Title: Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities:Cyberinfrastructure and Research Facilities (CRIF:CRF) Date: 07/19/05 Replaced: NSF 00-81 Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities:Cyberinfrastructure and Research Facilities (CRIF:CRF) Program Solicitation NSF 05-555 Replaces Document NSF 00-81 [NSF Logo] National Science Foundation Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division of Chemistry Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitter's local time): May 13, 2005 SUMMARY OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS General Information Program Title: Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities:Cyberinfrastructure and Research Facilities (CRIF:CRF) Cyberinfrastructure and Research Facilities Synopsis of Program: The Division of Chemistry of the National Science Foundation (NSF), under the umbrella of the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities Program (CRIF), has provided support to research institutions and consortia for the establishment of regional or national instrumentation facilities, the purchase of departmental research instrumentation, and the development of state-of-the-art equipment. With this solicitation, the instrumentation facilities component of the CRIF Program is expanded to address the growing importance of cyber-enabled chemistry in the research endeavor. The Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Cyberinfrastructure and Research Facilities (CRIF:CRF) Program provides funding to build a foundation for cyber-enabled chemical research and education; and to establish and support multi-user instrumentation research facilities with unique capabilities in the chemical sciences. This is structured to enable NSF, through its Division of Chemistry, to respond to a variety of needs for infrastructure to support basic research and education in chemistry. NSF programs that support cyberinfrastructure, instrumentation, and facilities for other fields of research are listed in the solicitation. Cognizant Program Officer(s): * Joan M. Frye, Program Director, Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Division of Chemistry, 1055 S, telephone: (703) 292-4953, fax: (703) 292-9037, email: jfrye@nsf.gov * Celeste Rohlfing, Program Director, Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Division of Chemistry, 1055 S, telephone: (703) 292-4962, fax: (703) 292-9037, email: crohlfin@nsf.gov * Sangtae Kim, Division Director, Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering, Division of Shared Cyberinfrastructure, 1145 S, telephone: (703) 292-8970, fax: (703) 292-9060, email: skim@nsf.gov Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s): * 47.049 --- Mathematical and Physical Sciences Eligibility Information * Organization Limit: Only academic institutions or non-profit research organizations in the U.S. and U.S. territories may submit proposals. * PI Eligibility Limit: The principal investigator must be affiliated with an academic institution or non-profit research organization in the U.S. and U.S. territories. Other investigators may be affiliated with U.S. academic institutions, non-profit research organizations, industry, government laboratories, or international institutions. No CRIF:CRF award funds may go directly to industry, government laboratories or international institutions. * Limit on Number of Proposals: None Specified. Award Information * Anticipated Type of Award: Continuing Grant * Estimated Number of Awards: 4 to 13 - depending upon award size and the quality of proposals. Duration of awards is up to five years initially; renewable by competition for an additional three-year increment. Awards ranging from an average of $300,000 per year to $1,200,000 per year. * Anticipated Funding Amount: $4,000,000 depending upon the availability of funds in FY2005 Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions A. Proposal Preparation Instructions * Full Proposal Preparation Instructions: This solicitation contains information that supplements the standard Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) proposal preparation guidelines. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. 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 * Full Proposal Deadline Date(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitter's local time): May 13, 2005 Proposal Review Information * Merit Review Criteria: National Science Board approved criteria. Additional merit review considerations apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. Award Administration Information * Award Conditions: Standard NSF award conditions apply. * Reporting Requirements: Standard NSF reporting requirements apply. TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary of Program Requirements I. Introduction II. Program Description III. Eligibility Information IV. Award Information V. Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions A. Proposal Preparation Instructions B. Budgetary Information C. Due Dates D. FastLane Requirements VI. Proposal Review Information A. NSF Proposal Review Process B. Review Protocol and Associated Customer Service Standard VII. Award Administration Information A. Notification of the Award B. Award Conditions C. Reporting Requirements VIII.Contacts for Additional Information IX. Other Programs of Interest I. INTRODUCTION For over thirty years, the CRIF Program has provided support to research institutions for the establishment of regional or national instrumentation facilities, the purchase of departmental research instrumentation, and the development of state-of-the-art equipment. Due to the different nature of these requests, the Division of Chemistry has recently separated the components of this infrastructure program into three stand-alone competitions: (a) the CRIF: Department Multiuser Instrumentation Program, or CRIF:MU (http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf03563); (b) the CRIF: Instrument Development Program, or CRIF:ID (http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf04534) and (c) the CRIF: Cyberinfrastructure and Research Facilities Program, or CRIF:CRF (this solicitation). CRIF:CRF will provide funds to research organizations and consortia of research organizations to build a foundation for cyber-enabled chemical research and education; and to establish and support multi-user research facilities with unique capabilities in the chemical sciences. This program is structured to enable NSF, through its Division of Chemistry, to respond to a variety of needs for infrastructure to support basic research and education in chemistry. Under this program, investigators may seek funding to establish and support either centers for the development of cyber-enabled chemical research, or regional or national instrumentation facilities. a. Research Facilities Research facilities are meant to serve as unique resources that enable access to state-of-the-art instrumentation that is too expensive or specialized for an individual faculty member or typical departmental multi-user facility. A research facility is distinctly different from a departmental instrument center, in that it provides for unique or nearly unique instrumentation or other resources that are too expensive to be widely available or must be custom-made or developed. A research facility typically requires a permanent staff to operate and maintain instrumentation and to provide service to a national or regional user community. It is anticipated that there will be only a few facilities and that there will not be more than one facility in a given technical area. These facilities are expected to serve the state-of-the-art instrumentation needs for a wide community of users and simultaneously to support core research in the development of next-generation instrumentation and instrumental methods. Instrumentation in this context is to be construed in a broad sense to include physical equipment, computational capabilities, and software. Research facilities are also encouraged to exploit or develop cyberinfrastructure (see below) in order to maximize accessibility of the instrumentation and other resources. Specialized equipment and software dedicated for use in particular chemistry research projects are normally funded as part of individual investigator awards, along with personnel and other direct project costs. Major instruments and computing environments shared and maintained for multiple uses by researchers in a department may be funded through the CRIF:MU and Major Research Instrumentation programs (see Section IX). In contrast, CRIF:CRF supports large single instruments or collections of instruments that are unique because of their capabilities and/or because they represent new models for the operation of facilities that provide extraordinary research opportunities. b. Cyberinfrastructure As described in the report, “Revolutionizing Science and Engineering Through Cyberinfrastructure: Report of the NSF Blue-Ribbon Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure,” the manner in which scientific and engineering research and education is conducted will be radically transformed by cyberinfrastructure. This report may be accessed at http://www.cise.nsf.gov/sci/reports/atkins.pdf. The NSF Division of Chemistry shares this vision and has held a workshop that has identified research and education frontiers that would be enabled by investments in cyberinfrastructure. The report from this workshop may be accessed at http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/faculty/cyber_workshop/. A National Research Council report, “Information and Communications,” also identifies opportunities in cyberinfrastructure in the chemical sciences and is available at http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10831.html. Cyberinfrastructure is enabling new chemical research and education activities through grid computing, community databases, remote access to instrumentation, electronic support for geographically dispersed collaborations, and other web- and grid-accessible services. A team of researchers in a virtual laboratory can now assemble distributed expertise and resources to target chemical research and educational priorities. Advances in cyberinfrastructure in areas such as scientific portals, workflow management, computational modeling, and data and molecular visualization will clearly impact the day-to-day practice of chemistry in the near future. Moreover, the access to expertise and resources that cyberinfrastructure provides holds the potential to broaden participation in the chemical sciences to create a truly inclusive national and international community. To achieve this vision, certain characteristics of the chemistry research community – specifically, the broad range of its computational techniques and data types and its large number of independent data producers – pose unique challenges that will need to be overcome. Close interaction between practicing chemists and information technology developers, iterative approaches to software development and deployment, and mechanisms to share best practices will all be critical in advancing a cyber-enabled chemistry community. It should be noted that specialized software dedicated to an individual investigator’s research project would not be supported through the CRIF:CRF program, as it is normally supported as part of an individual investigator award. Although Research Facilities and Cyberinfrastructure are described above separately, they need not be mutually exclU.S.ive. That is, research facilities whose accessibility and/or capabilities are enhanced through cyberinfrastructure can also be supported through the CRIF:CRF program. Note also that all proposals submitted in response to this solicitation are subject to program-specific review criteria (see Section VI. A) in addition to the standard NSF criteria on intellectual merit and broader impacts. II. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The CRIF:CRF Program accepts proposals for the support of cyberinfrastructure projects and for national or regional facilities that would provide unique computational and/or state-of-the-art instrumentation capabilities for research to a broad community of chemical scientists. Examples of cyberinfrastructure projects might include developing freely distributed computational codes that take advantage of grid technologies; networking of analytical instrumentation to provide remote access for educational/home/commercial use; and establishing digital libraries and repositories for sharing of chemical data. Advances in areas such as scientific portals, workflow management, computational modeling, remote use of instrumentation, and data and molecular visualization provide other examples of the rich opportunities associated with the development of cyberinfrastructure. A CRIF:CRF research facilities project provides for unique instrumentation capabilities that are either too expensive to be widely available or must be cus.tom-made or developed. A CRIF:CRF research facilities project typically requires a permanent staff to operate and maintain instrumentation, and to provide service to a national or regional U.S.er community. Projects for the design and development stage of a large facility can also be considered under the CRIF:CRF program. PI’s are strongly encouraged to consult with Division of Chemistry staff before submitting a cyberinfrastructure or research facilities proposal to CRIF:CRF. CRIF:CRF projects are expected to serve the state-of-the-art software and/or instrumentation needs for a wide community of U.S.ers and simultaneoU.S.ly to support core research in the development of cyberinfrastructure and next-generation instrumentation. The proposal should document these cyberinfrastructure and instrumentation needs and describe the research community the project would serve. Successful proposals will initially be supported by the Division of Chemistry of NSF for a period of up to five years, with the possibility of multiple three-year renewals, depending upon merit review through the CRIF:CRF program and the availability of funds. Annual progress reports will be required. On-site evaluations will be made during the award period. III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION Organization Limit: Only academic institutions or non-profit research organizations in the U.S. and U.S. territories may submit proposals. PI Eligibility Limit: The principal investigator must be affiliated with an academic institution or non-profit research organization in the U.S. and U.S. territories. Other investigators may be affiliated with U.S. academic institutions, non-profit research organizations, industry, government laboratories, or international institutions. No CRIF:CRF award funds may go directly to industry, government laboratories or international institutions. Limit on Number of Proposals: None specified. IV. AWARD INFORMATION Estimated program budget, number of awards and average award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds. Anticipated Type of Award: Continuing Grant. Estimated Number of Awards: 10 to 12 - depending upon award size and the quality of proposals -- Up to five year awards initially; renewable by competition for additional three-year increments. Awards ranging from an average of $300,000 per year to $1,200,000 per year. Anticipated Funding Amount: $4,000,000 depending upon the availability of funds in FY2005. V. PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS A. Proposal Preparation Instructions Full Proposal Instructions: Proposals submitted in response to this program announcement/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: http://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. This solicitation contains information that supplements the standard Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) proposal preparation guidelines. Proposals for the support of cyberinfrastructure or research facilities must include a full description of technical capabilities and the impact that these projects will make on chemical research and education. Investigators must identify the nature and size of the user community in the chemical sciences that will make principal use of the project’s capabilities. Cyberinfrastructure and research facilities are intended, in part, to stimulate the development of new software environments and/or instrumentation capabilities; proposals must therefore include a description of the project in sufficient detail for reviewers to evaluate its technical merit and its potential benefit to chemical research and education. Transfer of new knowledge or technology to various academic, industrial and government sectors is an important broader impact of CRIF:CRF projects, and partnerships involving these sectors as appropriate are encouraged. Plans for broad dissemination of the project’s results will be considered in evaluation of the proposal. Where appropriate, CRIF:CRF proposals must include descriptions of the provisions for service operations, maintenance and development. Important elements include the management structure, qualifications of individuals in supervisory and support positions, external advisory structures, and partnerships. Requests for personnel support must include justification for each position and the responsibilities associated with the position. If a project will provide a service to users, the proposal should include a description of how user priority and user fees, if any, will be determined. Detailed Proposal Format NSF Cover and Certification Page. Enter this program solicitation number in the space indicated. Proposals should provide a title in the format: "Cyberinfrastructure and Research Facilities:..." Form 1225 (Information about Principal Investigators/Project Directors) must be completed. Project Summary (1 page maximum). The project summary should include the rationale for the project, the current and intended user community, the nature of the project, the areas of research and education to be enhanced, and the principal development goals. Both intellectual merit and broader impacts must be addressed in separate statements or the proposal will be returned without review. Table of Contents. A table of contents will automatically be generated by FastLane. Project Description. This will be limited to 25 single-spaced pages. Within that overall page limitation, the proposal must address the following issues (a-g): a. Rationale for and Impact of the Project. This introductory section should describe (1) the need for the proposed cyberinfrastructure or research facility; (2) the unique capabilities and services it will bring to research and education in the chemical sciences; and (3) the community to be served, including the extent to which the project broadens participation in the chemical sciences. b. Detailed Description. This section should provide a full description of the proposed project, including location, size, and major equipment to be purchased or constructed, software to be developed, services to be provided, and core research areas to be investigated. The plan should detail the instrument and/or software improvement and development component and explain how resources will be targeted at developing the next generation of research tools and techniques. Strategies to keep the proposed project at the forefront of research in the identified field must be described and necessary equipment upgrades planned and budgeted. Investigators should identify connections with other partners where appropriate, and the roles each will play in development. The proposal must contain a plan for evaluation of the feasibility of commercialization of the technical advances of the project in the case of instrumentation facilities, or dissemination of software in the case of cyberinfrastructure development. c. Research Activities. This section should identify the senior on-site personnel supervising the project’s research, development, and training; summarize their current research activities; and describe the research projects to be enhanced by the project. Numbers of additional personnel whose research and education would depend on the proposed project (e.g., postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, undergraduate students, K-12 teachers and students, informal science education organizations, international partners) should be estimated as closely as possible. d. Service to the External Community. Because of the limited number of these projects, the PIs must demonstrate broad impact for a well-defined user community. Document the managerial, support personnel, advisory, and accounting structures necessary to fulfill the service objectives. Describe mechanisms for selecting proposals from users in the case of instrumentation facilities, for choosing among in-house activities, and for the allocation of resources. Provide a plan for assessing performance and results of all activities supported by the project. e. Management Plan. This section should describe the management plan for direction, operation and maintenance of the proposed project. The management plan must identify the director and any senior personnel involved in the day-to-day operation of the project. The project must have an external advisory committee, selected in consultation with the NSF Division of Chemistry, to provide advice to the project management on operations, research directions and accessibility to the broader user community. Cyberinfrastructure projects must also include plans for maintenance, such as software updates and archiving. f. Education and Outreach. A CRIF:CRF project is a unique resource for education and training, for transfer of knowledge and technology, for exchanges of staff with other research organizations, and for outreach to communities currently underrepresented in science and engineering. Investigators should outline their plans to use the unique capabilities of the project to contribute to a stronger infrastructure in the chemical sciences through education and outreach activities. g. Results from Prior Support. All renewal applications for continued funding of NSF Chemistry-supported facilities or center grants, whether supported by CRIF or other Chemistry programs, must provide Results from Prior Support. Information is required on major breakthroughs in research, software, or instrument development, publications, patents, past outreach activities and their impact, and sponsored workshops or meetings. Also, an alphabetized list of all collaborators and outside users, with their affiliation, is required to appear in the Supplementary Documentation section (see below). Budget. This section should provide a detailed estimate and explanation of the total budget projected for establishment (or continuation) and operation of the cyberinfrastructure or research facility. Explain the basis for any cost estimates. Commitments of space, renovation, faculty, staff positions, or capital equipment should be detailed here, with estimated dollar values. Biographical Sketches. Biographical sketches must be provided in the standard NSF format for the director, for all senior personnel whose core research activities would make major use of the facility/cyberinfrastructure project, and for any other senior personnel who would draw major salary support from the facility/cyberinfrastructure project. Current and Pending Support. Current and pending support of two types must be summarized: (a) all current and pending support for the facility/cyberinfrastructure project, including any support from any source, received or pending, for support, repair, renovation, replacement, or construction of the proposed facilities in the previous five years; and (b) current and pending support (agency, award number, total award amount, expected duration, and topic) for all research projects of each senior investigator. Supplementary Documentation. For renewals, an alphabetized list of all collaborators and outside users of the project, with their affiliations, is required. Proposers are reminded to identify the program announcement/solicitation number (05-555) in the program announcement/solicitation block on the proposal Cover Sheet. Compliance with this requirement is critical to determining the relevant proposal processing guidelines. Failure to submit this information may delay processing. B. Budgetary Information Cost Sharing: Cost sharing is not required by NSF in proposals submitted under this Program Solicitation. C. Due Dates Proposals must be submitted by the following date(s): Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitter's local time): May 13, 2005 D. FastLane Requirements Proposers are required to prepare and submit all proposals for this announcement/solicitation through the FastLane system. Detailed instructions for proposal 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 announcement/solicitation should be referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed in Section VIII of this announcement/solicitation. 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. Proposers are no longer required to provide a paper copy of the signed Proposal Cover Sheet to NSF. Further instructions regarding this process are available on the FastLane Website at: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov VI. PROPOSAL REVIEW INFORMATION A. NSF Proposal Review Process Reviews of proposals submitted to NSF are solicited from peers with expertise in the substantive area of the proposed research or education project. These reviewers are selected by Program Officers charged with the oversight of the review process. NSF invites the proposer to suggest, at the time of submission, the names of appropriate or inappropriate reviewers. Care is taken to ensure that reviewers have no conflicts with the proposer. Special efforts are made to recruit reviewers from non-academic institutions, minority-serving institutions, or adjacent disciplines to that principally addressed in the proposal. The National Science Board approved revised criteria for evaluating proposals at its meeting on March 28, 1997 (NSB 97-72). All NSF proposals are evaluated through use of the two merit review criteria. In some instances, however, NSF will employ additional criteria as required to highlight the specific objectives of certain programs and activities. On July 8, 2002, the NSF Director issued Important Notice 127, Implementation of new Grant Proposal Guide Requirements Related to the Broader Impacts Criterion. This Important Notice reinforces the importance of addressing both criteria in the preparation and review of all proposals submitted to NSF. NSF continues to strengthen its internal processes to ensure that both of the merit review criteria are addressed when making funding decisions. In an effort to increase compliance with these requirements, the January 2002 issuance of the GPG incorporated revised proposal preparation guidelines relating to the development of the Project Summary and Project Description. Chapter II of the GPG specifies that Principal Investigators (PIs) must address both merit review criteria in separate statements within the one-page Project Summary. This chapter also reiterates that broader impacts resulting from the proposed project must be addressed in the Project Description and described as an integral part of the narrative. Effective October 1, 2002, NSF will return without review proposals that do not separately address both merit review criteria within the Project Summary. It is believed that these changes to NSF proposal preparation and processing guidelines will more clearly articulate the importance of broader impacts to NSF-funded projects. The two National Science Board approved merit review criteria are listed below (see the Grant Proposal Guide Chapter III.A for further information). 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 he/she is qualified to make judgments. 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. Additional Review Criteria: * Qualifications of the project management to meet multiple purposes of research, education, and service simultaneously; * Capability of the project to provide a needed state-of-the-art resource for chemical research and education; * Breadth of the chemical sciences community that is impacted; * Anticipated effect on the development of instruments and/or software; * Effectiveness of partnerships for transferring of new knowledge and technology to appropriate academic, industrial, and government sectors; * Use of unique project resources to enhance education and training of students; and * Extent to which the project broadens participation in the chemical sciences. For renewal proposals, the following additional review criteria will be considered: * Quality of the scientific results obtained; * Continuing need for the project in terms of its impact on research and education in the chemical sciences; and * Workforce impact (for example, information on students trained and other professional development). B. Review Protocol and Associated Customer Service Standard All proposals are carefully reviewed by at least three other persons outside NSF who are experts in the particular field represented by the proposal. Proposals submitted in response to this announcement/solicitation will be reviewed by ad hoc and/or panel review. A site visit or reverse site visit may be part of the review process . 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. 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 Director. In addition, the proposer will receive an explanation of the decision to award or decline funding. NSF is striving to be able to tell proposers whether their proposals have been declined or recommended for funding within six months. The time interval begins on the closing date of an announcement/solicitation, or the date of proposal receipt, whichever is later. The interval ends when the Division Director accepts the Program Officer's recommendation. 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 Division 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.A. 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 (NSF-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 agreement awards are administered in accordance with NSF Cooperative Agreement Financial and Administrative Terms and Conditions (CA-FATC). Electronic mail notification is the preferred way to transmit NSF awards to organizations that have electronic mail capabilities and have requested such notification from the Division of Grants and Agreements. *These documents may be accessed electronically on NSF's Website at http://www.nsf.gov/awards/managing/. Paper copies of these documents 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 is contained in the NSF Grant Policy Manual (GPM) Chapter II, available electronically on the NSF Website at http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpm. The GPM is also for sale through the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402. The telephone number at GPO for subscription information is (202) 512-1800. The GPM may be ordered through the GPO Website at http://www.gpo.gov. C. Reporting Requirements For all multi-year grants (including both standard and continuing grants), the PI must submit an annual project report to the cognizant Program Officer at least 90 days before the end of the current budget period. Within 90 days after the expiration of an award, the PI also is required to submit a final project report. Failure to provide final technical reports delays NSF review and processing of pending proposals for the PI and all Co-PIs. 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. This system permits electronic submission and updating of project reports, including information on project participants (individual and organizational), activities and findings, 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. VIII. CONTACTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION General inquiries regarding this program should be made to: * Joan M. Frye, Program Director, Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Division of Chemistry, 1055 S, telephone: (703) 292-4953, fax: (703) 292-9037, email: jfrye@nsf.gov * Celeste Rohlfing, Program Director, Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Division of Chemistry, 1055 S, telephone: (703) 292-4962, fax: (703) 292-9037, email: crohlfin@nsf.gov * Sangtae Kim, Division Director, Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering, Division of Shared Cyberinfrastructure, 1145 S, telephone: (703) 292-8970, fax: (703) 292-9060, email: skim@nsf.gov For questions related to the use of FastLane, contact: * Paul G. Spyropoulos, Computer Specialist, Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Division of Chemistry, 1055 S, telephone: (703) 292-4968, fax: (703) 292-9037, email: pspyropo@nsf.gov IX. OTHER PROGRAMS OF INTEREST The NSF Guide to Programs is a compilation of funding for research and education in science, mathematics, and engineering. The NSF Guide to Programs is available electronically at http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gp. General descriptions of NSF programs, research areas, and eligibility information for proposal submission are provided in each chapter. Many NSF programs offer announcements or solicitations concerning specific proposal requirements. To obtain additional information about these requirements, contact the appropriate NSF program offices. Any changes in NSF's fiscal year programs occurring after press time for the Guide to Programs will be announced in the NSF E-Bulletin, which is updated daily on the NSF Website at http://www.nsf.gov/home/ebulletin, and in individual program announcements/solicitations. Subscribers can also sign up for NSF's MyNSF News Service (http://www.nsf.gov/mynsf/) to be notified of new funding opportunities that become available. Related NSF programs for research instrumentation and instrument development are listed below. Program Title Major Research Instrumentation: NSF 05-515 Instrumentation for Materials Research: NSF 05-522 Instrumentation for Materials Research-Major Instrumentation Projects: NSF 05-513 Earth Sciences Instrumentation and Facilities: NSF 04-507 Instrument Development for Biological Research: NSF 05-536 Multi-user Equipment and Instrumentation Resources for Biological Sciences: NSF 05-534 CISE Computing Research Infrastructure: NSF 04-588 Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer: NSF 04-604 Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement: NSF 04-565 Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Instrument Development: NSF 04-534 Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Departmental Multi-user Instrumentation: NSF 03-563 Scientific Computing Research Environments for the Mathematical Sciences: NSF 05-538 ABOUT THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds research and education in most fields of science and engineering. Awardees are wholly responsible for conducting their project activities and preparing the results for publication. Thus, the Foundation does not assume responsibility for such findings or their interpretation. NSF welcomes proposals from all qualified scientists, engineers and educators. The Foundation strongly encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to compete fully in its programs. In accordance with Federal statutes, regulations and NSF policies, no person on grounds of race, color, age, sex, national origin or disability shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving financial assistance from NSF, although some programs may have special requirements that limit eligibility. 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