National Science Foundation - Where Discoveries Begin

An academic institution – a university, or a campus in a multi-campus university -- may submit no more than one (1) proposal on which it is the lead organization in response to this solicitation. Potential PIs are advised to contact their institutional office of research regarding processes used to select proposals for submission. The same organization may be a collaborative partner in any number of other multi-organization group proposals in which it is not the lead. A proposal involving more than one organization must be submitted as a single proposal in which a single award is requested, with the managing principal investigator from the lead organization and subawards administered by the lead organization to any other participating organizations.

An organization may submit no more than ONE Phase I proposal to this SBIR/STTR cycle (where SBIR/STTR cycle is defined to include the SBIR Phase I solicitation and the STTR Phase I solicitation with a December 6, 2016 deadline).  This eligibility constraint will be strictly enforced. In the event that an organization exceeds this limit, the first proposal received will be accepted based on earliest date and time of proposal, and the remainder will be returned without review. No exceptions will be made. 

An organization may submit no more than ONE Phase I proposal to this SBIR/STTR cycle (where SBIR/STTR cycle is defined to include the SBIR Phase I solicitation and the STTR Phase I solicitation with a December 5, 2016 deadline).  This eligibility constraint will be strictly enforced. In the event that an organization exceeds this limit, the first proposal received will be accepted based on earliest date and time of proposal, and the remainder will be returned without review. No exceptions will be made. 

One for IT-Preliminary, Institutional Transformation (IT), or Adaptation; no limit for Partnership, ADVANCE Resource and Coordination Network, and ADVANCE Longitudinal Evaluation:

• IT-Preliminary: Non-profit academic institutions are allowed to submit one preliminary proposal in the competition.
• IT and Adaptation: Non-profit academic institutions are allowed to submit one proposal in the competition to either the IT (if invited after the preliminary proposal stage) or the Adaptation track but not both. 
• Non-profit, non-academic organizations are allowed to submit one Adaptation proposal in the competition and may also be a partner on Partnership and/or ADVANCE Resource and Coordination Network proposals.
• A non-profit academic institution or non-profit, non-academic organization may be a partner on multiple Partnership proposals in the same competition but lead only one and may also be a partner on an ADVANCE Resource and Coordination Network and/or an ADVANCE Longitudinal Evaluation proposal if appropriate.  

A university may submit only one proposal per Node content area in this solicitation. Therefore, one university might submit up to three separate Node proposals, but only one to each Node content area.

Academic institutions are limited to participation on two (2) proposals as a lead institution.

A lead academic institution that has submitted a proposal has the option to participate as a subawardee on additional proposals submitted under this solicitation. Lead academic institutions that have submitted a proposal may also provide consultants to other proposals submitted under this solicitation. There is no limit on the number of times an institution is a subawardee or a consultant in proposals lead by another academic institution.

An organization may participate in no more than one PPO proposal submitted to this solicitation. For collaborative proposals involving multiple institutions, the proposal should be submitted by only one institution, with funding for participating institutions made through subawards. Proposals should not be submitted as separately submitted collaborative proposals. See GPG Chapter II.D.5.a for additional information.

An organization may serve as sole submitting institution or as lead institution of a collaborative project on only one submission per competition, regardless of track, but may serve as the non-lead institution of a collaborative project more than once per competition. Additional eligibility requirements are described later in the solicitation.

Potential PIs are advised to contact their institutional office of research regarding processes used to select proposals for submission.

A single organization may submit one preliminary proposal as the lead institution. Full proposals will be accepted by invitation only. There is no limit on the number of proposals in which an institution can participate as a partner.

Only one MRSEC preliminary proposal may be submitted by any one organization as the lead institution in this competition. An institution proposing research in several groups should submit a single MRSEC proposal with multiple Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs). A MRSEC proposal must contain a minimum of 2 IRGs and a maximum of 3 IRGs. The IRGs in a center may be thematically related, or they may address different aspects of materials research. A single center at an organization allows efficient usage of resources, including common infrastructure, and better coordination of education and other activities of the center.

Institutions that were awarded a MRSEC in the FY 2014 competition as the lead institution are not eligible to submit a MRSEC proposal as a lead institution in this competition.

Full MRSEC proposals may be submitted by invitation only.

An Institution may submit one proposal (either as a single institution or as subawardee or a member of a Collaborative Research project) from each constituent school or college that awards degrees in an eligible field. See Additional Eligibility Information below for more details.

Organizations may only be a participant in one proposal per deadline. In addition, organizations may only be associated with one I-Corps Node that is receiving funding from NSF at a given time.

PLEASE NOTE: Institutions that are the Lead organization for an existing Node may only participate in a Track 2 proposal submission.

HBCU-UP Proposals:

• An eligible institution can submit only one Implementation Project or ACE Implementation Project proposal per year. An institution may have only one active Implementation Project or ACE Implementation Project award. However, a new proposal can be submitted by an institution with an active project if that project is due to expire before new awards will be made. Also, an institution can be awarded, at most, three Implementation Projects and one ACE Implementation Project over time.
• An eligible institution can submit only one Broadening Participation Research Center proposal and can have only one active center. The lead institution of the center proposal must have been awarded three rounds of an Implementation or ACE Implementation Project and must demonstrate the capacity to conduct broadening participation research.
• An eligible institution can submit no more than two Broadening Participation Research proposals per year.
• An eligible institution can submit no more than two Targeted Infusion Project proposals per year and can only have one active Targeted Infusion Project for any given department or unit.
• An eligible institution can submit no more than two Research Initiation Award proposals per year.

Only one preliminary CREST Center proposal may be submitted per eligible institution. Full CREST Center proposals are to be submitted only when invited by NSF.  An institution may have only one active CREST Center award, irrespective of focus area. Centers that have completed two prior, consecutive 5-year CREST Center awards may recompete in disciplinary areas that are significantly different from those of the previous award(s).

Only two (2) individuals per active CREST Center may submit a CREST-PRF application per competition.  Only one individual can be awarded a CREST-PRF at an active CREST Center per year.

Only one HBCU-RISE proposal may be submitted per eligible institution. An institution may have only one active HBCU-RISE award.

For each active SBIR/STTR Phase II grant, only one SBIR/STTR collaboration with a CREST Center may be submitted.  For each CREST center, only one SBIR/STTR collaboration can be active at any given time.

Only one proposal may be submitted on behalf of any single facility per round of the FSML competition. This limitation does not prevent a single institution from submitting more than one proposal, as long as each proposal is submitted on behalf of a different eligible facility. This limitation is waived for one additional proposal in the event that a facility is also involved in a proposal that would improve multiple facilities.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 2 for the Traineeship Track, 2 for the Innovations in Graduate Education Track

An eligible organization may participate in two Traineeship Track proposals and two Innovations in Graduate Education Track proposals per competition.  Participation includes serving as a lead organization on a non-collaborative proposal or as a lead organization, non-lead organization, or subawardee on a collaborative proposal.  Organizations participating solely as evaluators on projects are excluded from this limitation.

Alliances (including B2B): Only one proposal may be submitted by an eligible (lead) institution. Alliances may hold only one active award at a time, not including BD awards. Institutions partnering in an alliance may not be a formal partner in more than one alliance at the same time. See Section II (Program Description 1. Alliances, Special Conditions for Alliances funded more than 10 years) for an exception.

Bridge to the Doctorate (BD): Only one proposal for BD support may be submitted by an eligible lead institution of an alliance. See Section II, Program Description 2. Bridge to the Doctorate, for eligibility criteria.

Pre-Alliance Planning: Only one proposal may be submitted by an eligible institution.

In a single round of the CSBR competition, only one proposal may be submitted from any individual collection within an organization. One organization may not submit more than three proposals to any one CSBR competition.

Only one Thematic Collections Networks (TCN) proposal may be submitted by any one organization as the lead organization. Organizations may be involved in more than one collaborative effort as a non-lead proposal.

Only individuals may submit proposals. There is no limit on the number of fellows that an institution may host.

Three Site proposals may be submitted per competition by a U.S. academic institution, including a College/Department of Engineering, Engineering Technology, or Computer and/or Information Science as the lead institution. Please note that two proposals may have an engineering focus and one proposal may have a computer and/or information science focus.

Potential PIs are advised to contact their institutional office of research regarding processes used to select proposals for submission.

Only one proposal may be submitted by an eligible organization, as defined above, in which a member of their organization serves as the PI. Potential PIs are advised to contact their institutional office of research regarding processes used to select proposals for submission. Organizations submitting more than one proposal will be notified and given one week from notification to select one proposal for consideration. If one is not selected in that time period, all of those proposals will be returned without review. There is no limit on the number of proposals under which an organization may be included as a non-lead collaborator or sub-awardee.

Three (3) as described below. Potential PIs are advised to contact their institutional office of research regarding processes used to select proposals for submission.

If three proposals are submitted, at least one of the proposals must be for instrument development (i.e., no more than two proposals may be for instrument acquisition). 

To ensure a balanced instrumentation award portfolio at diverse organizations, across varied research topics, and in support of a broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce across the entire Nation, the MRI program requires that an MRI-eligible organization may, as a performing organization, submit or be included as a significantly funded¹ subawardee in no more than three MRI proposals.  To promote instrumentation development, the program requires that if an organization submits or is included as a significantly funded¹ subawardee in three MRI proposals, at least one of the three proposals must be for (Track 2) instrument development. 

NSF reserves the right to carefully examine development (Track 2) proposals to ensure that they meet the requirements for this proposal type (see Section II).  If a proposal submitted as development is deemed to be an acquisition proposal either before or during the review, the proposal is subject to return without review or decline.

¹An unfunded collaboration does not count against the submission limit.  Inclusion as a funded subawardee on a development (Track 2) proposal at a level in excess of 20% of the total budget requested from NSF, or as a funded subawardee on any acquisition (Track 1) proposal, will be counted against an organization's proposal submission limit. Separately submitted linked collaborative proposals of either type (Track 1 or Track 2) count against the submission limit of each of the submitting organizations. However, if a subaward to an organization in a development (Track 2) proposal is 20% or less of the proposal's total budget request from NSF, the subawardee's submission limit will not be affected. For subawards within a linked collaborative proposal, the 20% threshold applies to the budget request from NSF in the proposal containing the subaward(s), not to the combined budget request from NSF for the collaborative project.

Note: The 30% cost-sharing requirement applies to only the portion of the total project cost budgeted to non-exempt organizations, including those participating through subawards. When required, cost-sharing must be precisely 30%. Cost sharing is required for Ph.D.-granting institutions of higher education and for non-degree-granting organizations. Non-Ph.D.-granting institutions of higher education are exempt from  cost-sharing and cannot provide it. National Science Board policy is that voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. See section V.B. for specific information on cost-sharing calculations and the solicitation text for definitions of organizational types used for the MRI program.

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