Michael, Your interpretation is basically what we've been told by NSF's Jean Feldman at various meetings. The auditors only look at budget and budget justification for "voluntary committed cost-share" and understand that institutions are expected to provide appropriate support for projects as documented in the Resources section (but the documentation must be in narrative form, not in dollars). Frances Vinal Farnsworth Coordinator of Sponsored Research Middlebury College Middlebury, VT 05733 Email: xxxxxx@middlebury.edu Telephone: 802-443-5889 ________________________________________ From: Research Administration List [xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] on behalf of Spires, Michael [xxxxxx@SI.EDU] Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 12:45 PM To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] NSF - Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources form and faculty effort I was getting similar questions from people that I work with, which was what prompted the question to Jeremy. His response indicated that it was OK to include the time commitment as long as there was no mention of associated costs. It may be that while the budget and budget justification are formal commitments (and subject to audit), the facilities statement has less of an official nature (and isn’t subject to audit), so while it’s sort of quantifiable cost-sharing, it doesn’t rise to the level where they have to take note of it. (Please note that the foregoing was entirely my interpretation, and not anything that anyone at NSF said.) Michael Spires Proposal Development Specialist Office of Sponsored Projects Smithsonian Institution Mail: MRC 1205, P. O. Box 37012 Washington, DC 20013-7012 Voice: (202) 633-7436 Mobile: (202) 251-4317 Main office: (202) 633-7110 Fax: (202) 633-7119 http://prism.si.edu/osp/FundingSources/ProposalDevelopment/PropDev.html From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of John Lawler Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 11:18 To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] NSF - Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources form and faculty effort I might be missing something, but if you were to include person-months or a percentage of effort, doesn't that qualify as quantifiable financial information? The committed effort must be paid, so if not by NSF, doesn't it then become implied voluntary cost-share? John Lawler Grants and Contract Specialist University of Wisconsin Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology 1550 Linden Drive, Room 1332 Microbial Sciences Madison WI 53706-1521 (608) 263-5591 xxxxxx@wisc.edu<mailto:xxxxxx@wisc.edu> On Jun 21, 2013, at 9:21 AM, Spires, Michael wrote: The PI’s commitment of effort would normally show up in the current and pending support information that senior personnel have to provide (which is supposed to include the current proposal). But I see no reason why it couldn’t also be included in the facilities and other resources section as well—as long as the commitment is in terms of percentage of effort or person-months, and not dollars or salary amounts. I did ask Jeremy Leffler from the NSF Policy Office a similar question at an SRA section meeting last month, and his response was that as long as it didn’t have quantifiable financial information, it was OK to include commitments of effort for project personnel in the facilities section. Michael Spires Proposal Development Specialist Office of Sponsored Projects Smithsonian Institution Mail: MRC 1205, P. O. Box 37012 Washington, DC 20013-7012 Voice: (202) 633-7436 Mobile: (202) 251-4317 Main office: (202) 633-7110 Fax: (202) 633-7119 http://prism.si.edu/osp/FundingSources/ProposalDevelopment/PropDev.html From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org]<mailto:[mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org]> On Behalf Of Ogden, Juli (ogdenji) Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 15:48 To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org<mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org> Subject: [RESADM-L] NSF - Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources form and faculty effort 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 andpersonnel) 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<http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf13001/aag_2.jsp#IIB1> 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<http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf13001/gpg_2.jsp#fn30> 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<http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf13001/gpg_2.jsp#IIC2i> 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 ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.healthresearch.org (click on the "LISTSERV" link in the upper right corner) A link directly to helpful tips: http://tinyurl.com/resadm-l-help ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.healthresearch.org (click on the "LISTSERV" link in the upper right corner) A link directly to helpful tips: http://tinyurl.com/resadm-l-help ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.healthresearch.org (click on the "LISTSERV" link in the upper right corner) A link directly to helpful tips: http://tinyurl.com/resadm-l-help ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.healthresearch.org (click on the "LISTSERV" link in the upper right corner) A link directly to helpful tips: http://tinyurl.com/resadm-l-help ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.healthresearch.org (click on the "LISTSERV" link in the upper right corner) A link directly to helpful tips: http://tinyurl.com/resadm-l-help ======================================================================
