Category Archives: Announcements

Clarified Guidance for Preparing Applications During the Pandemic

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The National Institutes of Health has recently made a post addressing many questions they were receiving about handling grants that were impacted by COVID-19.

“We continue to receive questions about how to address issues in grant applications related to lost productivity and other pandemic-related issues. NIH recently issued a clarification indicating that while grant applications should not include contingency or recovery plans for problems resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, investigators may address effects due to the pandemic on productivity or other scoreable issues in the personal statement of the biosketch. Reviewers will be instructed to take these pandemic-related circumstances into account when assessing applicants’ productivity and other score-driving factors. If needed, NIH staff will request and assess plans to resolve specific problems arising from the COVID-19 pandemic prior to funding. This clarification was announced in NOT-OD-21-180.

“Applicants should know that NIH will allow the submission of a one-page update with preliminary data as post-submission materials for applications submitted for the May 2022 council (applications submitted beginning with September 25, 2021 due dates for spring 2022 review meetings), provided that the funding opportunity announcement allows preliminary data. As with other type of post submission materials, information must be submitted no later than 30 days before the study section meeting unless specified otherwise in the FOA. One page of preliminary data will be accepted for single component applications or for each component of a multi-component application.

“Because applications for emergency competitive revisions and urgent competitive revisions undergo expedited review, post-submission materials will not be accepted for those applications. See details in NOT-OD-21-179“

For more information, visit the NIH website.

Fall 2021 NIH’s Free Upcoming Virtual Seminar

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The National Institutes of Health are hosting a virtual seminar on program funding and grant administration November 1st through the 4th.

The purpose of the seminar is to detail the inner workings of the NIH grant application, review, award, and post-award processes and policies!

The event is open for registration and will include:

  • Free registration!
  • Live sessions, as well as an on-demand video library
  • Three sessions designed around grant topics, including case studies and Q&As
  • Live chat opportunities with NIH and HHS experts
  • Downloadable resources from over 45 booths to reuse and share with others

The latest registration and agenda updates are on the seminar website.

Direct questions to NIHRegionalSeminars@nih.gov.

National Science Foundation Important System Update

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The National Science Foundation sent out notification Monday, August 30th, 2021 regarding changes and updates happening to the website and its features.

“The National Science Foundation (NSF) has enabled a number of enhancements for proposals submitted in Research.gov, FastLane, and Grants.gov. In addition, the updated NSF-approved biographical sketch and current and pending support SciENcv and fillable PDF formats that fall under the revised Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 22-1) will be available to preview by September 17, 2021.

“We are also excited to announce enhanced NSF Funding Opportunity Search functionality and revamped program pages on nsf.gov and beta.nsf.gov, the new version of the NSF website. As NSF builds its new nsf.gov website in small, iterative pieces using the beta.nsf.gov platform, we are not simply moving existing content from nsf.gov to the new site. Rather, the new website will improve how information is presented for use by various audiences including prospective proposers, grantees, and the general public.

“Here’s what to know.

“Research.gov Proposal Submission System Enhancements

  • Research.gov proposal features continue to expand to support the transition of all proposal preparation and submission functionality from FastLane to Research.gov by a target date of December 31, 2022. Many NSF funding opportunities are supported in Research.gov and clearly specify whether submission via Research.gov is available or required.
  • Effective August 30, 2021, Conference and Ideas Lab proposal types, renewal and accomplishment-based renewal submission types, and preliminary proposals for Ideas Lab solicitations are all now available for submission in Research.gov. FastLane must be used to submit preliminary proposals for proposal types other than Ideas Lab until that functionality is available in Research.gov.
  • The proposal preparation landing page has been revised, and Principal Investigators will now first select the proposal submission type from the drop-down options and then will follow the proposal setup wizard to initiate a new proposal. In progress and submitted proposals are accessible from the tiles on the revised proposal preparation landing page, after first selecting the submission type from the drop-down options.
  • New automated compliance checks and associated error and warning messages for the enabled proposal and submission types were also implemented. Error messages will prohibit proposal submission to NSF, whereas warning messages still permit proposal submission.
  • New Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) were added to the Research.gov About Proposal Preparation and Submission page, and the Proposal Submission Capabilities page has been updated to reflect the latest development updates.
  • All supported proposal and submission types as well as associated compliance checks are also enabled in the Research.gov Proposal Preparation Demo Site.
  • Refer to the PAPPG (NSF 20-1) for current proposal requirements. Guidelines in the revised PAPPG (NSF 22-1) will apply for proposals submitted or due on or after October 4, 2021.

NSF-approved Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support Format Updates

Current and Pending Support Fillable PDF Updates

  • Based on feedback from the research community and NSF Program Officers, NSF has incorporated functionality as of August 30, 2021, in FastLane and Grants.gov to remove any pages which do not contain data entered by users (i.e., blank pages) from the NSF-approved current and pending support fillable PDF. This trimming functionality will be integrated in Research.gov on October 4, 2021, in coordination with implementation of the revised PAPPG (NSF 22-1) for proposals submitted in Research.gov and project reports submitted in the Research.gov Project Reporting System.
  • The trimming service only applies to the NSF-approved current and pending support fillable PDF and not to any other uploaded PDFs. Current and pending support PDFs generated in SciENcv do not include blank pages.
  • The current and pending support fillable PDF document is paginated, and the PDF page numbers will not be updated during the trimming process. This means that it is possible for the trimmed PDF to have skipped page numbers corresponding to the blank pages removed from the fillable PDF. NSF Program Officers are aware of this potential occurrence in proposals submitted to NSF.
  • Proposers with in progress proposals as of August 30, 2021, can delete previously uploaded current and pending support fillable PDFs from their FastLane or Grants.gov proposals and then re-upload them to trigger the trimming service.

Updated Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support SciENcv and Fillable PDF Formats

  • The updated NSF-approved biographical sketch and current and pending support formats will be available in September 2021 to preview before they are required on October 4th. The updated fillable PDF formats will be available for download from the NSF biographical sketch and current and pending support websites by September 3rd. Updated SciENcv formats will be available on the SciENcv Create a New Document screen by September 17th.
  • Biographical sketch format updates include increasing the page limit from two to three pages.
  • Current and pending support format updates include the addition of new sections for information on objectives and overlap with other projects to help NSF and reviewers assess overlap/duplication.
  • Although submission of the updated NSF-approved formats is not permitted (i.e., Research.gov, FastLane, and Grants.gov will not allow the 22-1 forms to be uploaded) until implementation of the revised PAPPG (NSF 22-1) on October 4, 2021, NSF is encouraging proposers and grantees to begin familiarizing themselves with the updated NSF-approved formats when they are available.

Enhanced Funding Opportunity Search Functionality and Revamped Program Pages

  • Based on extensive research with external and internal stakeholders, NSF has made significant improvements to the NSF Funding Opportunity Search functionality to help researchers and prospective researchers quickly and easily find relevant programs and NSF-funded projects in specified disciplines. Funding Search results now include short program descriptions, programs incorporated in core program solicitations with links to the relevant guidelines, and Dear Colleague Letters.
  • The revamped program pages include significant content and navigation improvements including information previously only viewable in solicitations.
  • For more information about NSF’s beta site, please visit https://beta.nsf.gov/about-beta.
    NSF will continue to enhance the site, and ongoing feedback from external and internal stakeholders is vital to the process. Feedback on the updated Funding Search and program page enhancements or any other aspect of the site may be directed to beta-nsf-feedback@nsf.gov“

Fall 2021 NSF Virtual Grant Conference

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The National Science Foundation is inviting those interested to register (for free!) to participate in Fall 2021 Virtual Grant Conference.

The conference will take place the week of October 4th through the 8th of 2021, and registration is anticipated to fill quickly!

Registration opens Wednesday, September 8th at 12:00 p.m. EST.

If you are unable to attend, all recorded conference sessions will be available on-demand shortly after the event and posted on our website and our YouTube page.

For the most updated information regarding this event, please visit nsfpolicyoutreach.com.

If you have any logistical questions about the virtual conference, please contact grants_conference@nsf.gov.

If you’re interested in watching previous conferences, here are a collection of recordings, or you can visit the NSF YouTube channel for more.

Additional Clarifications to Biosketch and Other Support Policies Now Available

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NIH has updated and added FAQs, adjusted other documentation, and posted other instructional supports in response to the questions many recipients have transitioning to the updated formats for biosketch and other supports.

Below is what has been posted to the website regarding these FAQs,

“Here’s a sample of new/updated FAQs:

Look for the ‘updated‘ and ‘new‘ stickers in our biosketch FAQs and other support FAQs for additional clarifications.

If you’ve checked out our resources and still have questions, please email nihosbiosketch@nih.gov“