NSF Implements Electronic Signatures and 
Revises the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG)

• Eliminates the requirement that all identified PIs and Co-PIs sign the proposal Cover Sheet;

• Eliminates the requirement to submit a signed paper proposal Cover Sheet. All required proposal certifications will be provided electronically by the Authorized Organizational Representative and must be submitted within five working days following the electronic submission of the proposal;

• Removes the requirement that sub-awardee organizations provide signed budgets. Submission of a paper budget signed by the Authorized Organizational Representative of the sub-awardee organization is no longer necessary; while NSF has removed the requirement for signed budgets on behalf of sub-awardees, the Office of Sponsored Projects Administration still needs the submission of a signed budget sheet on behalf of the sub-awardee institution.

• Requires supplemental funding requests be submitted electronically via the Supplemental Funding Request module in FastLane. A signed paper copy of the supplement budget is no longer required to be submitted to NSF.

Additional changes in the GPG include:

• Proprietary or Privileged Information has been revised to reflect that Proprietary or Privileged Information, if included as a separate statement, should now be sent to the FastLane address specified in the GPG.

• Special Instructions for Proposals that Contain High Resolution Graphics and Other Graphics Where Exact Color Representations are Required for Proper Interpretation by the Reviewer has been updated to state that only the first page of the proposal Cover Sheet needs to be submitted with the color copies of the proposal.

• Proposal Pagination Instructions has been clarified to state that each section of the proposal that is uploaded as a file (whether PDF or a word processing file) must be individually paginated before upload to FastLane.

• Project Description has been changed to specify that Project Descriptions must be submitted as a PDF file or a word processing file capable of being converted through FastLane into a PDF file for use by NSF.

• Confidential Budgetary Information has been changed to specify that the instructions on Proprietary or Privileged Information should be followed when submitting Confidential Budgetary Information Statements.

Fixed Price Agreements are a contract form that you may encounter in research and sponsored activities. Acceptance of a fixed-price agreement is a commitment to perform the work for a fixed price. If the actual performance requires less money, the residual balance belongs to the university. Alternatively, if the performance costs more than the budget estimate, the university is responsible for assuming those additional costs. In unusual circumstances, if costs exceed the award and an extenuating-circumstances argument can be made, the sponsor may be willing to amend the agreement to support the unanticipated costs. Fixed-price agreements are most commonly used in industry agreements, but federal and foundation fixed-price awards also exist. With a fixed price award, the funds are budgeted with very few restrictions on their use (ABR Rule 9).

Internal Approval. When the University Internal Approval Form (IAF) is routed for a fixed-price project, a Fixed Price Agreement Budget Form (http://www.uky.edu/FiscalAffairs/Shared/Forms/fixprice.pdf) needs to be attached to the IAF. The form’s Column A, Projected Budget, needs to be completed at the routing stage. The projected budget is for internal purposes and does not become a part of the sponsor’s agreement. The projected budget provides support for the expectation that expenses will be fully accounted for on the project. If a fixed-price agreement provides for funds in excess of what is necessary for the project’s actual costs, a justification needs to be prepared, explaining why a residual is anticipated.

Residual Balances. At the end of the project, if a residual balance exists, the expenses charged to the project are reviewed to ensure full direct and indirect costs have been charged to the account. Once the review is done, the Office of Sponsored Project Administration staff will complete the Actual Expenditures side of the Fixed Price Budget Form. If it appears project costs were not fully charged to the account, the OSPA Research Administrator (RA) will contact the principal investigator and department business manager regarding adjustments. If a residual remains once all costs have been fully charged to the account, the RA will return the form to the department for signature (balances of less than $500 are transferred to a miscellaneous income account and not processed). Once signed, the form is returned to OSPA for transfer of the residual to the sector’s ledger 3 account.