Summary of Significant Changes

• Overall Document - Minor editorial changes have been made throughout the document either to clarify or enhance the intended meaning of a sentence/section. References also have been added to specify that, in addition to scientific research, the Foundation also supports engineering research.

• Chapter I --- Section B, Proprietary or Privileged Information, has been revised to reflect that Proprietary or Privileged Information, if included as a separate statement, must now be submitted electronically via FastLane as a single copy document.

• Chapter I --- Section E, How to Submit Proposals, reiterates that all proposals to NSF must be submitted electronically via FastLane. In addition, Footnote 11 has been modified to incorporate the definition of Authorized Organizational Representative found in the NSF Grant Policy Manual.

• Chapter II --- Section C, Sections of the Proposal, has been revised in order to group together the single copy documents that had previously been listed separately. The single copy documents: Information about PIs/PDs and co-PIs/co-PDs; Deviation Authorization; List of Suggested Reviewers and Reviewers Not to Include; and Proprietary or Privileged Information should be submitted electronically via the Proposal Preparation module in FastLane. The Proposal Certifications, however, should continue to be submitted via the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) function.

• Chapter II --- Section C.1, Project Summary, has been changed to reflect that proposers must now clearly address, in separate statements within the one-page limitation, both of the NSF merit review criteria in the Project Summary.

• Chapter II --- Section C.3, Project Description, has been revised to:

• reiterate the broader impacts resulting from the proposed project must be addressed in the Project Description and described as an integral part of the narrative. Examples illustrating activities likely to demonstrate broader impacts are available electronically on the NSF webpage.

• state that proposers who plan to submit a group proposal that uses the page limitations identified in that section are strongly encouraged to contact the cognizant NSF Program Officer prior to submission of the group proposal.

• Chapter II --- Section C.4, References Cited, has been supplemented with additional guidance on the inclusion of website addresses. If a website address is readily available, it should be included in the References Cited section of the proposal. Proposals that do not specify URL addresses will not be considered to be in violation of NSF proposal preparation guidelines and will still be reviewed.

• Chapter II --- Section C.11.d, Proposals Involving Vertebrate Animals, has been expanded to provide specific citations for the Animal Welfare regulations. It reinforces the requirement that the proposer must have an established Public Health Service Animal Welfare Assurance and adds instructions on the procedure to follow if an organization does not have an Institutional Animal Welfare Assurance in place.

• Chapter II --- Section C.11.e, Proposals Involving Human Subjects, has been updated to provide instructions to follow if an organization or unaffiliated PI has no Human Subjects assurance and no means of obtaining such an assurance.

• Chapter II --- Section C.11.f, Proposals for Conferences, Symposia and Workshops, has been supplemented with an additional element that must be included when submitting these types of proposals. The support and recruitment of underrepresented groups must be specifically addressed in the proposal.

• Chapter II --- Section C.11.g, Proposals to Support International Travel, has been modified to specify that group travel proposals should be prepared using the same instructions as those for conferences, symposia and workshops.

• Chapter III --- Section A, Review Criteria, has been revised to highlight the importance of both merit review criteria in the preparation and review of all proposals submitted to NSF. Examples of activities that demonstrate broader impacts are available electronically on the NSF website at https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf022/bicexamples.pdf.

• Chapter III --- Section C, Revisions to Proposals Made During the Review Process, has been clarified to state that, in addition to the NSF Program Officer and PI, the AOR must agree to any situations where the budget has been reduced by 10% or more but the scope of the proposal has not been reduced.

• Chapter IV --- Section A, Withdrawals, has been modified to permit a new method for submission of withdrawal requests. Withdrawals may now be submitted via e-mail to the cognizant NSF Program Officer. A PI may submit the request, with a copy to their AOR or Sponsored Project Office. AORs also may e-mail withdrawal requests to NSF.

• Chapter V --- Section A, Standard and Continuing Grants, has been updated to reflect that, while NSF has been transmitting grants to organizations via e-mail for quite some time, this method is now the standard procedure and will be used for all award notifications. Grantees also can access, view, print and/or download their award letters via FastLane.

• Chapter V --- Section B.2, Renewal Proposals, has been clarified to more clearly state the Accomplishment-Based Renewal proposal submission requirements.

• Chapter VI --- Section B, Prior Approval Requirements, has been updated and supplemented with language reiterating that grantees, during the performance of a project, have broad discretion to rebudget within the cost and administrative principles, without prior NSF approval. The second paragraph of this section lists those instances where prior written authorization from NSF is required. A new approval has been added to this list, namely, reduction in cost sharing amount. All prior approval requests can now be submitted electronically to NSF via FastLane.

• Chapter VI --- Section C, Transfer of PI, has been revised to specify that PI transfers must now be submitted electronically via the Notification and Request module in FastLane. After the transfer, NSF will not intervene in any disputes between the two organizations regarding the transferred amount.

• Appendix B and C, Previously, Appendix B contained the Definition of Categories of Personnel. This information has been moved to Appendix C and Appendix B now contains the Debarment and Suspension Certification language.

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