From the Office of Sponsored Research and Programs
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET (OMB)
Reporting Burden: A memorandum released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Sept. 5, outlined a range of steps that the Federal Government is taking to reduce grant recipient reporting burden. You can read the memo in full here.
President’s Management Agenda (PMA): The President’s Management Agenda lays out a long-term vision for modernizing the Federal Government in key areas that will improve the ability of agencies to deliver mission outcomes, provide excellent service, and effectively steward taxpayer dollars on behalf of the American people. To drive these management priorities, the Administration leverages Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goals to coordinate and publicly track implementation across Federal agencies.
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF)
Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) Update Webinar: NSF offered a webinar for the research community on Nov. 27, to review the revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), (NSF 19-1). The changes to the PAPPG that will take effect on Jan. 28, 2019. For more information to register please visit the NSF PAPPG update webinar page.
Year Definition: On Jan. 29, when NSF issued its Proposal & Award Policies and Procedures Guide (link is external), it noted that it is a university’s responsibility to include in the Budget Justification a definition of the term “year” for the purposes of complying in a consistent manner with NSF’s two-month limit on salary requested in the proposal budget for senior personnel. (Note as well that NSF increased the Budget Justification page limit to five pages).
NSF Grants.gov Application Guide Alignment: Effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after Jan. 29. The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide has been updated to align with changes to NSF’s Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 18-1). OSRP wanted to remind university researchers of some of the significant changes. They include:
- Collaborators & Other Affiliations (COA) Information provided through use of COA template.
- Project Description must now contain separate section identified as “Intellectual Merit.”
- Budget Justification increased to no more than five pages.
Eager to learn more? You can review a summary of significant changes (link is external) on the NSF website.
Sexual Harrassment Policy: NSF announces new measures to protect research community from harassment by drafting a new policy requiring awardee institutions to report sexual harassment finding. NSF is bolstering our policies, guidelines and communications so that organizations clearly understand expectations and individuals understand their rights. For details on the new requirements, see the NSF fact sheet.
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)
Revised NIH Grants Policy Statement: (NIH) announces the publication of the revised NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS, rev. October 2018). This revision is applicable to all NIH grants and cooperative agreements with budget periods beginning on or after October 1, 2018. This revision supersedes, in its entirety, the NIH Grants Policy Statement (October 2017) as a standard term and condition of award. Previous versions of the NIHGPS remain applicable as a standard term and condition for all NIH grants and cooperative agreements with budget periods that began prior to Oct. 1, 2018.
Salary Limitations for Grants, Cooperative Agreements FY 2018: Notice Number: NOT-OD-18-137. Since 1990, Congress has legislatively mandated a limitation on direct salary for individuals under NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards (referred to here as a grant). The mandate appears in the annual appropriation act that provides authority for NIH to incur obligations for a given Fiscal Year (FY). The Executive Level II salary has increased to $189,600.
Communicating Research Misconduct: Notice Number: NOT-OD-19-020 reminds recipient institutions of their responsibilities in handling suspected or confirmed research misconduct in NIH-funded research. This notice also clarifies the requirement for recipient and subrecipient institutions, foreign or domestic, to hold assurances with ORI and outlines procedures for recipient institutions to communicate matters related to research misconduct proceedings to the NIH and HHS Office of Research Integrity (ORI).
Please send all grant and contract inquires and questions to osrp@campbell.edu.
David Camps, Vice President of Sponsored Research and Programs
K.Victoria Ming, Research Compliance Officer