American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

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National Science Foundation (NSF)

June 8, 2009: Limited Submissions

NSF Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP)
NSF Improvements to Biological Research Collections (BRC) Program

To view these and other limited submission competitions, visit the Proposal Development Office's site.

May 21, 2009: NSF FastLane for New Proposal Submission

Due to an expected increase in Grants.gov submissions relating to the processing of Recovery Act proposals, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has authorized agencies to use alternative methods for proposal submission and acceptance. As you know, NSF is able to accept directly its full complement of proposals, both regular submissions and those additional proposals anticipated under the Recovery Act, using our long-established FastLane capabilities for proposal submission and acceptance. Therefore, in order to assist Grants.gov in the effort to alleviate system strain and increase system capacity, proposers will now be required to prepare and submit proposals to NSF through use of the NSF FastLane system.

Effective immediately, new funding opportunities issued by NSF will exclusively require the use of FastLane to prepare and submit proposals. In addition, NSF plans to revise existing funding opportunity documents to reflect this change and to remove all active application packages from Grants.gov APPLY. NSF will continue to post information about available funding opportunities to Grants.gov FIND. 

Detailed instructions regarding the technical aspects of proposal preparation and submission via FastLane are available at: www.fastlane.nsf.gov.

If you have any questions regarding this change, please contact the Policy Office on 703.292.8243 or by e-mail to policy@nsf.gov.

May 8, 2009: Terms and Conditions, MRI-R2 and ARI-R2

On May 8, 2009, the National Science Foundation posted its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Terms and Conditions (NSF Document # arra0509) – terms that will apply to any award made using funds from the ARRA. The terms are available in this 9-page pdf: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/arra/arratc_509.pdf?govDel=USNSF_109. Building on the standard NSF award conditions, grantees are required to meet the reporting requirements specified in ARRA. As with other agencies, ARRA funds are to be separately tracked and the provisions flow down to sub-recipients. NSF will rely on the implementation of www.FederalReporting.gov for the special reporting and reminds/requires all grantees and sub-recipients to maintain current registrations in the Central Contractor Registration. 

In a departure from ARRA requirements, NSF requires reports within 10 calendar days after each calendar quarter. COGR has asked OMB to use 10 business days for reporting and will forward a similar request to NSF. 

MRI-R2 and ARI-R2
 
NSF released two Program Solicitations on March 11, 2009:  the Major Research Instrumentation: Recovery and Reinvestment Program (MRI-R2 – NSF-09-561) and the Academic Research Infrastructure Program: Recovery and Reinvestment (ARI-R2 – NSF-09-562). Potential applicants should review the program solicitations carefully, special requirements and eligibility criteria apply to the MRI-R2 and the ARI-R2 solicitation has been revised from the 1996 version.

The most significant change in the MRI-R2 is the waiver of the America COMPETES Act’s 30% cost-sharing requirements for those institutions of higher education that are not ranked among the top 100 of those receiving federal research funding. This waiver is in addition to the regular MRI waiver of cost-sharing for non-Ph.D.-granting institutions and is applicable for the current MRI-R2 ONLY. A presidential certification affirming that the proposal meets the waiver conditions (described in the solicitation) must be submitted at the time of application. 

COGR is pleased that NSF has extended this waiver for the MRI-R2 program. In November 2007, COGR urged NSF to exercise its authority to reduce or waive cost-sharing for institutions not ranked among the top 100 in the regular MRI program.  At that time, NSF felt the extension of the waiver to a particular group or class of NSF applicants required a determination of eligibility at the time of application that, given the time constraints of a fast approaching program announcement, NSF could not exercise or process equitably. In February 2009, COGR urged NSF and the National Science Board (NSB) to reconsider the additional waiver in COGR’s letter to the NSB as it prepared its report on cost-sharing, Investing in the Future: NSF Cost Sharing Policies for a Robust Federal Research Enterprise. In February, COGR highlighted the challenges faced by institutions in the deteriorating economic climate. 

An additional waiver condition is described in the America COMPETES Act – cost-sharing can be reduced or waived for all higher education institutions, including the top 100 institutions, if they participate in a consortia of that includes at least one non-Ph.D.-granting institution. COGR will seek clarification on the applicability of this waiver in the MRI-R2 program.