Proposer organizations may submit only one Institutional Transformation proposal or one IT-Catalyst proposal.  There is no limit on the number of PAID proposals that can be submitted.

Only one TCN proposal may be submitted by any one organization as the lead organization. Organizations may be involved in more than one collaborative effort as a non-lead proposal.

Only one CREST Center proposal may be submitted per eligible institution. An institution may have only one active CREST award, irrespective of focus area. Centers that have completed two prior, consecutive 5-year CREST awards may not recompete. However, new research teams from former awardee institutions may submit proposals in disciplinary areas that are significantly different from those of the previous award(s).

Only one HBCU-RISE proposal may be submitted per eligible institution. An institution may have only one active HBCU-RISE award.

One proposal per organization is allowed.

Collaborative Proposals submitted as separate submissions from multiple organizations are NOT allowed for this competition.

Only one Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-1: (RII Track-1) proposal may be submitted in response to this solicitation by the designated fiscal agent/proposing organization, acting on behalf of a jurisdiction's EPSCoR steering committee.

Eligible jurisdictions can participate in only one consortium, and can submit only one collaborative proposal.

One proposal per center. All sites must submit a collaborative proposal that is part of the same integrated research experimental plan of the center. The total budget for all site submissions from a center cannot exceed the maximum award.

None Specified for Preliminary Proposals. 

Full Proposals may be submitted only by invitation and only by the lead university designated in the preliminary proposal.

HBCU-UP Proposals:

• An eligible institution can only submit one Implementation Project or ACE Implementation Project proposal and can only have one active Implementation Project or ACE Implementation Project award.
• An eligible institution can submit no more than two Broadening Participation Research proposals per year.
• An eligible institution can submit no more than two Targeted Infusion Project proposals per year. 

• An eligible institution can submit no more than two Research Initiation Award proposals per year.

Any institution may submit multiple-university center proposals provided that the proposed research topics involve different disciplines and support different industries.

Grantee institutions that have an active single university I/UCRC award are not eligible to apply for another single university center; however, they may apply for a multi-university center.

A center site may apply for a Phase II (years 6 through 10) proposal if it meets the Phase II minimum requirements specified in the solicitation as well as having satisfactorily completed the Phase I (years 1 through 5). 

A center site may apply for a Phase III (years 11 through 15)  proposal if it meets the minimum Phase III requirements specified in the solicitation as well as having satisfactorily completed the Phase II (years 6 through 10).

Graduated centers who have successfully completed a Phase II award within the last 10 years may apply for a Phase III award. 

Three (3) as described below.

If three proposals are submitted, at least one of the proposals must be for instrument development (i.e., no more than two proposals may be for instrument acquisition). 

To ensure a balanced instrumentation award portfolio at diverse organizations, across varied research topics, and in support of a broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce across the entire Nation, the MRI program requires that an MRI-eligible organization may, as a performing organization, submit or be included as a significantly funded¹ subawardee in no more than three MRI proposals.  To promote instrumentation development, the program requires that if an organization submits or is included as a significantly funded¹ subawardee in three MRI proposals, at least one of the three proposals must be for (Track 2) instrument development. 

NSF reserves the right to carefully examine development (Track 2) proposals to ensure that they meet the requirements for this proposal type (see Section II).  If a proposal submitted as development is deemed to be an acquisition proposal either before or during the review, the proposal is subject to return without review or decline.

¹An unfunded collaboration does not count against the submission limit.  Inclusion as a funded subawardee on a development (Track 2) proposal at a level in excess of 20% of the total budget request from NSF, or as a funded subawardee on any acquisition (Track 1) proposal, will be counted against an organization's proposal submission limit. Separately submitted linked collaborative proposals of either type (Track 1 or Track 2) count against the submission limit of each of the submitting organizations. However, if a subaward to an organization in a development (Track 2) proposal is 20% or less of the proposal's total budget request from NSF, the subawardee's submission limit will not be affected. For subawards within a linked collaborative proposal, the 20% threshold applies to the budget request from NSF in the proposal containing the subaward(s), not to the combined budget request from NSF for the collaborative project.

Note: The 30% cost-sharing requirement applies to only the portion of the total project cost budgeted to non-exempt organization(s), including those participating through subawards. When required, cost-sharing must be precisely 30%. Cost sharing is required for Ph.D.-granting institutions of higher education and for non-degree-granting organizations. Non-Ph.D.-granting institutions of higher education are exempt from  cost-sharing and cannot provide it. National Science Board policy is that voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. See section V.B. for specific information on cost-sharing calculations and the solicitation text for definitions of organizational types used for the MRI program.

Only one MRSEC preliminary proposal may be submitted by any one organization as the lead organization in this competition. An organization proposing research in several groups should submit a single MRSEC proposal with multiple Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs). A MRSEC proposal must contain a minimum of 2 IRGs and a maximum of 5 IRGs. The IRGs in a center may be topically related, or they may address different topical aspects of materials research. A single center at an organization allows efficient usage of resources, including common infrastructure, and better coordination of education and other activities of the center.

Institutions that were awarded a MRSEC in the FY 2011 competition as the lead institution are not eligible to submit a MRSEC proposal as a lead institution in this competition. Existing MRSECs should have the ability to re-prioritize resources and add new participants through, for example, their seed program.

Full MRSEC proposals may be submitted by invitation only.

Only individuals may submit proposals. There is no limit on the number of fellows that an institution may host.

Only individuals may apply. There is no limit on the number of fellowships that an organization may host.

An academic institution – a university, or a campus in a multi-campus university -- may submit no more than one (1) proposal on which it is the lead organization in response to this solicitation. The same organization may be a collaborative partner in any number of other multi-organization group proposals in which it is not the lead. A proposal involving more than one organization must be submitted as a single proposal in which a single award is requested, with the managing principal investigator from the lead organization and subawards administered by the lead organization to any other participating organizations.

An institution that awards baccalaureate degrees is allowed to submit only one Type 1 proposal, or to be part of only one consortium submitting a Type 1 proposal.  An institution that awards associate degrees, and does not award baccalaureate degrees, is allowed to be the lead institution on only one Type 1 proposal, and, in addition, may be a partner on one or more Type 1 proposals.  There are no restrictions on the number of Type 2 proposals that an individual or organization may submit.

Exception: If an institution is submitting a proposal under the "Special Funding Focus on Retention in Engineering and Computer Science" (see Program Description for details), it may also submit a second proposal under Type 1, either individually or as part of a consortium.

An organization may submit no more than two Phase I proposals in total during this cycle, which is defined as this SBIR Phase I solicitation and the concurrent STTR Phase I solicitation that has a proposal submission deadline of June 13, 2013. For example, an organization may submit one (1) SBIR Phase I and one (1) STTR Phase I proposal, two (2) SBIR Phase I proposals, or two(2) STTR Phase I proposals during this cycle.

These eligibility constraints will be strictly enforced in order to treat everyone fairly and consistently. In the event that an organization exceeds this limit, the first two proposals received will be accepted, and the remainder will be returned without review). No exceptions will be made. 

The submission of the same project idea to both this SBIR Phase I solicitation and the concurrent STTR Phase I solicitation is strongly discouraged.

An organization may submit no more than two Phase I proposals in total during this cycle, which is defined as this STTR Phase I solicitation and the concurrent SBIR Phase I solicitation that has a proposal submission deadline of June 11, 2013. For example, an organization may submit one (1) SBIR Phase I and one (1) STTR Phase I proposal, two (2) SBIR Phase I proposals, or two(2) STTR Phase I proposals during this cycle.

These eligibility constraints will be strictly enforced in order to treat everyone fairly and consistently. In the event that an organization exceeds this limit, the first two proposals received will be accepted, and the remainder will be returned without review). No exceptions will be made.

The submission of the same project idea to both this STTR Phase I solicitation and the concurrent SBIR Phase I solicitation is strongly discouraged.

Because the goal of WIDER is institutional transformation, an organization may submit only one Planning or one Institutional Implementation proposal for a given deadline. There are no restrictions on the number of Community Implementation or Research proposals that an individual or organization may submit.