[Flex] Does this impact us?

[Helen Gordon]

*From Fastlane:*


      For Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB) NSF
      10-587, *Please Wait* to begin FastLane Proposal Preparation:

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.

*and then From Grants.Gov:*

For information regarding this post on behalf of the National Science 
Foundation (NSF), please contact the following individual:

Kim Deutsch
NSF
Email: KDeutsch at nsf.gov
Phone: 703-292-4497

Dear Colleagues,
Effective August 23, 2010, NSF will implement several important changes 
to the application submission process through Grants.gov.
These changes include:
. Implementation of the latest versions of the Project/Performance Site 
Location(s) (v1.4) and Research & Related Other Project Information 
(1.3) forms; and
. Automation of compliance checking for the Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan 
in the Research & Related Other Project Information form

Please see below for detailed descriptions of these changes to assist 
you in meeting these requirements.

Regards,
Jean Feldman

Overview of Changes
R&R Forms
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.

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.

Customer Impact: Applicants submitting proposals to NSF through may 
notice the following changes:

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
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.

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.
Mentoring Plans
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.

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.

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.

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.

Applications that do not comply with this requirement will not be 
inserted into NSF's FastLane system and therefore cannot be reviewed.

The attachment file name must be "Mentoring Plan.pdf".

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:
. MentoringPlan -- run together with no spaces or special characters
. Mentoring&Plan -- where any one character in that spot is acceptable

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