Quantifying effort means you are proposing voluntary committed cost share, and NSF does not allow cost share (except for a couple of programs that Congress insisted on, like MRI for large institutions). Thus, tell him that it is not allowed. NSF might reject the proposal.  

A PI wants to communicate and quantify their commitment/effort in the Other section of the NSF “Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources” form.  They will not be committing any official (direct cost) effort to the project.   I believe that there is no need to list the PI on the Other Resources form.   But the PI is confident that the information should be listed.   

Thoughts?

i. Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources

This section of the proposal is used to assess the adequacy of the resources available to perform the effort proposed to satisfy both Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts review criteria. Proposers should describe only those resources that are directly applicable. Proposers should include an aggregated description of the internal and external resources (both physical and personnel) that the organization and its collaborators will provide to the project, should it be funded. Such information must be provided in this section, in lieu of other parts of the proposal (e.g., budget justification, project description). The description should be narrative in nature and must not include any quantifiable financial information. Reviewers will evaluate the information during the merit review process and the cognizant NSF Program Officer will review it for programmatic and technical sufficiency.

Although these resources are not considered cost sharing as defined in 2 CFR § 215.23 (OMB Circular A-110), the Foundation does expect that the resources identified in the Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources section will be provided, or made available, should the proposal be funded. AAG Chapter II.B.1 specifies procedures for use by the awardee when there are postaward changes to objective, scope or methodology.

Voluntary Committed Cost Sharing

Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited and Line M on the proposal budget will not be available for use by the proposer.³⁰ In order for NSF, and its reviewers, to assess the scope of a proposed project, all organizational resources necessary for, and available to a project, must be described in the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section of the proposal (see GPG Chapter II.C.2.i for further information). NSF Program Officers may not impose or encourage cost sharing unless such requirements are explicitly included in the program solicitation.

Juli Ogden, M.A.

Grant Administrator

Department of Psychology

McMicken College of Arts and Sciences

University of Cincinnati

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