Announcement of Submission Windows for Unsolicited Proposals

Dear Colleague:

NOTICE:  The website www.grants.gov  has listed the submission window closing date for CTS Unsolicited Proposals for four of the eight CTS Programs as October 1, 2006.  The other four CTS Programs are listed as having no closing date.  Therefore NSF/ENG/CTS will continue to accept proposals via FastLane, for all eight CTS Programs, until Monday, October 2, 2006.  When reading the text below, please substitute October 2 for September 15.

In order to ensure both the timely handling of proposals and fairness in comparing competing requests for funding, the Division of Chemical and Transport Systems (CTS) has established two submission windows for all unsolicited proposals submitted to the CTS disciplinary programs. The two submission windows are: February 1 through March 1 each year, and August 15 through September 15 each year. The last date of each submission window is an absolute deadline date. Proposals must be submitted by FastLane. Proposals that do not arrive within these submission windows, as well as proposals that do not explicitly address NSF's primary review criteria (intellectual merit and broader impacts), will be returned without review. Full details are described below.

As described in NSF's Grant Proposal Guide, submission windows as designated periods of time during which proposals will be accepted for review by NSF. The end date of a submission window converts to, and follows the same policies as, a deadline date (See http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/nsf04_23/1.jsp#IF.)

• CTS no longer uses target dates for the submission of unsolicited proposals. Instead, CTS uses submission windows, and the last date of a submission window is a deadline date.

• Proposals must be submitted within a submission window that begins one month before each submission window deadline date, and ends on the submission window deadline date at 5:00 p.m. submitter's local time.

  • The CTS submission window deadline dates are September 15 each year and March 1 each year, or the first Federal business day thereafter if those submission window deadline dates fall on a weekend or Federal Holiday. Federal Holidays can be found at http://www.opm.gov/fedhol/index.htm.
  • Under the CTS submission window that ends on September 15: Proposals may only be submitted from August 15 through 5 p.m. submitter's local time on September 15. Proposals received before August 15, and proposals received after 5:00 p.m. submitter's local time on September 15, will be returned without review.
  • Under the CTS submission window that ends on March 1: Proposals may only be submitted from February 1 through 5 p.m. submitter's local time on March 1. Proposals received before February 1, and proposals received after 5:00 p.m. submitter's local time on March 1, will be returned without review.

• The following types of requests are not subject to the submission window restrictions described above:

  • Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) or proposals for workshops may be submitted at any time during the year.
  • Supplements to existing grants to fund Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) or Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) may be submitted at any time during the year.

   

Sincerely,

Geoffrey Prentice
Interim Division Director
Division of Chemical and Transport Systems