July 24, 2017

Dear Colleague:

The Process Separations Program in the Division of Chemical, Biological, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) has, as of June 2017, eliminated target dates and will accept proposals for consideration at any time. To allow time to adapt to the "open submission - no deadline" guidelines, new proposals will be considered for review after July 20, 2017.

The Process Separations Program will continue to maintain a high-quality merit review system using ad hoc mail reviews and panels, as appropriate. For those unfamiliar with the no-submission deadline process, FAQs and other relevant information will be provided on the CBET webpage.

By accepting proposals at any time, investigators will have greater opportunities to prepare proposals, build strong collaborations, and think more creatively resulting in more complex, interdisciplinary projects that have the potential to dramatically advance science. We anticipate that the elimination of deadlines will increase proposal success rate and reduce the burden on institutions and the community by expanding the submission period over the course of the year, as opposed to the previous 20-day window in October.

With this change, the Process Separations Program will implement new guidelines, in which a declined proposal (or reasonable facsimile of that proposal/topic by the same investigator) is ineligible for resubmission until a minimum of one year has passed from the date of its initial submission. This moratorium will allow investigators the time required to digest the results of the merit review and revise/restructure the declined proposal accordingly. Any proposal the Program considers too similar to a previous proposal that is under the moratorium period will be returned without review. Likewise, any proposals submitted to CBET or similar programs in the Foundation, that the Program decides have not been substantially revised will be returned without review, as outlined in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG).

Only proposals submitted to the Process Separations Program in the Division of Chemical, Biological, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) are affected by this change. All other submissions to other programs or other funding opportunities within the division will continue to follow the deadlines outlined in their respective solicitations and webpages. This includes proposals submitted to this program under the CAREER solicitation, which will adhere to the CAREER deadlines as noted in the solicitation.

Dawn Tilbury
Assistant Director for Engineering