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Cooperative Activities in Chemistry between U.S. and German Investigators (NSF-DFG)

Program Solicitation
NSF 07-517

Replaces Document(s):
NSF 05-604

 

		National Science Foundation Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences      Division of Chemistry Office of International Science and Engineering
		Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

 

Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required):

December 15, 2006

Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

January 30, 2007

Revision Notes

In furtherance of the President's Management Agenda, NSF has identified programs that will offer proposers the option to utilize Grants.gov to prepare and submit proposals, or will require that proposers utilize Grants.gov to prepare and submit proposals. Grants.gov provides a single Government-wide portal for finding and applying for Federal grants online.

In response to this program solicitation, proposers may opt to submit proposals via Grants.gov or via the NSF FastLane system. 

Summary Of Program Requirements

General Information

Program Title: 

Cooperative Activities in Chemistry between U.S. and German Investigators (NSF-DFG)

Synopsis of Program:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation), which are counterpart national funding organizations in the U.S. and Germany, respectively, seek to enhance opportunities for collaborative activities in chemistry between U.S. and German investigators. The NSF and DFG will accept collaborative research proposals that establish new cooperation between principal investigators from the U.S. and Germany. Projects must have clear relevance to areas supported by both NSF's Division of Chemistry and DFG's Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering. There are no new funds available for support of these projects. They will compete with unsolicited proposals received by the NSF and DFG Divisions of Chemistry. The NSF and DFG will utilize a common set of reviewers and make joint funding decisions. The use of cyberinfrastructure to facilitate data sharing and communication, and exchange of students and junior investigators are strongly encouraged.

Cognizant Program Officer(s):

• Dr. Zeev Rosenzweig, Program Officer, Division of Chemistry, NSF, telephone: (703) 292-7719, email: zrosenzw@nsf.gov

• Dr. Jennifer Slimowitz Pearl, Associate Program Manager, Office of International Science and Engineering, NSF, telephone: (703) 292-4492, email: jslimowi@nsf.gov

• Dr.-Ing. Georg Bechtold, Program Director, Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, DFG, telephone: +49 228/885-2818, email: georg.bechtold@dfg.de

• Dr. Karlheinz Schmidt, Head of Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, DFG, telephone: +49 228/885-2318, email: karlheinz.schmidt@dfg.de

Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s):

• 47.049 --- Mathematical and Physical Sciences
• 47.079 --- Office of International Science and Engineering

Award Information

Anticipated Type of Award:  Standard Grant or Continuing Grant

Estimated Number of Awards:    5 to  15  

Anticipated Funding Amount:   $400,000  to  $1,000,000   in FY 2007 for U.S. proposers. There are no separate funds available for support of these projects; they will compete with unsolicited proposals received by the DFG and NSF, respectively.

Eligibility Information

Organization Limit: 

Proposals may only be submitted by the following:

• U.S. universities and colleges located in the U.S.

PI Limit: 

Proposals must establish partnerships between U.S.and German Principal Investigators.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 

None Specified

Limit on Number of Proposals per PI: 

 

     The limit on the number of proposals per PI is 1.

Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions

A. Proposal Preparation Instructions

• Letters of Intent: Submission of Letters of Intent is required. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

• Full Proposals:

  • Full Proposals submitted via FastLane: Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) Guidelines apply. The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg.

  • Full Proposals submitted via Grants.gov: NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov Guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/docs/grantsgovguide.pdf/)

B. Budgetary Information

• Cost Sharing Requirements: Cost Sharing is not required by NSF.  

• Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations:  Not Applicable

• Other Budgetary Limitations: Not Applicable

C. Due Dates

• Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required): 

  December 15, 2006

• Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

  January 30, 2007

Proposal Review Information Criteria

Merit Review Criteria:   National Science Board approved criteria apply.

Award Administration Information

Award Conditions:   Standard NSF award conditions apply

Reporting Requirements:   Standard NSF reporting requirements apply

Table Of Contents

Summary of Program Requirements

1. Introduction
   
   
2. Program Description
   
   
3. Award Information
   
   
4. Eligibility Information
   
   
5. Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions
   1. Proposal Preparation Instructions
   2. Budgetary Information
   3. Due Dates
   4. FastLane/Grants.gov Requirements
      
      
6. NSF Proposal Processing and Review Procedures
   1. NSF Merit Review Criteria
   2. Review and Selection Process
      
      
7. Award Administration Information
   1. Notification of the Award
   2. Award Conditions
   3. Reporting Requirements
      
      
8. Agency Contacts
   
   
9. Other Information

I. Introduction

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation), which are counterpart national funding organizations in the U.S. and Germany, respectively, seek to enhance opportunities for collaborative activities in chemistry between U.S. and German investigators.

The NSF and DFG will accept new collaborative research proposals that are not currently funded by other sources.  The proposals should establish new partnerships between researchers from the U.S. and Germany, i.e., Principal Investigators (PIs) from the US and Germany. Projects must have clear relevance to areas supported by both NSF's  Division of Chemistry and DFG's Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering (see https://www.nsf.gov/chem and http://www.dfg.de/en/dfg_profile/structure/head_office/department_ii/
chemie_-_verfahrenstechnik/index.html). Each investigator may submit only one proposal in response to this solicitation. Applicants who have already applied to the "Materials World Network" call, deadline 20 November 2006, are not allowed to submit Letters of Intent or proposals to this initiative.

Both the NSF and the DFG encourage the use of cyberinfrastructure, which can enable our communities to address scientific problems of unprecedented complexity; leverage resources by facilitating the sharing of instrumentation, data, and expertise; and broaden participation. (The NSF Division of Chemistry has established a website to describe cyber-enabled chemistry, www.nsf.gov/chem/cyber.)

II. Program Description

Some additional details of this cooperative activity are as follows:

• The NSF will support the U.S. part of the collaboration and the DFG will support the costs associated with German participation. Therefore, two separate budgets, one from the U.S. PI and one from the German PI, should be submitted. The U.S. budget should be submitted using the budget forms in FastLane or Grants.gov. The German budget should be submitted as part of the proposal supplementary documents according to DFG budget rules.
• There are no separate funds available for support of these projects; they will compete with unsolicited proposals received by the NSF and DFG Divisions of Chemistry.
• The German and U.S. investigators submitting a collaborative proposal must be eligible to apply for support from the DFG and NSF, respectively.
• Proposals to this cooperative activity should be submitted as a single proposal by the U.S. and German investigators. Unlike the previous solicitation (05-604), which required two proposals, one from the U.S. and one from the German investigator, this solicitation requires a single proposal.  The proposal should be prepared in accordance with standard NSF proposal preparation and submission guidelines (see Section V of this solicitation for additional information) and submitted via FastLane (Special Information and Supplementary Documentation) or Grants.gov (Other Attachments - Field 11 on the R&R Other Project Information Form). The U.S. institution will submit the DFG required statements (see below) on behalf of the German Investigator.
• Information for the German investigator's portion of the proposal within the call "Cooperative Activities in Chemistry between U.S. and German Investigators (NSF-DFG)“, can be found on http://www.dfg.de/info_wissenschaftler/nw/download/dfg_nsf_0607.pdf.
• Submitted proposals must address the review criteria of NSF and DFG. NSF's merit review criteria are listed in Section VI of this solicitation. Preference will be given to proposals where the efforts on the U.S. and German sides are balanced and complementary. For U.S. PIs, the extent to which the proposal integrates research and education and broadens participation of under-represented groups will be considered as well. Representatives from NSF's Division of Chemistry in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and the Office of International Science and Engineering will manage the review of proposals on the U.S. side. The DFG will manage the review of proposals on the German side. Both sides will utilize a common set of reviewers and make joint funding decisions. The NSF and DFG will coordinate support for successful proposals. After joint consideration of the proposals, NSF and DFG will, whenever possible, inform the proposers whether their proposals have been declined or recommended for funding within six months of the submission date.

Information for the German partner may be obtained from the DFG: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, http://www.dfg.de/english/index.html Kennedyallee 40, D-53175 Bonn, Germany.  Please contact Dr.-Ing. Georg Bechtold, Program Director, Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, Phone: +49 228/885-2818, e-mail: georg.bechtold@dfg.de or Dr. Karlheinz Schmidt, Head of Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, Phone: +49 28/885-2318, e-mail: karlheinz.schmidt@dfg.de.

Information for the US partner may be obtained from the National Science Foundation (NSF),  Division of Chemistry, Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230. Please contact  Dr. Zeev Rosenzweig, Program Officer, Division of Chemistry Phone: (703) 292-7719,e-mail:  zrosenzw@nsf.gov or Dr. Jennifer Slimowitz Pearl, Associate Program Manager for Europe and Eurasia Program, NSF Office of International Science and Engineering: Phone: (703) 292-4492, e-mail: jslimowi@nsf.gov

III. Award Information

Estimated program budget, number of awards and average size/duration are subject to the availability of funds.

IV. Eligibility Information

Organization Limit: 

Proposals may only be submitted by the following:

• U.S. universities and colleges located in the U.S.

PI Limit: 

Proposals must establish partnerships between U.S.and German Principal Investigators.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 

None Specified

Limit on Number of Proposals per PI: 

The limit on the number of proposals per PI is 1.

Additional Eligibility Info:

Proposals must establish partnerships between U.S. and German Principal Investigators. Proposals may only be submitted by U.S. academic institutions located in the U.S. The U.S. organization will submit the DFG required material on behalf of the German investigator.

V. Proposal Preparation And Submission Instructions

A. Proposal Preparation Instructions

Letters of Intent (required): Investigators should submit a Letter of Intent summarizing the proposed research and collaboration. The Letter of Intent should include the following:

• Solicitation number
• Title of the project
• Synopsis of the project (no more than 250 words)
• Name, address and contact information (including e-mail addresses) of both U.S. and German project PI's

The Letter of Intent should be created via the FastLane system, under the Proposals, Awards and Status section of FastLane.

Letter of Intent Preparation Instructions:

When submitting a Letter of Intent through FastLane in response to this Program Solicitation please note the conditions outlined below:

• SPO Submission is Not Required when submitting Letters of Intent
• Submission of multiple Letters of Intent are Not allowed

Full Proposal Preparation Instructions:  Proposers may opt to submit proposals in response to this Program Solicitation via Grants.gov or via the NSF FastLane system.

• Full proposals submitted via FastLane: Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg. Paper copies of the GPG may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov. Proposers are reminded to identify this program solicitation number in the program solicitation block on the NSF Cover Sheet For Proposal to the National Science Foundation. Compliance with this requirement is critical to determining the relevant proposal processing guidelines. Failure to submit this information may delay processing.

• Full proposals submitted via Grants.gov: Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation via Grants.gov should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov. The complete text of the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: (https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/docs/grantsgovguide.pdf). To obtain copies of the Application Guide and Application Forms Package, click on the Apply tab on the Grants.gov site, then click on the Apply Step 1: Download a Grant Application Package and Application Instructions link and enter the funding opportunity number, (the program solicitation number without the NSF prefix) and press the Download Package button. Paper copies of the Grants.gov Application Guide also may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.

B. Budgetary Information

Cost Sharing:   Cost sharing is not required by NSF in proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation.

C. Due Dates

• Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required): 

December 15, 2006

• Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

January 30, 2007

D. FastLane/Grants.gov Requirements

• For Proposals Submitted Via FastLane:

Detailed technical instructions regarding the technical aspects of preparation and submission via FastLane are available at: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a1/newstan.htm. For FastLane user support, call the FastLane Help Desk at 1-800-673-6188 or e-mail fastlane@nsf.gov. The FastLane Help Desk answers general technical questions related to the use of the FastLane system. Specific questions related to this program solicitation should be referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed in Section VIII of this funding opportunity.

Submission of Electronically Signed Cover Sheets. The Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) must electronically sign the proposal Cover Sheet to submit the required proposal certifications (see Chapter II, Section C of the Grant Proposal Guide for a listing of the certifications). The AOR must provide the required electronic certifications within five working days following the electronic submission of the proposal. Further instructions regarding this process are available on the FastLane Website at: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/fastlane.jsp.

• For Proposals Submitted Via Grants.gov:

Before using Grants.gov for the first time, each organization must register to create an institutional profile. Once registered, the applicant's organization can then apply for any federal grant on the Grants.gov website. The Grants.gov's Grant Community User Guide is a comprehensive reference document that provides technical information about Grants.gov. Proposers can download the User Guide as a Microsoft Word document or as a PDF document. The Grants.gov User Guide is available at: http://www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport. In addition, the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide provides additional technical guidance regarding preparation of proposals via Grants.gov. For Grants.gov user support, contact the Grants.gov Contact Center at 1-800-518-4726 or by email: support@grants.gov. The Grants.gov Contact Center answers general technical questions related to the use of Grants.gov. Specific questions related to this program solicitation should be referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed in Section VIII of this solicitation.

Submitting the Proposal: Once all documents have been completed, the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) must submit the application to Grants.gov and verify the desired funding opportunity and agency to which the application is submitted. The AOR must then sign and submit the application to Grants.gov. The completed application will be transferred to the NSF FastLane system for further processing.

VI. NSF Proposal Processing And Review Procedures   

Proposals received by NSF are assigned to the appropriate NSF program and, if they meet NSF proposal preparation requirements, for review. All proposals are carefully reviewed by a scientist, engineer, or educator serving as an NSF Program Officer, and usually by three to ten other persons outside NSF who are experts in the particular fields represented by the proposal. These reviewers are selected by Program Officers charged with the oversight of the review process. Proposers are invited to suggest names of persons they believe are especially well qualified to review the proposal and/or persons they would prefer not review the proposal. These suggestions may serve as one source in the reviewer selection process at the Program Officer's discretion. Submission of such names, however, is optional. Care is taken to ensure that reviewers have no conflicts with the proposer.

A. NSF Merit Review Criteria

All NSF proposals are evaluated through use of the two National Science Board (NSB)-approved merit review criteria: intellectual merit and the broader impacts of the proposed effort. In some instances, however, NSF will employ additional criteria as required to highlight the specific objectives of certain programs and activities.

The two NSB-approved merit review criteria are listed below. The criteria include considerations that help define them. These considerations are suggestions and not all will apply to any given proposal. While proposers must address both merit review criteria, reviewers will be asked to address only those considerations that are relevant to the proposal being considered and for which the reviewer is qualified to make judgements.

What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity?
How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields? How well qualified is the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the project? (If appropriate, the reviewer will comment on the quality of the prior work.) To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative and original concepts? How well conceived and organized is the proposed activity? Is there sufficient access to resources?

What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?
How well does the activity advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning? How well does the proposed activity broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.)? To what extent will it enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as facilities, instrumentation, networks, and partnerships? Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological understanding? What may be the benefits of the proposed activity to society?

NSF staff will give careful consideration to the following in making funding decisions:

Integration of Research and Education
One of the principal strategies in support of NSF's goals is to foster integration of research and education through the programs, projects, and activities it supports at academic and research institutions. These institutions provide abundant opportunities where individuals may concurrently assume responsibilities as researchers, educators, and students and where all can engage in joint efforts that infuse education with the excitement of discovery and enrich research through the diversity of learning perspectives.

Integrating Diversity into NSF Programs, Projects, and Activities
Broadening opportunities and enabling the participation of all citizens -- women and men, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities -- is essential to the health and vitality of science and engineering. NSF is committed to this principle of diversity and deems it central to the programs, projects, and activities it considers and supports.

B. Review and Selection Process

Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation will be reviewed by Adhoc Review or Panel Review.

Reviewers will be asked to formulate a recommendation to either support or decline each proposal. The Program Officer assigned to manage the proposal's review will consider the advice of reviewers and will formulate a recommendation.

After scientific, technical and programmatic review and consideration of appropriate factors, the NSF Program Officer recommends to the cognizant Division Director whether the proposal should be declined or recommended for award. NSF is striving to be able to tell applicants whether their proposals have been declined or recommended for funding within six months. The time interval begins on the date of receipt.  The interval ends when the Division Director accepts the Program Officer's recommendation.

A summary rating and accompanying narrative will be completed and submitted by each reviewer. In all cases, reviews are treated as confidential documents. Verbatim copies of reviews, excluding the names of the reviewers, are sent to the Principal Investigator/Project Director by the Program Officer.  In addition, the proposer will receive an explanation of the decision to award or decline funding.

In all cases, after programmatic approval has been obtained, the proposals recommended for funding will be forwarded to the Division of Grants and Agreements for review of business, financial, and policy implications and the processing and issuance of a grant or other agreement. Proposers are cautioned that only a Grants and Agreements Officer may make commitments, obligations or awards on behalf of NSF or authorize the expenditure of funds. No commitment on the part of NSF should be inferred from technical or budgetary discussions with a NSF Program Officer. A Principal Investigator or organization that makes financial or personnel commitments in the absence of a grant or cooperative agreement signed by the NSF Grants and Agreements Officer does so at their own risk.

VII. Award Administration Information

A. Notification of the Award

Notification of the award is made to the submitting organization by a Grants Officer in the Division of Grants and Agreements. Organizations whose proposals are declined will be advised as promptly as possible by the cognizant NSF Program administering the program. Verbatim copies of reviews, not including the identity of the reviewer, will be provided automatically to the Principal Investigator. (See Section VI.B. for additional information on the review process.)

B. Award Conditions

An NSF award consists of: (1) the award letter, which includes any special provisions applicable to the award and any numbered amendments thereto; (2) the budget, which indicates the amounts, by categories of expense, on which NSF has based its support (or otherwise communicates any specific approvals or disapprovals of proposed expenditures); (3) the proposal referenced in the award letter; (4) the applicable award conditions, such as Grant General Conditions (GC-1); * or Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) Terms and Conditions * and (5) any announcement or other NSF issuance that may be incorporated by reference in the award letter. Cooperative agreements also are administered in accordance with NSF Cooperative Agreement Financial and Administrative Terms and Conditions (CA-FATC) and the applicable Programmatic Terms and Conditions. NSF awards are electronically signed by an NSF Grants and Agreements Officer and transmitted electronically to the organization via e-mail.

*These documents may be accessed electronically on NSF's Website at https://www.nsf.gov/awards/managing/general_conditions.jsp?org=NSF. Paper copies may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.

More comprehensive information on NSF Award Conditions and other important information on the administration of NSF awards is contained in the NSF Grant Policy Manual (GPM) Chapter II, available electronically on the NSF Website at https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpm.

C. Reporting Requirements

For all multi-year grants (including both standard and continuing grants), the Principal Investigator must submit an annual project report to the cognizant Program Officer at least 90 days before the end of the current budget period. (Some programs or awards require more frequent project reports). Within 90 days after expiration of a grant, the PI also is required to submit a final project report.

Failure to provide the required annual or final project reports will delay NSF review and processing of any future funding increments as well as any pending proposals for that PI. PIs should examine the formats of the required reports in advance to assure availability of required data.

PIs are required to use NSF's electronic project-reporting system, available through FastLane, for preparation and submission of annual and final project reports.  Such reports provide information on activities and findings, project participants (individual and organizational) publications; and, other specific products and contributions.  PIs will not be required to re-enter information previously provided, either with a proposal or in earlier updates using the electronic system.  Submission of the report via FastLane constitutes certification by the PI that the contents of the report are accurate and complete.

VIII. Agency Contacts

General inquiries regarding this program should be made to:

• Dr. Zeev Rosenzweig, Program Officer, Division of Chemistry, NSF, telephone: (703) 292-7719, email: zrosenzw@nsf.gov

• Dr. Jennifer Slimowitz Pearl, Associate Program Manager, Office of International Science and Engineering, NSF, telephone: (703) 292-4492, email: jslimowi@nsf.gov

• Dr.-Ing. Georg Bechtold, Program Director, Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, DFG, telephone: +49 228/885-2818, email: georg.bechtold@dfg.de

• Dr. Karlheinz Schmidt, Head of Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, DFG, telephone: +49 228/885-2318, email: karlheinz.schmidt@dfg.de

For questions related to the use of FastLane, contact:

• FastLane Help Desk, telephone: 1-800-673-6188; e-mail: fastlane@nsf.gov

• Paul G. Spyropoulos, Computer Specialist, 1055 S, telephone: (703) 292-4968, fax: (703) 292-9037, email: pspyropo@nsf.gov

For questions relating to Grants.gov contact:

• Grants.gov Contact Center: If the Authorized Organizational Representatives (AOR) has not received a confirmation message from Grants.gov within 48 hours of submission of application, please contact via telephone: 1-800-518-4726; e-mail: support@grants.gov.

IX. Other Information

The NSF Website provides the most comprehensive source of information on NSF Directorates (including contact information), programs and funding opportunities. Use of this Website by potential proposers is strongly encouraged. In addition, MyNSF (formerly the Custom News Service)is an information-delivery system designed to keep potential proposers and other interested parties apprised of new NSF funding opportunities and publications, important changes in proposal and award policies and procedures, and upcoming NSF Regional Grants Conferences. Subscribers are informed through e-mail or the user's Web browser each time new publications are issued that match their identified interests.  MyNSF also is available on NSF's Website at https://www.nsf.gov/mynsf/.

Grants.gov provides an additional electronic capability to search for Federal government-wide grant opportunities. NSF funding opportunities may be accessed via this new mechanism. Further information on Grants.gov may be obtained at http://www.grants.gov.

About The National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent Federal agency created by the National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended (42 USC 1861-75). The Act states the purpose of the NSF is "to promote the progress of science; [and] to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare by supporting research and education in all fields of science and engineering."

NSF funds research and education in most fields of science and engineering. It does this through grants and cooperative agreements to more than 2,000 colleges, universities, K-12 school systems, businesses, informal science organizations and other research organizations throughout the US. The Foundation accounts for about one-fourth of Federal support to academic institutions for basic research.

NSF receives approximately 40,000 proposals each year for research, education and training projects, of which approximately 11,000 are funded. In addition, the Foundation receives several thousand applications for graduate and postdoctoral fellowships. The agency operates no laboratories itself but does support National Research Centers, user facilities, certain oceanographic vessels and Antarctic research stations. The Foundation also supports cooperative research between universities and industry, US participation in international scientific and engineering efforts, and educational activities at every academic level.

Facilitation Awards for Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities provide funding for special assistance or equipment to enable persons with disabilities to work on NSF-supported projects. See Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II, Section D.2 for instructions regarding preparation of these types of proposals.

The National Science Foundation has Telephonic Device for the Deaf (TDD) and Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) capabilities that enable individuals with hearing impairments to communicate with the Foundation about NSF programs, employment or general information. TDD may be accessed at (703) 292-5090 and (800) 281-8749, FIRS at (800) 877-8339.

The National Science Foundation Information Center may be reached at (703) 292-5111.

Privacy Act And Public Burden Statements

The information requested on proposal forms and project reports is solicited under the authority of the National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended. The information on proposal forms will be used in connection with the selection of qualified proposals; and project reports submitted by awardees will be used for program evaluation and reporting within the Executive Branch and to Congress. The information requested may be disclosed to qualified reviewers and staff assistants as part of the proposal review process; to proposer institutions/grantees to provide or obtain data regarding the proposal review process, award decisions, or the administration of awards; to government contractors, experts, volunteers and researchers and educators as necessary to complete assigned work; to other government agencies or other entities needing information regarding applicants or nominees as part of a joint application review process, or in order to coordinate programs or policy; and to another Federal agency, court, or party in a court or Federal administrative proceeding if the government is a party. Information about Principal Investigators may be added to the Reviewer file and used to select potential candidates to serve as peer reviewers or advisory committee members. See Systems of Records, NSF-50, "Principal Investigator/Proposal File and Associated Records," 69 Federal Register 26410 (May 12, 2004), and NSF-51, "Reviewer/Proposal File and Associated Records, " 69 Federal Register 26410 (May 12, 2004). Submission of the information is voluntary. Failure to provide full and complete information, however, may reduce the possibility of receiving an award.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 3145-0058. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 120 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions. Send comments regarding the burden estimate and any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to:

Suzanne H. Plimpton
Reports Clearance Officer
Division of Administrative Services
National Science Foundation
Arlington, VA 22230