NSF officials are required to disclose all communications with federally registered lobbyists concerning Recovery Act policy or projects, except for communications that concern purely logistical questions or those that occur at widely attended gatherings.

OMB recently issued new guidance which prohibits oral communication from any person outside the federal Government (not just federally registered lobbyists) for the period after the submission of proposals for Recovery Act funding up to the time of award, unless the communication is initiated by NSF.

Written communication will be the only method of communicating with NSF officials with respect to Recovery Act proposals submitted to the following solicitations:

• Major Research Instrumentation- Recovery and Reinvestment (MRI-R2) (09-561);
• Academic Research Infrastructure Recovery and Reinvestment (ARI-R2) (NSF 09-562);
• EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Program: Inter-Campus and Intra-Campus Cyber Connectivity (RII C2) (NSF 09-569); and the
• Science Masters Program (NSF 09-607).

For all other proposals submitted for Recovery Act funds, NSF affirmatively invites proposers to call or e-mail if there are questions concerning pending proposals or NSF requires information about the proposals in order to evaluate them.

The new OMB guidance can be found at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_fy2009/m09-24.pdf

June 5, 2009 Contact Report (PDF, 10K)
    June 5, 2009 Email from Joel Widder, University of Chicago (PDF, 47K)
    June 4, 2009 Email from Joel Widder, University of Chicago (PDF, 46K)
    June 3, 2009 Email from Joel Widder, University of Chicago (PDF, 52K)
June 3, 2009 Contact Report (PDF 10K)
    May 29, 2009 Email from Joel Widder, University of Chicago (PDF, 66K)