Improving Compliance with NSF Project Reporting Requirements

December 10, 2021

I am requesting your assistance in improving your institution's compliance with NSF project reporting requirements. NSF requires project reports for all assistance awards. Principal Investigators (PIs) must submit final project reports within 120 days after the award end date and annual project reports prior to the annual performance period end date. While 90% of PIs are fully meeting their reporting requirements, 10% fail to provide these reports on a timely basis. Project reports demonstrate result-oriented accountability for grants, enhance stewardship, and ensure that the American people are receiving value for funds spent on grant programs.

I also want to advise our award recipients that 2 CFR §200.344 "Closeout" introduced a new requirement specifying that, "The recipient must submit, no later than 120 calendar days after the end date of the period of performance, all financial, performance, and other reports as required by the terms and conditions of the Federal award." Additionally, §200.344 (i) specifies, "If the non-Federal entity does not submit all reports in accordance with this section within one year of the period of performance end date, the Federal awarding agency must report the non-Federal entity's material failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the award with the OMB-designated integrity and performance system (currently Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS))." NSF takes project reporting compliance seriously and will explore all available mechanisms to ensure compliance up to and including the enforcement actions contained in §200.339.

NSF strongly encourages Authorized Organizational Representatives (AOR) to regularly check the reporting status for their organization's PIs using the Research.gov Project Reports module. Training materials are available on the About Research.gov site.

I am delegating follow up activities to this important notice to representatives from across the agency. NSF requires awardees to comply with all terms and conditions of the award, which includes project reporting requirements. Failure to submit timely reports will delay NSF review and processing of pending proposals and processing of additional funding and administrative actions for all identified PIs and co-PIs on an NSF award. It is the responsibility of the grantee to actively monitor the status of their project reports.

For additional information, frequently asked questions (FAQs), opportunities for training, and to provide feedback, please visit Research.gov. For any questions about a specific overdue project report, please contact the cognizant NSF Program Officer.

Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan
Director