Important Information on NSF Proposal Types and Automated Compliance Checking
Effective January 30, 2017, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will incorporate two new types of proposals into the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF-17-1). Also, new and enhanced automated compliance checks on proposals will begin in FastLane that could have an impact on NSF submissions via Grants.gov.
Proposal Submission
The following new types of proposals will be incorporated into the PAPPG on January 30, 2017:
- Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI): GOALI is a type of proposal that seeks to stimulate collaboration between academic research institutions and industry. More information about the GOALI type of proposal can be found in PAPPG (NSF 17-1), Chapter II.E.4. GOALI proposals were previously submitted to a solicitation.
- Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (RAISE): The RAISE proposal type supports bold, interdisciplinary projects. Please see PAPPG (NSF 17-1), Chapter II.E.3 for additional information about the RAISE type of proposal.
Enhanced Automated Compliance Checks
Beginning January 30, 2017, FastLane will run enhanced automated compliance checks across several proposal types and will generate errors or warnings when the submission or deadline validation compliance checks are not met.
Checks are run during “Check Proposal,” “Forward to SPO,” and “Submit Proposal.” The complete list of FastLane automated compliance checks effective January 30, 2017, is available here.
The automated compliance checks will not be conducted on proposals submitted to NSF via Grants.gov. Proposers submitting through Grants.gov should be aware that Grants.gov will allow a proposal to be submitted, even if it does not comply with the compliance checks in effect at the time. If NSF receives a proposal from Grants.gov that is not compliant, it will be returned without review.
We encourage you to share this information with your colleagues. For system-related questions, please contact FastLane User Support at 1-800-673-6188 or fastlane@nsf.gov. Policy-related questions should be directed to policy@nsf.gov.
