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<b>From Fastlane:</b><br>
<h3 align="center">For Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology
(PRFB) NSF 10-587, *Please Wait* to begin FastLane Proposal Preparation:</h3>
<p class="advy">Required FastLane application and other forms for the
new announcement will be available for proposal preparation on August
21, 2010. Please wait for that date to begin your work in FastLane.<br>
</p>
<p class="advy"><b>and then From Grants.Gov:</b><br>
</p>
<p class="advy">For information regarding this post on behalf of the
National Science Foundation (NSF), please contact the following
individual:<br>
<br>
Kim Deutsch<br>
NSF<br>
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:KDeutsch@nsf.gov">KDeutsch@nsf.gov</a><br>
Phone: 703-292-4497<br>
<br>
Dear Colleagues,<br>
Effective August 23, 2010, NSF will implement several important changes
to the application submission process through Grants.gov.<br>
These changes include:<br>
• Implementation of the latest versions of the Project/Performance Site
Location(s) (v1.4) and Research & Related Other Project Information
(1.3) forms; and<br>
• Automation of compliance checking for the Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan
in the Research & Related Other Project Information form <br>
<br>
Please see below for detailed descriptions of these changes to assist
you in meeting these requirements. <br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Jean Feldman <br>
<br>
Overview of Changes<br>
R&R Forms<br>
Overview of Change: Effective August 23, 2010, NSF application packages
will include the latest versions of the R&R Project/Performance
Site Location (v1.4) and Research & Related Other Project
Information (1.3) forms for funding submissions through Grants.gov. <br>
<br>
Please note: opportunities posted prior to August 23 will continue to
use the older versions of these forms since applicants may be in the
process of preparing their application.<br>
<br>
Customer Impact: Applicants submitting proposals to NSF through may
notice the following changes:<br>
<br>
1. Project/Performance Site Location(s) (v1.4): This version of the
form allows up to 30 project/performance sites. However, NSF only
accepts the first one listed. Any additional sites will not be included
with the submission. DUNS ID is no longer a required field, but is
encouraged, if applicable <br>
2. Research & Related Other Project Information (1.3): The Human
Assurance Number is always optional. In the older version of the form,
applicants were not able to enter the Human Assurance Number unless the
project was NOT exempt and the IRB review was NOT pending.<br>
<br>
Grantee System Impact: Effective August 23, Grantee Systems must use
the latest versions of the schemas referenced above for NSF funding
opportunities for application submission.<br>
Mentoring Plans<br>
Overview of Change: On April 24, 2010, NSF initiated automated
compliance checking of applications which request funding to support
postdoctoral researchers. Such applications must include a one-page
postdoctoral mentoring plan as a supplementary document.<br>
<br>
Customer Impact: Applications that do not comply with this requirement
will not be inserted into NSF’s FastLane system and therefore cannot be
reviewed. The plan must be included as an attachment in Field 12 of the
R&R Other Project Information form if the Postdoc line in the
budget (Section B of the R&R Budget and each R&R Subaward
Budget attachment) is greater than zero. <br>
<br>
As a reminder, the instructions in Chapter II.C.2.j of the Grant
Proposal Guide stipulate that each proposal that requests funding to
support postdoctoral researchers must include, as a supplementary
document, a description of the mentoring activities that will be
provided for such individuals. <br>
<br>
Grantee System Impact: Applicants may want to consider implementing a
system edit that would prevent submission of an application to NSF if
the Postdoc line in the budget (Section B of the R&R Budget and
each R&R Subaward Budget attachment) is greater than zero and no
mentoring plan is included. <br>
<br>
Applications that do not comply with this requirement will not be
inserted into NSF’s FastLane system and therefore cannot be reviewed. <br>
<br>
The attachment file name must be “Mentoring Plan.pdf”. <br>
<br>
However, Grants.gov and even some Grantee Systems modify the name after
submission by adding information before or after the name. Even the
spaces might be replaced. All of these changes to the file name are not
an issue. NSF will accept an attachment ending with “.pdf” with any
characters at the beginning or end of the file name and the following
variations:<br>
• MentoringPlan – run together with no spaces or special characters<br>
• Mentoring&Plan – where any one character in that spot is
acceptable
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