February 15, 2019

Dear Colleagues:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) issued guidance for its proposer and awardee community regarding the initial resumption of operations following the recent lapse in appropriations and shutdown of the agency. That guidance noted that the Foundation was working to establish processes that would enable focus on a specific set of high-priority areas.

As part of this prioritization, with this Dear Colleague Letter, NSF is advising the community of revisions to the deadlines for its Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) programs. Importantly, NSF is maintaining its commitments to these programs while balancing workload for the proposer and awardee community as well as NSF staff.

Specifically, the CPS program solicitation has been revised for fiscal year (FY) 2019 (see NSF 19-553) and is currently accepting proposals with a submission window of April 1, 2019 - April 12, 2019. For FY 2019 only, NSF anticipates a larger investment in the program as compared to the FY 2018 CPS solicitation (NSF 18-538). Research challenges with an S&CC focus are included as a core research area in the current CPS program solicitation (NSF 19-553). Proposals submitted to this CPS program solicitation with an S&CC focus must address foundational research that advances CPS, and are encouraged to include a demonstration or pilot activities that are designed and carried out with one or more communities.

NSF anticipates issuing a revised S&CC program solicitation in spring 2019 with a deadline in fall 2019, offering a larger investment in the program in FY 2020 as compared to the previous FY 2018 solicitation (NSF 18-520).

NSF also anticipates re-issuing a CPS program solicitation in FY 2020 with a smaller funding amount than in previous years.

These changes in timelines and funding levels affect FY 2019 and FY 2020 only. NSF anticipates continuing its commitments to CPS and S&CC in future years, subject to the availability of funds.

Questions regarding this DCL may be submitted to David Corman (dcorman@nsf.gov), Jonathan Sprinkle (jsprinkl@nsf.gov), Radhakisan Baheti (rbaheti@nsf.gov), or Robert Landers (rlanders@nsf.gov).

Sincerely,

Jim Kurose
Assistant Director, Computer and Information Science and Engineering
National Science Foundation

Dawn Tilbury
Assistant Director, Engineering
National Science Foundation

Karen Marrongelle
Assistant Director, Education & Human Resources
National Science Foundation

Arthur W. Lupia
Assistant Director, Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
National Science Foundation