developing a Research.gov demo site that will be available for training purposes. Stay tuned for additional information about these exciting developments in the coming months!

Help NSF Build Research.gov

Research.gov is being developed incrementally, and features are expanding with the goal of transitioning all proposal preparation and submission functionality from FastLane to Research.gov. NSF strongly encourages the use of Research.gov where possible and wants feedback on your experience, so we can continue to make improvements. Please submit your feedback on the Research.gov Feedback page (select “Proposal Preparation & Submission” under the Site Area dropdown menu).

We would appreciate you sharing this information with your colleagues. If you have IT system-related questions, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 (7:00 AM – 9:00 PM ET; Monday – Friday except federal holidays) or via . Policy-related questions should be directed to .

We look forward to receiving your Research.gov proposals and your feedback!

Regards,

Jean

Jean Feldman

Head, Policy Office

Division of Institution and Award Support

Office of Budget, Finance & Award Management

email: policy@nsf.gov

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