Compliance issues to avoid when submitting proposals to the NSF Antarctic Research program solicitation (NSF 17-543)

May 15, 2017

View NSF 17-543 at www.nsf.gov

Issue #1: “Results from Prior NSF Support” must include evidence of research products.

Guidance: You must provide evidence of research products and their availability. The requirements for the Results from Prior NSF Support section are given in the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) Chapter II.C.2.d(iii)(e).

Issue #2: “Letters of Collaboration” must not include endorsements for the proposed project.

Guidance: 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 the proposal title] is selected for funding by NSF, it is my intent to collaborate and/or commit resources as detailed in the Project Description or the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section of the proposal”.

The requirements for the Letters of Collaboration are given in the PAPPG Chapter II.C.2.j.

Issue #3: “Data Management Plan” must include archival in long-lived, publicly accessible archives and specify a timeline for archiving data.

Guidance: The Data Management Plans should describe how and when metadata files, full data sets, and derived data products will be deposited in a long-lived and publicly accessible archive. All data and derived data products must be provided to a data center within two years of collection or by the end of the award, whichever comes first.

The full requirements for the Data Management Plan are given in NSF 16-055, “Dear Colleague Letter: Data Management and Data Reporting Requirements for Research Awards Supported by the Office of Polar Programs”.