Important information for proposers

Any proposal submitted in response to this funding opportunity should be submitted in accordance with the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. The NSF PAPPG is regularly revised and it is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets the requirements specified in this solicitation and the applicable version of the PAPPG. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Important Clarifications

January 11, 2011

Important Clarifications for Proposals Regarding Census Bureau Staff Members - January 10, 2011

(1) To avoid giving some proposals unfair advantage over others, the Census Bureau informed its employees in mid-December that no Census Bureau staff member may be listed as having committed their time to a proposal submitted to the NCRN solicitation.  NSF and the Census Bureau would like to make sure that the research community understands the implications of this decision for proposals submitted to the solicitation.

Because Census Bureau employees may not serve as active participants on proposals submitted to this competition, the successful completion of the proposed research should not depend on the collaboration of specific individual Census Bureau staff members.

Investigators may reference past activities with Census staff members and/or the Census Bureau in their proposals, and Census Bureau experts may be consulted in the preparation of proposals.  In addition, the Census Bureau expects to be able to provide targeted expertise to funded nodes as appropriate.  Please note that the Project Description has a section entitled Resources from the Census Bureau.  Requests for expertise should be included in that section.  For more information, see Section V. Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions.

Over time, NSF and Census hope to foster more significant collaborations between funded nodes and Census staff members.

(2) Proposals submitted to this solicitation should not request funds for the establishment of a new Research Data Center (RDC). NSF and the Census Bureau have a separate and independent process for the establishment of new RDCs.  More information on RDCs is available at http://www.census.gov/ces/.

Proposals submitted to this solicitation are not required to use data at one of the existing RDCs.  However, if access to confidential data at an RDC is necessary for the project, then access costs should be included in the proposal.
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