Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Information Technology Research (ITR) (NSF 04-012)

REVISIONS AND UPDATES

One FAQ was added under Eligibility Requirements (February 06, 2004).

Information Technology Research

Frequently Asked Questions - Eligibility Requirements


Question: How many proposals am I allowed to submit this year to the ITR solicitation (NSF 04-012)?

Answer: The short answer is, “You can submit ONE proposal to this year’s ITR solicitation (NSF-04-012).”

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Question: In the “Revisions and Updates” section of the ITR solicitation, you say that an “individual may appear as Principal Investigator (PI), co-PI, other senior personnel or paid consultant on only one ITR proposal….” Do you include subawards and/or collaborative proposals in your count?

Answer: Yes. When we say “only one ITR proposal,” we mean that any individual can only have a single role in any unique project this year. Thus, one cannot appear as a PI on a proposal from one’s own institution, say, and also appear in another project as a co-PI on a subaward where another institution has the lead. According to our counting system, that would mean that one is working on two projects submitted to ITR this year and that is not allowed.

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Question: What actions will NSF take if I am found to be on more than one ITR project?

Answer: We will develop a database of all ITR personnel on all ITR proposals. If we find that your name appears more than once in the database, we will return all proposals you are on without review.

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Question: Isn’t there some way that this one proposal policy can be circumvented?

Answer: No. This policy cannot be circumvented. You cannot send one ITR proposal to SBE and another ITR proposal to MPS just because they are different directorates. You cannot submit one proposal from your own institution and also be on another proposal from another institution. Nor will we will allow attempts to retroactively correct a violation of this policy by, for example, making changes to proposals after the ITR deadline. In the event that an individual above the rank of post-doc appears on more than one proposal, withdrawing all but one of them after the ITR proposal deadline will not prevent the remaining proposal(s) from being returned without review.

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Question: I will be a post-doc or graduate student for at least the first year of any potential ITR award. Can my name appear in the project description or budget justification in more than one ITR proposal?

Answer: Yes. If more than one faculty person is willing to include you on their proposal and if they are submitting separate proposals, they may all request support for your post-doc or graduate student research. However, you may not appear as a PI, Co-PI, or as Senior Personnel on more than one proposal.

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Question: I have received an ITR award in the past. Am I eligible to submit an ITR proposal this year?

Answer: Yes. You are eligible to submit an ITR proposal this year. The one proposal policy applies only to ITR proposals submitted this year in response to NSF 04-012.

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Question: In submitting to ITR, does the university department of the PI matter?

Answer: No. The department within a university or non-profit research organization does not matter. The subject of the research does matter; the focus of the research must be on IT for National Priorities in order for it to be considered appropriate for the ITR Program this year.

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Question: Can international institutions apply to ITR?

Answer: The ITR Program encourages international collaborations. ITR understands that IT research challenges cross national boundaries and that U.S. investigators communicate and collaborate with colleagues throughout the world to accomplish their research goals. The typical expectation is that all researchers on a project team will receive funding from their own countries’ funding agencies, especially if the international collaboration is with researchers in developed countries (e.g., Europe, Britain, Japan) that have substantial resources of their own. However, the eligibility rules for submission to ITR do allow for international institutions to apply indirectly to the ITR Program – either as consultants on a lead proposal or as subawards. In both cases, justification is required of the unique capabilities offered or the specific research needs that will be accomplished. No indirect costs are allowed to be charged by the international institution. In addition, it is expected that the international budget will be small, relative to the overall size of the project budget.

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Question: Are government labs or for-profit organizations allowed to submit ITR proposals?

Answer: Collaboration with federally funded laboratories of other agencies and for-profit organizations is encouraged. However, government laboratories and for-profit organizations may only participate as subawardees. The main proposal must be submitted by a university or college, or a U.S. non-profit research institution. Government labs and for-profit organizations must fund their own employees’ salaries. Any subaward budget that provides for support of activities at government laboratories or for-profit organizations must explain what unique resource is being made available.

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Question: My question is not in this list and is not answered in the solicitation. What should I do?

Answer: Send email to itr@nsf.gov.

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Question: What other information do I need to know about including international, for-profit or governmental agencies as collaborators in my ITR proposal?(added 2/6/04)

Answer: As noted in the above two FAQs, the ITR program welcomes collaborations between academic researchers and international, for-profit or governmental agencies or labs. As noted in the solicitation,

NSF encourages proposals for collaboration with international researchers, for-profit corporations, and national laboratories. For-profit organizations, government laboratories of other agencies, and foreign institutions may not apply directly, however; they may participate in subawards. Such subawards should be justified by explaining the unique capabilities being made available.

The main proposal must be submitted by a university or college, or a U.S. non-profit research institution.

ITR policies and constraints related to international, for-profit or governmental agency or lab collaborations for ITR are listed below:

  1. The ITR solicitation states that all subaward budgets that provide for support of activities at government laboratories, for-profit organizations, or foreign institutions must explain what unique resource is being made available.
  2. There is an expectation that each international, for-profit or government agency will contribute its own funds to the collaboration: Where the research interests of academic and international, for-profit or governmental organizations coincide, NSF encourages partnerships between them with the expectation that international, for-profit, or governmental agencies or labs will contribute their own funds to the collaboration. This policy is consistent with NSF’s International Division (Office of International Science and Engineering) practices and recommendations.
  3. Requests from academic collaborators for modest costs associated with the facilitation of effective interaction between them and their international, for-profit or government agency or lab partners are allowed: For example, modest travel costs or student support are reasonable items for the lead proposal to have in its budget.
  4. Generally, international institutions, for-profit firms, and government agencies and labs may not request salary in any subaward in which they are participating: The only exception to this is a situation where a for-profit organization or foreign institution is rendering chargeable services (e.g., programming, translation services) to the lead institution and is not a collaborator.
  5. . Some special circumstances could allow for academic salary requests from international collaborators: For example, if the foreign institution is in a country that lacks strong national science research and education funding, then modest salary requests would be allowed.

 

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