From: The FastLane Team at the National Science Foundation
Dear Colleagues:
On July, 24, 2015, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will release updates to FastLane that may impact the way you work.
As part of NSF’s efforts to reduce the workload associated with manually compliance checking proposals, NSF continues to focus on implementing automated proposal compliance checks. The next series of automated proposal compliance checks will be released in FastLane on July 24 to ensure that proposals submitted in response to Program Solicitations comply with requirements outlined in the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (Chapter II.C.2 of the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG)).
The new set of automated compliance checks in FastLane will trigger warning messages if the following proposal sections do not exist for proposals submitted in response to a Program Solicitation for the applicable funding mechanism type (Conference, Equipment, Ideas Lab, Facility/Center, and Fellowship):
- References Cited
- Biographical Sketch(es)
- Budget Justification: Primary Organization
- Budget Justification: Sub recipient Organization
- Current and Pending Support
- Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources
For example, if a Conference proposal submitted in response to a Program Solicitation does not include the Current and Pending Support section (required for certain solicitations), FastLane will trigger a warning message directing the proposer to review the requirements specified in the solicitation.
Warning messages will not prevent a proposal from being submitted. However, proposals that receive error messages will not be able to be submitted.
Please note that the new set of compliance checks are in addition to the compliance checks that currently exist in FastLane. You can view a complete list of FastLane auto-compliance checks, including the new set, by clicking here. The list specifies which checks are run depending on type of submission (GPG, Program Description, Program Announcement, or Program Solicitation) and funding mechanism (Research, RAPID, EAGER, Ideas Lab, Conference, Equipment, International Travel, Facility/Center, or Fellowship). It also specifies whether the check triggers a “warning” or “error” message for non-compliant proposals.
Additionally, 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 these proposal preparation requirements. Should NSF receive a proposal from Grants.gov that is not compliant, it may be returned without review.
We encourage you to share this information with your colleagues. For system-related questions, contact the FastLane/Research.gov Help Desk at 703-292-HELP (x4357) or ithelpcentral@nsf.gov. Policy-related questions should be directed to policy@nsf.gov.
Thank you,
The FastLane Team at the National Science Foundation