As mentioned in the Grant Proposal Guide (NSF 00-2, Chapter 1, section C, page 2), NSF is currently in the process of changing our FastLane PI and Organizational Management functions to make use of passwords rather than PINs (this change does NOT affect the Business Office functions).  We plan to begin the conversion to passwords within the next two months.  We are making these changes for two reasons:

*       to be consistent with the password conventions that will be used by the Federal Commons project
and
*       to be able to use FastLane passwords as a part of electronic signatures (e.g. proposal certifications page, signatures on revised budgets) so paper copies of these will no longer be required

The basic changes you will see with the new password system are:

1)  length will be between 6 and 20 characters
2)  must contain at least one alphabetic and one numeric character
3)  regular expiration of passwords (currently planned for 180 days but may change)
4)  passwords cannot be reused for three change cycles
5)  individuals will have the ability to change their own passwords
6)  if a research administrator changes an individual's password, the individual is required to change the password to something else as a part of the next log-on sequence.

I have heard from some that there is concern on your part about the loss of control with this new system (since the individual can/must change his/her own password).  I understand this concern, and I am sure you will agree that the implementation of electronic signatures will be worth this small inconvenience.  We have worked closely with our lawyers and auditors to be sure that these changes will meet their requirements for the use of electronic signatures in FastLane.  In the long-term, we will all benefit from these changes.

Once we have finished making our changes and tested them, we will be ready to implement the new password system.  We plan to convert the PINs over a thirty day period, based on users' last names.  When we have an implementation schedule, I will contact you with more information about the exact implementation schedule and other details.

--Carolyn