NSF PAPPG Revised

Here is a quick rundown of the functionality of the extramural funding systems of some of the major Federal sponsors.  If you have any questions please contact OSP and if we don’t have the answer we will do our best to find out in this highly fluid situation.   Of course we are all hoping for a quick resolution.

NSF

Reseasrch.gov and Fastlane are down for the duration of the shutdown.  Basically you should continue to work on any funded NSF projects but other than that NSF is shutdown.  Presumably once the shutdown is over they will allow for submission of any proposals that had submit dates during the shutdown.  This is usually on extremely short turn around so we advise that you still have any proposals completed and ready to upload to Fastlane on short notice.

https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/postshutdown.jsp

NIH

So far there is very limited information out of NIH.  During the 2013 shutdown it was advised not to submit proposals during the shutdown but we have not been able to find specific information for 2018.  On the DHHS page is says that no action will be taken on extramural awards during the shutdown.  I would suggest going ahead and having any grants.gov workspace packages completed.  At this time it appears Grants.gov and NIH Commons are up and running.  Work should continue on already funded NIH awards.

https://www.hhs.gov/about/budget/fy-2018-hhs-contingency-staffing-plan/index.html

NOAA

NOAA’s Grants Online system is not functioning during any shutdown.  Unfortunately NOAA has not made any statements about proposal submission. If you have a proposal due during the shutdown we would advise going ahead and completing the proposal in Grants.gov Work Space so we can attempt to submit during the deadline.  Work should continue on already funded NOAA awards.

https://rgw.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/noaa_2018_shutdown.pdf

NASA

Again, specific advice on NASA proposals is a bit hard to come by.  Best guess is that they will follow the same as the notice for government proposers which is that deadlines missed during the shutdown will be extended (see link below).  In November NASA submitted an updated plan for shutdowns but it does not include proposal submission.   That plan is also linked below. Work should continue on currently funded NASA awards. NSPIRES does appear to be functioning.

https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2017/possible-government-shutdown

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/171130_revised_shutdown_plan.pdf

This is what we know as of 8:00 this morning (1/22/2018).  As we receive new information we will update this group.  For any questions please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

While we continue to hope that there will be a positive resolution to this situation it is certainly possible  we may be facing a partial shutdown of the Federal Government.  While we know what has happened in the past, we do not know if things will be the same this time. In the past Grants.gov continued to take submissions, even though some of the Federal agency systems that receive proposals from Grants.gov were not operational. However, to ensure that proposals were counted as submitted on time they still needed to be submitted to Grants.gov by the deadline.  NSF Fastlane did shutdown last time and allowed for late submissions due to the shutdown, but basically gave very little turnaround time once they were back up.  Therefore, the Office of Sponsored Programs is recommending that we continue with business as usual submitting proposals by their due dates.  If this changes we will communicate any changes.

If there is shutdown new awards and increments will undoubtably be delayed.

Below is a link to agency specific information that is available at this time, but I have checked some of the links and they do not all link to documents at this time.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/agency-contingency-plans/

I want to assure you that OSP and OVPR will continue to monitor the situation and stay in communication.

Thank you,

Stan Jackson

Director, OSP

Kuali Live in 2018!                   

UMBC is now live with Kuali!  Kuali is a new software system aiming to significantly improve the process of proposal submission and several other critical extramural related activities for our faculty and department administrators.

Kuali is partnership between the Kuali Foundation and a community of R1 institutions, including the University of Maryland Baltimore and College Park. The system was designed by university research administration subject matter experts specially for universities.

It provides a web-based, single resource for proposals, all extramural award types, compliance, and unfunded agreement information while providing a solution for many complex workflows as part of the review and approval process. Kuali allows for Administrators, Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators, Chairs and Dean's one cloud-based portal to their individual, unit, college or center information.

 Easing the burden of extramural funding submissions, Kuali provides tools to assist in collaboration, budget and compliance approvals. The system provides the UMBC community an electronic approval and submission process, and eliminates the requirement to create Federal Agency form packages. Kuali submits automatically to System-to-System Grants.Gov. The system also has compliance tracking, for example, COI financial disclosures tied directly to proposals, awards and IRB.

 UMBC is joining sister system campuses who are committed to the transition of the research management format from PeopleSoft to the cloud-based Kuali system. The alignment presents a unique opportunity for UMBC to benefit from a system-wide initiative sharing of resources.          

 UMBC funded proposals and awards will be managed in Kuali. Future functionality will include tracking negotiations, reporting, compliance and finally the close-out process.

 For questions, just email us at OSP Team at the following:  http://OSPA@UMBC.edu.

 For further information and to sign-up for Kuali training, go to UMBC Kuali Website at:

Reminder: Changes for January 25, 2018 Application Due Dates

Two major changes impact applications submitted for due dates on or after January 25, 2018.

• Applicants are required to use FORMS-E. Wondering what this means for late applications or reviewers submitting under the continuous submission policies? See NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-17-062 to learn more.
• Applications that include one or more clinical trials must be submitted in response to funding opportunity announcements that allow for clinical trials. See NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-18-106 to learn more.

New Electronic Submission Requirement for Diversity Supplements

The funds provided in response to Diversity Supplement requests are used to improve the diversity of the biomedical research workforce by recruiting and supporting students, postdoctorates, and eligible investigators from groups that have been shown to be underrepresented in health-related research. Currently, NIH does not require that diversity supplements be submitted electronically, which poses a challenge to NIH staff when trying to identify and track diversity supplement awardees and their subsequent research careers.

Effective January 25, 2018, all single and multi-project diversity supplement requests MUST be submitted electronically (NOT-OD-18-111).

Our diversity supplement funding opportunity announcement will be reissued with FORMS-E application forms and instructions on January 25, 2018 (NOT-OD-17-062). Until then, requests can be prepared using our current FORMS-D diversity supplement FOA. This FOA will expire on February 25, 2018 and all subsequent requests must use the new FORMS-E FOA.

Since the ability to submit diversity supplement requests to multi-project awards is new, an application forms package was added to the FORMS-D diversity supplement FOA to facilitate those submissions. A similar package will be added to the FORMS-E FOA when posted. Although the new package is used in conjunction with multi-project awards, the diversity supplement request itself is structured as a single-project application to the parent award.

Use our “Research Instructions” found on the How to Apply – Application Guide page when preparing all diversity supplement requests.