The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced revisions to its Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) on October 16. The new PAPPG will be effective for proposals submitted or due on or after January 25, 2016. The revisions include: 

• Enforcement of 5 pm deadline in submitter’s local time across all NSF funding opportunities 
• Implementation of NSF’s Public Access Policy 
• Submission of proposal certifications by the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) concurrent with proposal submission 
• Implementation of the US Government Policy for Institutional Oversight of Life Sciences on Dual Use Research of Concern 
• Inclusion of Collaborators and Other Affiliations information in a new single-copy document, instead of as part of the Biographical Sketch 
• Submission of Biographical Sketches and Current and Pending Support separately for all senior personnel 
• Electronic signature and submission of notifications and requests by the AOR only 
• Revision of submission timeframe for final project reports, project outcomes reports, and financial closure of awards to 120 days after the award end date 

The NSF BIO Directorate also updated their guidance for data management plans (DMPs), which must be submitted as part of all grant applications. Most notably, BIO added a mechanism to encourage compliance in a new Future Proposals section, stating that “DMP implementation will be considered during the evaluation of subsequent proposals.” Other changes include a list of data management resources and an expanded description of expected DMP contents.

Last updated: November 9, 2015