Research Infrastructure Resources

The U.S. National Science Foundation's 2025 Research Infrastructure Guide (RIG) focuses on providing clear, practical guidance for life cycle planning and management of NSF major facilities and mid-scale research infrastructure.

Significant changes from the 2021 RIG include award instrument neutrality regarding applicability, improving clarity and consistency of terminology and eliminating redundancy. The 2025 RIG also includes improved guidance on Project Execution Plans, Annual Work Plans, risk management and contingency estimating and introduces new guidance for Design Execution Plans, Facility Condition Assessments, cyberinfrastructure, information assurance, Agile methods and tailoring, scaling and progressively elaborating life cycle plans.

The 2025 RIG will remain in effect through August 2028. NSF greatly appreciates the research infrastructure community's engagement in developing and finalizing this version of the RIG.

If you have questions or need assistance understanding the updates, please send an email to AskRIO@nsf.gov.

Additional guidance 

Cyberinfrastructure Plan Outline

Clarifies expectations for proposals regarding new and existing research infrastructure projects, emphasizing integrating and managing cyberinfrastructure elements such as data, security and computational resources throughout the project life cycle.

NSF Earned Value Management (EVM) Gold Card

Provides essential guidelines for tracking project performance across cost, schedule and scope, enabling effective management and ensuring projects meet their established goals.

NSF Financial Data Collection Tool for Major Facilities (XLSM, 257.69 KB)

This tool is required for submitting financial expenditure data for cooperative agreements related to major facilities. See the Research Infrastructure Guide's Section 4.6.3.4 Incurred Cost Audits for more information.

Project Execution Plan template for Mid-scale RI projects (September 2024) (DOCX, 129.73 KB)

Outlines methods for estimating and managing project contingency across budget, schedule and scope/quality, along with plans for controlling, maintaining and reporting contingency status and usage. For more information, refer to  DRAFT RIG Section 3.5 (PDF, 2.73 MB) .

Business Systems Review (BSR) Guide (September 2022)

Outlines a structured process for assessing business systems in NSF Major Facilities to ensure adherence to federal regulations, enhance administrative practices and promote knowledge sharing between NSF and facility operators.