The U.S. National Science Foundation generally does not allow voluntary committed cost sharing in its proposals.
NSF's Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) details NSF's cost-sharing policy. Refer to PAPPG II.D.2.f(xii) for cost sharing information for NSF proposals, and PAPPG VII.C for cost-sharing information for NSF awards.
Programs with mandatory cost sharing
A small number of NSF's programs have mandatory cost-sharing requirements, which have been authorized by the NSF director, the National Science Board or legislation. The programs that require cost sharing are:
- Enabling Access to Cloud Computing Resources for CISE Research and Education (Cloud Access)
- NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps)
- Engineering Research Centers
- Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
Projects with mandatory cost sharing
Two current NSF-funded projects have mandatory cost sharing:
- Computing Innovation Fellows Project 2021, Award No. 2127309, Prime Awardee: Computing Research Association (subawardees' indirect cost recovery limited to 35%)
- Computing Innovation Fellows Project 2020, Award No. 2030859, Prime Awardee: Computing Research Association (subawardees' indirect cost recovery limited to 35%)