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ISE FAQs

FAQs about preparing and submitting a proposal to NSF

NSF's Policy Office offers the most frequently asked questions and answers http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/cpo/policy/faqs.htm

General Questions posed to ISE program officers

Q. What is the typical size of an ISE Program grant?
A. ISE grants generally range from $25 thousand to $3 million dollars, depending on the substance, scale, medium, and length of the project. There is no "average" project budget figure. Reviewers tend to assess proposals on the merits of the basic idea and the abilities of the principals involved. If they rate the project highly, they then assess the extent to which the budget is appropriate for the proposed project. Proposals, therefore, are strongest if the budgets are sufficient to cover the work proposed but are not inflated.

Q. When are grants announced?
A. There are no set dates for announcements of grants. PI's may check the status of their proposals via Fastlane. When a grant is made, the Division of Grants and Agreements sends an award letter via FastLane to the submitting organization, and the award abstract is posted on the NSF website data base.

Q. How long does the grant process take?
A. For general ISE proposals, you should plan for the process to take approximately one year. This includes time to prepare and submit a preliminary proposal, and approximately three months later, to submit a full proposal. Most applicants are told within six months of submission of a full proposal whether their proposal has been recommended for funding or declined. Recommendations for awards pass to the Division of Grants and Agreement (DGA) for business, financial, and policy reviews. DGA has 30 days to complete its process. Planning Grants, SGER, Conference Grants and SARA's are processed more quickly than general proposals and may be submitted at any time throughout the year.

Q. How are grant proposals reviewed?
A. The proposal review process is described in the NSF Proposal Review Process section of the Program Solicitation and Guidelines.

About Preparing Proposals

Q. Can you give me the names of individuals or organizations that do evaluation?
A. There are a number of qualified evaluators working the informal science education field. Some of them focus on evaluation in a particular area (e.g. exhibits, media, youth/community projects) and each brings special strengths and interests to their work. See our "Finding an Evaluator" page for more information. When selecting an evaluator, you should be sure to choose someone (or an organization) that has experience in the particular format of your project. In addition, you should tell prospective evaluators what you would like to find out (in front-end, formative, and/or summative evaluation as appropriate) and assess their response in terms of methodology, timing, and budget to see if they will fulfill your requirements. It often is a good idea to get proposals from several evaluators.

Q. What are unallowable costs? Can NSF funds be requested to purchase vehicles and computers?
A. The Grant Proposal Guide (GPG), NSF #02-2, lists three categories of unallowable costs that are most sensitive. They are entertainment, meals and coffee breaks, and alcoholic beverages (See GPG Chapter II, Section C.6.m (i-iii). It should also be noted that there are restrictions on specific items of equipment (Line D on the grant proposal budget). The GPG states that: "Allowable items ordinarily will be limited to research equipment and apparatus not already available for the conduct of the work. General purpose equipment, such as a personal computer, is not eligible for support unless primarily or exclusively used in the actual conduct of scientific research. (See GPG Chapter II, Section C.6.c). For a complete description of these items, please refer to the current GPG.

Q. What should be included as relevant research as a component of the Preliminary Proposal narrative?
A. Relevant research refers to research that supports the primary work of the proposal and is often used to justify the need. Examples include, but are not limited to audience research, front-end research and evaluation, as well as educational research on learning in formal and informal settings.

Q. Are letters of commitment needed for the preliminary proposal and the Full Proposal?
A. At the preliminary proposal stage, it is expected that the narrative will include a list of proposed partners, collaborators and advisory committee members. However, letters of support or commitment are not required at this time. At the full proposal stage, reviewers expect to see letters of commitment from individuals who will have major roles in the execution of the proposed activities. This includes partners, collaborators, advisory committee members and consultants. Letters of support spell out the nature and duration of the commitment.

About Award Management

Q. Do I need to notify my Program Officer if there are personnel or budgetary changes in my award?
A. Certain post-award actions require approval of your Program Officer and Grants Officer. These items include transfer in project effort (PI Transfer), change in objectives or scope, change in PI, substantial change in PI effort, reallocation of funds budgeted for participant support, reduction in cost-sharing shown on Line M of the grant budget and construction activities costing $25,000 or more. PI change, PI transfers, and subaward changes may be submitted electronically through FastLane. Notify your Program Officer directly for all actions that cannot be submitted electronically, providing as much information as possible. The Grant Policy Manual also contains information on award management. It may be accessed at http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf9526.

Q. When are annual and final reports due?
A. Prinicpal Investigators are required to submit annual progress reports as well as a final project report through FastLane. Annual reports are due 90 days before the award anniversary, and final reports must be submitted within 90 days of the expiration of the grant. If an award is a continuing grant, then the annual report should be submitted with a request for the continuation increment. This usually means that the first annual report is for less than one year.

Q. How do I apply for a no-cost extension?
A. Principal Investigators can apply for no cost extensions via FastLane when they feel more time is needed to complete a project for which the original award was made. There are two types of no cost extensions. A PI can enter FastLane and notify NSF that they are taking a first-time no cost extension for up to twelve months. This extension is automatic when requested via FastLane. Occasionally, a PI will need additional time to complete a project beyond the 12 months extension the institution can award itself. Such a request should be made in FastLane, and the cognizant program officer will be notified automatically. The cognizant program officer must decide to approve or decline a second no cost extension.