ERA Forum March 2021 Webinar – Questions & Answers

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

This document contains the questions and answers about Research.gov Modernization Updates and Proposal Preparation Demo Site: Available

Functionalities for Proposers, Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), and Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)

discussed during the ERA Forum Webinar on March 31, 2021.

For further questions and ongoing feedback about Research.gov proposal preparation and submission, click the Feedback button at the bottom

of the Research.gov homepage, email [email protected] or call 1-800-381-1532. For questions regarding NSF proposal and award policies and

procedures, please see the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 20-1) or email [email protected].

Biographical Sketch

Question

Answer

Can “et al” be used with the NSF approved fillable PDF as it is in the

author section of publications? If so, is it being accepted for current

submissions?

Yes. "Senior personnel who wish to include publications in the

products section of the biographical sketch that include multiple

authors may, at their discretion, choose to list one or more of the

authors and then "et al." in lieu of including the complete listing of

authors' names.

Reference:

https://www.research.gov/common/attachment/Desktop/NSFPDF-

FAQs.pdf

Does the Biographical Sketch bibliographic references need to be in

APA format?

No. That is not an NSF format requirement.

From the list of available degrees, may we add “Certification” or

something similar? [in SciENcv]

NSF will consider this request, and, if appropriate, we will work with

SciENcv to add a certification option. In the interim, the user may

select "Other".

Once an extra field is added for an author, the tool does not allow the

user to remove it, which results in having to start over from the

beginning of the entry. Will NSF offer the ability to delete an extra

author field? [in SciENcv]

NIH SciENcv would need to make this change. We will pass this on to

them for feasibility review and prioritization.

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support

Question

Answer

After upload of the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending

Support, if an error or non-compliance is detected with the updated

templates, will that cause the application not to complete the

upload? In Research.gov, what capability will be provided if there are

any errors/warnings with the Biographical Sketch and/or Current and

Pending Support sections?

The NSF-Approved Formats for the Biographical Sketch page

(https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/biosketch.jsp) and NSF-

Approved Formats for Current and Pending Support page

(https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/cps.jsp) include links to FAQs

and other important information about completing and upload these

documents.

Biographical Sketch and COA

Question

Answer

My team has noticed technical issues when submitting proposals on

Research.gov. These issues primarily include error and warning

messages regarding Biographical Sketches and COAs, which are

sometimes inaccurate. In addition, COAs were often uploaded blank

and/or missing certain cells. Is this a widely known issue and has it

been addressed?

Refer to the Biographical Sketch FAQs to ensure the Biographical

Sketch is being populated, downloaded, and saved correctly to avoid

error messages. A technical fix was implemented to resolve the

warnings that were displayed for Biographical Sketches uploaded in

Research.gov.

If the formatting of the COA template is altered, that can cause issues

such as the template appearing blank when uploaded and warnings

being generated. We recommend to not alter the formatting of the

COA template to prevent the template from appearing blank and

warnings from being generated.

Biographical Sketch NSF Fillable Format

Question

Answer

When will the Biographical Sketch forms be fixed?

-- There needs to be more space under Other Significant Products or

Synergistic Activities.

-- There needs to be room for full citations; citations get cut off.

A second page will be added to the Biographical Sketch this fall.

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

Budget

Question

Answer

In cases where a proposal is submitted through FastLane and funded,

do budget changes have to be submitted through Research.gov? If so,

please provide additional information on this requirement.

For a proposal originally submitted in FastLane, a budget revision

would be created and submitted in FastLane.

On the budget tab, if there are 3 senior personnel (PI and 2 co-PIs)

and one of the co-PIs has zero month in year one and three months in

year 2, should zero be entered in the budget total for that individual?

Previously in Fastlane, users were not able to have a Senior Personnel

with no funding.

A co-PI must have months and dollars in at least one budget year. A

budget can include years without months and dollars for a co-PI. All

senior personnel on the project without funding in at least one year

are to be included in Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources.

10.

Please advise on how to handle a PI that is not being paid. Do you

want his Current & Pending? To give it to you we have to pay him $1.

If we put him in Facilities... then we can only give you the CV at the

appendices? Please give us a clear direction on this case. It is

common for a PI with significant input to not be paid on one

proposal.

On a Research.gov proposal budget, click the [manage] link next to

Senior Personnel. In the "Manage Senior Personnel Shown in Budget"

modal, move the PI to the "Removed from Budget" list. The Senior

Personnel Documents for the PI will still be required.

11.

Will there ever be a reminder that NSF requires 2.0 months in the

personnel budget, or what the PAPPG states to do if you request

more, just as a reminder?

Research.gov includes validation checks on the Months field for the

values entered in the budget.

Current and Pending Support

Question

Answer

12.

Could you please clarify how projects should be listed in the Current

& Pending Support? Does the project being applied for appear first,

followed by current then pending? Or does it begin with current, then

the project being applied for followed by other pending projects?

Thank you.

While the PAPPG does not state a required order, status of support is

identified in the NSF approved formats as:

*Current

*Pending

*Submission Planned

*Transfer of Support

If you are using the NSF Fillable Form, this order is not enforced. If

you are using NIH SciENcv, regardless of the order you enter the

status of support, the downloaded PDF will include the support in the

order identified above.

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

Question

Answer

13.

Does NSF require non-paid effort to be shown on the fillable Current

and Pending Support form?

Yes. Non-paid effort is a type of support. And their name and the

estimated amount of time to be devoted to the project should be

identified in the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section of

the proposal.

Reference:

https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/papp/pappg20_1/faqs_cps20_1

.pdf

14.

In a case where a PI has an active grant with no effort, and the

information is entered as such in the Current and Pending Support,

the system does not allow the user to advance to the next entry

because it requires the person months information. The same issue

occurs for proposals that have cost sharing. How should the user

handle these cases?

Individuals should only include projects to which they are committing

time/person months.

Reference:

https://www.research.gov/common/attachment/Desktop/SciENcv-

FAQs.pdf

15.

In some instances, an institution’s fiscal year runs from July to June,

so it spans two calendar years. Based on the FAQs, the latter of the

two calendar years should be used in the “Year” field on the Current

and Pending Support document. However, the system will not allow

this if the fiscal year used falls after the last project year. How should

this situation be addressed?

For example: The last three months of the project 07/2024-09/2024

fall within our fiscal year 2025, but the system errors when the year

2025 is included.

NSF will discuss this issue further, and, if appropriate, we will speak

with NIH about the validation for this instance. In the meantime, the

user should use calendar year.

16.

In the past, some solicitations requested "additional" information on

the Current and Pending Support. How will this affect the format

going forward?

Solicitations are being reviewed with this in mind going forward;

except where approved as part of NSF's internal clearance process,

additional requirements in the Current and Pending Support section

will not be permitted.

17.

Is there any way to edit the C & P that will not require uploading

blank pages?

The NSF fillable format is a static document and blank pages should

not be deleted. Any edits to this document will result in a non-

compliant document that will prevent proposal submission in

FastLane, Research.gov or Grants.gov.

18.

Must the total award amount be equal to the amount listed on the

Notice of Award, or the amount available to a specific PI/co-PI?

Yes. The total award amount requested or received by the sub-

awardee organization must be provided. The award budget attached

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

Question

Answer

For example: If an institution is a subaward, should the total award to

the prime institution be listed, or should the amount allocated to the

institution be listed?

to the Notice of Award would identify the amounts intended for sub-

awardees.

19.

On Current and Pending Support, The Proposal / Award Number field

will not accept slashes, spaces, or semicolons. Some award numbers

include these, or there may be two award numbers—one from the

sponsor, and one from the lead institution issuing a subaward to our

institution. Would it be possible to change this field to allow slashes,

spaces, etc.?

The 'Proposal/Award Number' field in the Current and Pending

Support in NIH SciENcv only allows for letters or numbers in the field.

NIH SciENcv would need to make an update to allow for other types

of characters.

20.

When a user is entering information in the Current and Pending

Support Summary in SciENcv, the Project / Proposal Title and the

Proposal / Award Number can sometimes be too long to fit in the

space provided. Is it possible to increase the number of characters

allowable in those fields?

The 'Project/Proposal Title' allows for 196 characters.

The 'Proposal/Award Number' allows for 20 characters.

NIH SciENcv would need to update the character limit of these fields.

21.

When the PDF of the Current and Pending Support Summary

document is downloaded, the downloaded name is “cv-xxxxxx.pdf”

(where the “x” stands for numbers) for example. This is easily

confused with the Biographical Sketch because it also downloads with

“cv-xxxxxx.pdf” as the name. Would it be possible to change the

Current and Pending Support Summary to show “cp-xxxxxx.pdf” when

it downloads?

The format of 'cv-xxxxxx.pdf' applies to both Biographical Sketch and

Current and Pending Support PDF files that are generated from NIH

SciENcv. NIH SciENcv would need to make an enhancement to change

the filename when the Current and Pending Support is downloaded

and saved.

22.

When using the NSF fillable Current and Pending Support document,

if only the first (2) pages of the document are needed, does the user

have to keep all 15 pages?

For example: A recently submitted a Collaborative Proposal for 23

participating institutions yielded over 500 pages for Current and

Pending Support. If the ability to delete blank pages was available, it

would have been so much more manageable. The proposal ended up

being a total of 1,010 pages for the entire combined PDF.

The NSF fillable format is a static document and blank pages should

not be deleted. Any edits to this document will result in a non-

compliant document that will prevent proposal submission in

FastLane, Research.gov or Grants.gov.

Reference:

https://www.research.gov/common/attachment/Desktop/NSFPDF-

FAQs.pdf

23.

Can someone please explain the "In Kind Contribution" section of this

form?

An item or service given with the expectation of an associated time

commitment is not a gift and is instead an in-kind contribution and

must be reported to NSF. If the in-kind contribution is not intended

for use on the project/proposal being proposed to NSF but has an

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

Question

Answer

associated time commitment, the information must be included as

part of the current and pending support section of the proposal. If the

in-kind contribution is intended for use on the project/proposal being

proposed to NSF, the information must be included as part of the

Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section of the proposal

and need not be replicated in the individual’s current and pending

support submission.

Directorate of Biological Sciences Proposal Classification Form

Question

Answer

24.

Can you please clarify whether, as we were told around 18 months

ago, the Directorate for Biological Sciences has indeed scrapped the

Proposal Classification Form (or that it plans to do so soon) and, if so,

when we might expect to see that decision reflected in guidance

documents and on the NSF website? This question has come up

recently on the RESADM-L listserv, and I know there is one that has

several of our investigators worried about whether they should use

either system-to-system or Research.gov for submitting their

proposals (both of which we are actively encouraging wherever

possible) or continue to use FastLane.

The Biological Sciences Directorate has considered this issue further

and has determined that the BIO Classification Form needs to be

retained. We are considering how that information impacts PSM in

the near-term.

Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS)

Question

Answer

25.

If a report is added to FAPIIS as past due, once submitted, will it be

removed or marked as submitted?

Once reported to FAPIIS, the record remains in FAPIIS for five years.

There is no mechanism to remove a submission. Organizations are

able to add comments to a record once the record is created by the

Federal entity.

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

Font Compliance

Question

Answer

26.

When submitting the narrative, a font type error appears. The user

has verified several times that the font type is Times New Roman 11

for the text and Times New Roman 10 for figures labels, and for

equations Cambria Math. According to the guidelines these two font

types are allowed. The user has verified that all figures are inserted as

objects, so the file is in agreement with font guidelines, but the error

warning is persistent. If a user submits with this warning is there the

possibility that the narrative will not be revised due to the error in the

font?

The automated compliance check for font type was turned off in the

Research.gov November 2020 Release. NSF is exploring alternative

approaches to compliance checking. Proposals must continue to

comply with NSF requirements.

Grants.gov

Question

Answer

27.

Through which system does NSF draw down their Grants.gov

submissions? Is this still through FastLane, or is this now via

Research.gov?

It is currently through FastLane, but we plan to integrate with

Research.gov in the near future.

28.

If a proposal is submitted via Grants.gov using system-to-system, how

would we submit a Proposal File Update (in Fastlane or

Research.gov)?

Currently submitters that used Grants.gov will need to go to FastLane

to perform PFUs. This will change in the future, but that date is not

determined.

LaTeX/Compliance

Question

Answer

29.

Can NSF allow a more robust LaTeX PDF format since most of the

users in science use LaTeX, or can NSF provide a LaTeX version

template with detailed requirements for figures and tables?

At this time NSF does not have any plans to provide a LaTeX version

template; however, we will take this request into consideration for

future development.

30.

Research.gov is rejecting LaTeX generated PDFs for margin issues.

Users have double-checked the margins on the PDFs, and the margins

have been one inch all the way around, 8.5x11 documents, with no

pagination. Research.gov would not accept the document for upload.

This has happened multiple times with different LaTeX users.

Ultimately, user have had to make the margins greater than one inch,

The removal of the font type and font size warnings does not apply to

the margin warnings. We encourage you to access the Research

Proposal Prep Document Formatting FAQs available on the

Research.gov About page sections. There are tips to help you identify

some possible causes of margin issues.

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

Question

Answer

or switch to Fastlane. Will this be corrected as part of the removal of

the font warnings/restrictions, or will users continue to see this error

since it is related to the margins?

31.

There are always margin errors even when the margins are 1 inch.

When will the Research.gov Proposal Preparation and Submission

system be able to handle PDF files creating using LaTeX?

We are working to enhance the algorithm to include LaTeX PDF

format. We encourage you to access the Research Proposal Prep

Document Formatting FAQs available on the Research.gov About

page sections. There are tips to help you identify some possible

causes of margin issues.

Overtime Pay

Question

Answer

32.

Does NSF allow for overtime pay on sponsored projects. If so, can the

total overtime pay be charged to one grant or does it have to be

proportionally paid across all funding sources?

Compensation policies must comply with organizational policies and

procedures and in accordance with the Uniform Administrative

Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal

Awards, 2 CFR § 200.430.

PI Transfer

Question

Answer

33.

If a PI is transferring a grant out of an institution, will that institution

receive a termination notice?

If the project is to be continued at the PI/PD’s new organization, and

if NSF and both organizations agree, formal notification of the

impending transfer can be electronically initiated by either the PI/PD

or the PI/PD's organization.

The NSF has plans to notify the original awardee upon the approval of

the transfer. No deadline for this enhancement has been set.

34.

When will PI Transfers be available in Research.gov?

PI Transfers will be available in Research.gov before FastLane is

retired.

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

Post-Submission (after due date change)

Question

Answer

35.

If a program officer gives permission to edit an application after the

opportunity closes, should we use the Withdrawal function to edit

and resubmit the revised application? If not, how should the

application be revised? Can the SPO office revise it or only the PI?

No, you do not need to Withdraw a proposal if the due date has

passed for an opportunity. If you have additional revisions, you can

perform a Proposal File Update (PFU) or a Budget Revision (BR). As

long as reviewers are not assigned to the proposal submitted, you

should be able to do a PFU/BR. If there are reviewers assigned, you

can only do a BR. Once you perform the PFU action, you can share

proposal access with the SPO/AOR.

Project Reports

Question

Answer

36.

Everything entered in Project Outcomes was suddenly lost even

though I had saved it a couple of times. This also happened earlier in

entering information into a Project Report. Very frustrating! Can you

just save everything that is typed in?

There is no auto-save feature in project reporting. However, if you

are experiencing save issues, please call the NSF Help desk.

37.

For an RPPR, should international conference travel be included

here?

What percentage of the award’s budget was spent in foreign

country(ies)? Describe what percentage of the award’s budget was

spent in foreign country(ies) for this reporting period. If more than

one foreign country was involved, identify the distribution of funding

between the foreign countries. U.S.-based recipients should provide

the percentage of the budget spent in the foreign country(ies)

and/or, if applicable, the percentage of the budget obligated to

foreign entities as first-tier subawards. Recipients that are not U.S.-

based should provide the percentage of the direct award received,

excluding all first tier subawards to U.S. entities. If applicable, provide

separately the percentage of the budget obligated to non-U.S.

entities as first-tier subawards.

NSF is discussing this issue internally and will consider development

of an FAQ to respond more broadly.

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

Research.gov

Question

Answer

38.

There is currently a proposal that is in the process of being submitted

for the NSF 20-591 funding opportunity, using the FastLane platform.

Will changes need to be made, or will the proposal need to be re-

entered in Research.gov?

Proposals initiated in FastLane will not be available in Research.gov

for submission. If you want to submit a proposal in Research.gov,

then you will have to initiate a new proposal.

Reference:

https://web.acpt.research.gov/common/attachment/Desktop/Projec

t%20Report%20Getting%20Started%20Guide.pdf

39.

Many PIs are experiencing difficulty in getting PDF documents

accepted in Research.gov. Specifically, the error message indicates

margins are not in compliance, while it is set to 1” margin all around

in MS Word correctly.

Are there any recommended ways or application for preparing PDF

documents for upload, to prevent such “glitches” from happening?

The Research.gov "About" section, "About Proposal Preparation and

Submission" includes an FAQ on uploading documents with

information on the causes of margin errors.

40.

Why users are unable to change the funding opportunity in a

Research.gov proposal like in FastLane?

Research.gov relies heavily on the rules of the funding opportunity.

41.

If a solicitation allows for a 20-page project description (as opposed

to the traditional 15-page limit), can the proposal be submitted in

Research.gov or will the compliance checks not permit the file to be

uploaded? If they are not currently supported in Research.gov, will

they be in the future?

Research.gov will not allow upload of a project description that is

more than 15 pages. This may be a future update.

42.

When preparing a proposal via Research.gov a user is not able to edit

the directorate or division once a proposal is started. Often times

there are multiple directorates that need to be selected; and while

this option exists during proposal input, this is not editable in case

this step was forgotten or missed. The solicitation and proposal type

may predict the workflow and required documents within the system,

but can this specific field be made editable? It would be incredibly

helpful if the directorate selection feature could be modified after

proposal creation.

No. For the units of consideration, a selection has to be made before

you go to the next step in the Research.gov proposal setup wizard,

and a user cannot change the Units of Consideration (UoC) after the

proposal has been created. We do not have any plans to change this

functionality.

43.

I frequently receive notices that my session will expire and that I will

be signed out of Research.gov. This happens when I am still actively in

Research.gov and making changes or going between multiple items

No. In Research.gov, there is a two-hour session limit regardless of

whether the user is active. The user will need to re-authenticate after

two hours.

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

Question

Answer

and proposal actions. Is there a way for Research.gov to not

automatically sign me out when I am actively using the system?

44.

How will supplemental funding requests be handled in Research.gov?

For existing awards that were approved in Fastlane, will the

supplemental funding request feature remain in Fastlane for the

duration of the award (i.e., next 5 years) or will those transition to

Research.gov as well?

Supplemental funding request functionality is not enabled in

Research.gov. It will be available in the near future.

System to System (S2S)

Question

Answer

45.

Will Research.gov support system to system submissions?

Yes. S2S submissions will work the same as it does now.

SciENcv

Question

Answer

46.

A bio has been created for faculty PI in SciENcv. The PI is currently the

Director of a federally funded, University-supported institute and has

been since 2017. This is the appointment the PI prefers to be

recognized as his/her current position title and employment, so it has

been marked as such. The PI is also currently a member of an

industry advisory committee, more recently (2020). As a result, the

appointments section is not in reverse chronological order as SciENcv

is maintaining the position marked as “Use this entry as the position

title and current employment” as the foremost entry in this section.

How should this be corrected?

Professional preparation and appointments must be provided, in

reverse chronological order by start date of all the individual's

academic, professional, or institutional appointments, beginning with

the current appointment. See PAPPG Chapter II.C.2.f(i)(b) for

complete information. Users with overlapping or concurrent

appointments may need to manually reorder their professional

preparation entries by hovering over the appointment and clicking

"up" or "down" for that entry. The generated PDF will reflect the

order displayed on the screen.

Reference:

https://www.research.gov/common/attachment/Desktop/SciENcv-

FAQs.pdf

47.

In many instances the post-award staff are in charge of maintaining

the faculty OS and Biographical Sketch reports. Is there a way for

post-award staff to access the faculty’s OS and Biographical Sketch

without using their (the faculty's) login information? [in SciENcv]

You can delegate access. Any My NCBI account holder can set up one

or more delegates for their My NCBI account. Once a delegate has

accepted their invitation, the delegate(s) has the ability to view, edit,

and create profiles in the original account holder’s SciENcv, as well as

edit the account holder’s My Bibliography information.

March 2021 ERA Forum Webinar – Q&A

Research.gov Business Office, DIAS, NSF

Question

Answer

Reference:

https://www.research.gov/common/attachment/Desktop/SciENcv-

FAQs.pdf

48.

Is it possible to update degree information that populates, in the

SciENcv system, or does the PI need to update first in ORCID? If the

latter, will the PI need to re-populate SciENcv before finalizing the

CV?

Information imported from various sources can be edited in SciENcv.

General

Question

Answer

49.

Is there a way to do an advanced search of proposals and awards

submitted by my organization? I am interested in a report of all

Career awards submitted by Dartmouth and which have been funded.

Would I do this in Research.gov, Fastlane?

You can search on awards by organization and keyword at:

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/advancedSearch.jsp