National Science Foundation (NSF) Updated Requirements for Proposals due on or after June 1, 2020

On June 1, 2020, the National Science Foundation (NSF) implemented the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 20-1) for proposals due on or after that date. The revised PAPPG implements a variety of new requirements and clarifications. The most significant of these are changes to the following proposal sections:

• Biographical Sketches: For the Biographical Sketch component of an application, NSF will only accept PDFs that are generated through the use of an NSF-approved format (This requirement went into effect on October 5).
  • Other changes include permission for the conditional use of “et al” for publication citations in the “Products” section, when citing multiple authors.
• Current and Pending Support: The requirement to use an NSF-approved format for preparation of current and pending support went into effect for proposals submitted on or after October 5.
  • Along with the format change, the revised PAPPG expands the definition of current and pending support to include “all resources made available to an individual in support of and/or related to all of his/her research efforts… [including] in-kind contributions (such as office/laboratory space, equipment, supplies, employees [or] students).”

An NSF webinar covering the new format requirements was recorded in April 2020 and can be accessed here. Click here for a summary of all significant changes and clarifications made to the PAPPG.