NSF Patents Regulation Amended

On Wednesday, September 24, 1997, the National Science Foundation amended its Patents regulation to permit awardees to disclose and report on inventions made during NSF-assisted projects electronically (62 FR 49938-49939). The following new section was added to the regulation.

Sec. 650.19 Electronic invention handling.

1. Grantees are encouraged to use the Edison Invention Information Management System maintained by the National Institutes of Health to disclose NSF subject inventions. Detailed instructions for use of that system are provided at http://era.info.nih.gov/Edison/ and should be followed for NSF subject inventions except that:
   1. All written communications required should be addressed to the Patent Assistant, Office of the General Counsel, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22230.
   2. NSF does not require either an Annual Utilization Report or a Final Invention Statement and Certification.
2. Questions on use of Edison may be sent to the NSF Patent Assistant at patents@nsf.gov.

To conform the Foundation's requirements to NIH's --

1. paragraph (f)(5) of the NSF standard Patent Rights clause was amended to require that awardees provide a copy of the page of a patent application that contains the "Government rights" notice along with a confirmation of a License to the United States Government within two months of filing any domestic or foreign patent application, and
2. paragraph (f)(6), which required the awardee or its representative to forward to NSF a copy of any United States patent covering a subject invention within two months after it was issued, was deleted.

   These changes will be incorporated into the clause in section 731.3 of the NSF Grant Policy Manual (NSF 95-26) when it is next revised. Questions on use of Edison and other invention-related matters may be sent to the NSF Patent Assistant, currently Teresa L. Hamm-Wooten, at patents@nsf.gov.

The University of Pittsburgh will host the first NSF Regional Grants Conference of fiscal year 1998. The Conference will be held on October 13-14, 1997, at the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center, 112 Washington Place, Pittsburgh, PA. Workshops and presentations by NSF staff will cover the following topics:

• Introduction and NSF Overview
• Proposal Preparation
• The Merit Review Process
• Electronic Initiatives, Policies, and Special Issues
• Grant Administration, Compliance, and Accountability New Programs and Initiatives
• Future Directions and Strategies for a National Science Policy

For further information, contact the NSF Policy Office in the Division of Contracts, Policy and Oversight by phone, (703) 306-1243, or by e-mail, policy@nsf.gov. For registration information, contact the University of Pittsburgh by email.

The Washington Area Universities will host the second NSF Regional Conference of fiscal year 1998. The Conference will be March 30-31, 1998 at the Leavey Conference Center, Georgetown University, 37th and O Streets NW, Washington DC. For further information, contact the NSF Policy Office in the Division of Contracts, Policy and Oversight by phone, (703) 306-1243, or by e-mail, policy@nsf.gov.

Revised Grant Proposal Guide Revised versions of the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) (NSF 98-2) and Proposal Forms Kit (NSF 98-3) have just been released. They will replace the prior versions of the GPG (NSF 95-27) and the Proposal Forms Kit (NSF 95-28), effective October 1, 1997. Among other things, this revision to the GPG implements the new NSF merit review criteria that were approved by the National Science Board on March 28, 1997. Other sections of the GPG have been revised; a list of significant changes is included. Both the new Grant Proposal Guide and the new Proposal Forms Kit are also being printed, and will be available in late August from (note new mailing address to request NSF Publications): NSF Publications Clearinghouse, PO Box 218, Jessup, MD 20794-0218, telephone: 301-947-2722, e-mail: pubs@nsf.gov.

NSF Custom News Service To obtain general information regarding NSF programs, try the the NSF Custom News Service which is available electronically to anyone wishing to know about new NSF funding opportunities. Basic points about how the service works are listed below. To subscribe, you need an Internet e:mail account. Once you subscribe, you will get an e:mail from NSF confirming your subscription. After subscribing, be sure to create your "profile" of publications you want to be told about. This automatically creates a custom web page for you, which you access using your Internet e:mail account. You must visit the web page at least once every six months to keep your subscription current. You can choose to be notified via e:mail when new documents matching your profile are added to the NSF Online Document System. E-mails include links to the electronic location of each document, and/or full text of short documents. A weekly e:mail alert listing all documents added the previous week is available under "Notification Options" when you set up or modify your profile. For more information, please see the Custom News Service help pages.

Reminders:

The Grant Proposal Guide (NSF 98-2) provides guidance for the preparation of unsolicited proposals to NSF. The NSF Proposal Forms Kit (NSF 98-3) contains the forms necessary to complete a proposal for submission to the Foundation. NSF 98-2 and NSF 98-3 become effective October 1, 1997. Prior to October 1, 1997, NSF 95-27 and 95-28 remain in effect. The Grant Policy Manual (NSF 95-26) provides information regarding the NSF award cycle from issuance and administration of an award through closeout. The Prospective New Awardee Guide (NSF 97-100) includes information on: Administration and Management Information; Accounting System Requirements and Auditing Information; and Payments to Organizations with Awards. This information will assist an organization in preparing documents which the NSF requires to conduct administrative and financial reviews of an organization. The guide also serves as a means of highlighting the accountability requirements associated with Federal awards.

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Send questions by email to: policy@nsf.gov

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