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CHAPTER IV
WITHDRAWALS, RETURNS AND DECLINATIONS
A. WITHDRAWALS
A proposal may be withdrawn at any time before a final decision
is made. A request for withdrawal must be signed by both the
PI and the Authorized Organizational Representative. Confirmation
of withdrawal requests will be sent by NSF. NSF must be notified
if any funding for the proposed project is received from another
source or sponsor. If it is brought to NSF's attention that funding
for a proposal to NSF has been accepted from another sponsor,
NSF will send a withdrawal confirmation letter to the PI and the
Authorized Organizational Representative without waiting for the
official withdrawal request. NSF does not normally return the
copies of withdrawn proposals to the proposer. NSF, however,
does retain a file copy. Copies of reviews received by NSF before
a proposal is withdrawn will be provided to the PI.
B. RETURNS
Proposals may not be considered for review by NSF for
the following reasons: (1) inappropriate for NSF funding; (2)
submitted with insufficient lead time before activity is to begin;
(3) does not meet NSF requirements for proposal content, format,
etc.; or (4) does not meet announced proposal deadline date requirements.
C. DECLINATIONS
A PI whose proposal for NSF support has been declined generally
will receive information and an explanation of the reasons for
declination along with copies of the reviews from the cognizant
Program Officer. If that explanation does not satisfy the PI,
he/she may request additional information from the cognizant Program
Officer.
D. RECONSIDERATION
If the explanation provided does not satisfy the PI, he/she may
request that the cognizant NSF Assistant Director or Office Head
reconsider the action to determine whether the proposal received
a fair and reasonable review, both substantively and procedurally.
The request for reconsideration must be in writing and must be
received within 90 days of the date of the declination letter.
If the proposing organization is still not satisfied after reconsideration
by the responsible Assistant Director/Office Head, it may, within
60 days of the determination by the Assistant Director/Office
Head, request further reconsideration by the NSF Deputy Director.
A PI whose proposal has not been accepted because it is inappropriate
for consideration by NSF may also request reconsideration of this
determination. Consult GPM Section 900 for additional information
on the NSF Reconsideration process.
E. RESUBMISSION
A declined proposal may be resubmitted only after it has undergone
substantial revision. Resubmittals that have not clearly taken
into account the major comments or concerns resulting from the
prior NSF review may be returned without further review. The
Foundation will treat the revised proposal as a new proposal,
subject to the standard review procedures.