NSF relies on the judgment of external experts to maintain high standards of program management, to provide advice for continuous improvement of NSF performance, and to ensure openness to the research and education community served by the Foundation. Committee of Visitors (COV) reviews provide NSF with external expert judgments in two areas: (1) assessments of the quality and integrity of program operations and program-level technical and managerial matters pertaining to proposal decisions; and (2) comments on how the outputs and outcomes generated by awardees have contributed to the attainment of NSF's mission and strategic outcome goals.

COV reviews are conducted at regular intervals of approximately three years for programs and offices that recommend or award grants, cooperative agreements, and/or contracts and whose main focus is the conduct or support of NSF research and education in science and engineering.

For access to COV reports and associated documents, please choose a directorate, office, or program from the list on the right-hand side.