August 21, 2015

Dear Colleague:

SCOPE

The Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) in the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) of the National Science Foundation and the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation are pleased to announce a U.S.-Israel collaborative research opportunity. The goal is to help reduce some of the current barriers to working internationally. NSF/ENG/ECCS and BSF will address these issues by allowing U.S. and Israeli researchers to submit a single collaborative proposal that will undergo a single review process.

Proposals will be accepted for collaborative research in areas at the intersection of NSF/ENG/ECCS and BSF as set out below:

NSF/ENG/ECCS

Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) Core Programs:

• Electronics, Photonics, and Magnetic Devices (EPMD) (PD 13-1517);
• Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) (PD 13-7564); and
• Energy, Power, Control and Networks (EPCN) (PD 13-7607).

(https://www.nsf.gov/eng/eccs/about.jsp)

BSF SOLICITATION

Call for Proposals in the BSF-NSF program in areas of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems.

The following sections of this DCL document provide guidelines for the preparation, submission, review, and award of NSF/ENG/ECCS-BSF collaborative proposals. Proposers are advised that all documents submitted to NSF or BSF may be shared with the other agency in order to implement the two-way agency activities. During an initial two-year phase (2016-2017), both agencies will evaluate the interest and success of the activities.

PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

1. Proposers must submit proposals in accordance with the NSF/ENG/ECCS core program requirements and in keeping with the published full proposal submission window (October 1 - November 1, 2015, and annually thereafter).
2. Proposals submitted to the NSF should be made by U.S. organizations only (the Israeli collaborator does not appear as a formal co-PI on the application). However, in the proposal, the nature of the collaboration and the role of the Israeli partner(s) must be described.
3. The U.S. organization will submit to the relevant NSF/ENG/ECCS program according to NSF policies, via the NSF Fastlane system (http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov) or via Grants.gov. Israeli proposers should follow directions set out by BSF and submit the proposal via the BSF system (http://www.bsf.org.il/ElectronicSubmission/GatewayFormsAndGuidelines.aspx).
4. The full proposal should indicate that the proposal is to be considered under the collaborative activities by prefacing the title with "NSF/ENG/ECCS-BSF:".
5. Biographical sketches of all senior personnel (including U.S. and Israeli partners) should be prepared in accordance with the NSF standard biographical sketch format.
6. NSF proposers should only indicate the requested U.S funding on the NSF budget form. BSF proposers should indicate only the Israeli research funding on the BSF budget form. A copy of the proposed requested budget of the partner agency should be included as part of the NSF full proposal as a supplementary document. The Budget Justification section of the full proposal should address the full U.S. and Israeli project budgets, and they must be clearly differentiated in the justification. Proposals that request duplicative funding may be returned without review.

MERIT REVIEW

1. NSF/ENG/ECCS-BSF collaborative proposals will be reviewed using NSF procedures alongside all other standard proposals received in the same funding window and will not undergo a separate or special review process. Proposals will be reviewed in accordance with NSF's review criteria; reviewers are asked to evaluate the proposed project on both its intellectual merit and broader impacts. A description of the NSF merit review process is provided on the NSF merit review website at: https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/meritreview/.
2. Although NSF will bear the responsibility for obtaining qualified reviewers for the review process, BSF may suggest names of qualified reviewers.
3. BSF will not conduct a parallel review.

FUNDING DECISION

1. If a proposal is recommended for funding, the U.S. organization(s) will be supported by NSF and the Israeli organization(s) will be supported by BSF.
2. All proposers will be advised whether their proposals have been recommended for funding or for declination. Proposers will receive copies of the reviewer' unattributed comments and, where applicable, a panel summary. Should a proposal be declined for funding, proposers should refer to the respective agency resubmission policies.
3. Because the participating agencies have different funding cycles, it is possible that some projects will have delayed start dates in order to wait until funds become available.

POST AWARD CONSIDERATIONS

1. Awardees will be expected to comply with the award conditions and reporting requirements of the agencies from which they receive funding.
2. Awardees will be required to acknowledge both NSF and BSF in any reports or publications arising from the grant.
3. Extension and supplement requests will be considered by participating agencies using standard procedures. Requests for changes to awards pertaining to changes in scope in research or changes or delays to the research will be discussed with other involved funding agencies before a mutual decision is reached.

Program contact:

Dr. Lawrence S. Goldberg, Senior Engineering Advisor
ENG/ECCS
lgoldber@nsf.gov

Dr. Pramod P. Khargonekar, Assistant Director
Directorate for Engineering
National Science Foundation