This outline addresses key development components of a standard NSF proposal; however, it does not address all elements required to complete the application or budget. Be sure to refer to the program solicitation applicable to your proposal and the application instructions in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG).
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- See PAPPG (NSF 20-1) Chapter II.C.g for NSF's full budget guidelines and instructions, including the "NSF 2-month rule," which limits salary compensation for senior personnel to no more than two months of their regular salary in any one year across all NSF grants.
- Use of the SU Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) Budget Template is required by the campus community to develop and submit budgets consistent with the University’s currently negotiated rates. Use of the OSP Budget Template greatly reduces common arithmetic errors often encountered with other budget tools.
- In the Maxwell School, your contact person in OSP for assistance with your budget and other technical documents, and for submitting your application, is Caroline McMullin (cmcmulli@syr.edu). Depending on your academic department or research center, the departmental administrator or budget manager might also be able to help. If you are not sure who to work with, contact Jill Ferguson (jsfergus@maxwell.syr.edu).
Syracuse Resources
- OSP Budget Template
- Budget Justification Template
- Determining Allowable Direct Costs and Indirect Costs
- Maxwell Research Policies and Rates
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Required; limited to 2 pages
From the PAPPG (NSF 20-1):
This supplementary document should describe how the proposal will conform to NSF policy on the dissemination and sharing of research results (see Chapter XI.D.4), and may include:
- the types of data, samples, physical collections, software, curriculum materials, and other materials to be produced in the course of the project;
- the standards to be used for data and metadata format and content (where existing standards are absent or deemed inadequate, this should be documented along with any proposed solutions or remedies);
- policies for access and sharing including provisions for appropriate protection of privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property, or other rights or requirements;
- policies and provisions for re-use, re-distribution, and the production of derivatives; and
- plans for archiving data, samples, and other research products, and for preservation of access to them.
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Documentation of Collaborative Arrangements
- Any substantial collaboration with individuals not included in the budget should be described in the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section of the proposal and documented in a letter of collaboration from each collaborator. The letter should follow content and format instructions provided by the NSF (see below).
- While letters of collaboration are permitted, unless required by a specific program solicitation, letters of support should not be submitted as they are not a standard component of an NSF proposal.
From the PAPPG (NSF 20-1):
Documentation of collaborative arrangements of significance to the proposal through letters of collaboration. (See Chapter II.C.2.d(iv)). Letters of collaboration should be limited to stating the intent to collaborate and should not contain endorsements or evaluation of the proposed project. The recommended format for letters of collaboration is as follows:
"If the proposal submitted by Dr. [insert the full name of the Principal Investigator] entitled [insert proposal title] is selected for funding by NSF, it is my intent to collaborator and/or commit resources as detailed in the Project Description or the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section of the proposal."
While letters of collaboration are permitted, unless required by a specific program solicitation, letters of support should not be submitted as they are not a standard component of an NSF proposal. A letter of support is typically from a key stakeholder such as an organization, collaborator or Congressional Representative, and is used to convey a sense of enthusiasm for the project and/or to highlight the qualifications of the PI or co-PI. A letter of support submitted in response to a program solicitation requirement must be unique to the specific proposal submitted and cannot be altered without the author’s explicit prior approval. Proposals that contain letters of support not authorized by the program solicitation may be returned without review.
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Collaborators and Other Affiliations Information
Required; no page limit
- Collaborators and Other Affiliations (COA) information must be separately provided for each individual identified as senior project personnel (see NSF PAPPG, Chapter II.C.1.e.)
- The COA information must be provided through use of the COA template. The template has been developed to be fillable; however, the content and format requirements must not be altered by the user.
- Save the template in .xlsx format and directly upload into FastLane as a Collaborators and Other Affiliations Single Copy Document.