NSF Disclosure Guidance
Guidance from NSF regarding what/where/when to disclose
The following table identifies where disclosures must be provided in proposals and project reports. While this revised guidance does not go into effect until October 4, 2021, proposers and awardees may begin using this table immediately. (Click on the table to enlarge.)
FAQs on NSF Current and Pending Support
The following FAQs have been adapted for Penn. For additional guidance see the full NSF FAQs or PAPPG Chapter II.C.2.h.
What should be reported in current and pending support?
All resources made available to an individual in support of and/or related to all of their research efforts, regardless of whether or not they have monetary value or whether support is provided through Penn or directly to the individual. Current and pending support includes in-kind contributions such as office/laboratory space, equipment, supplies, employees, or students, even if not intended for use on the project being proposed.
If an individual designated as senior personnel on a project does not have budgeted effort in a given year, how does this relate to reporting “person months committed to the project” in current and pending support?
Person-month information included in current and pending support may differ from the person-months requested on the budget. For the Current and Pending Support submission, NSF is asking how much time the individual is planning to spend to complete the scope of work on the proposed project regardless of whether there is budgeted effort. If the individual will be spending time on the proposed project or award, then that time must be reported in Current and Pending Support. In instances when senior personnel are not actively working on a project, only years in which they are committing time should be listed.
How should a PI document effort when no salary is being requested?
If a PI or co-PI is not requesting salary support, they should be removed from the budget 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.
The NSF-approved current and pending support formats require person-months per year committed to the project, however, Penn’s fiscal year spans two calendar years. Which year should we include when reporting person-months per year?
If you are reporting person-months that span two calendar years, you should enter the later year. For example, if your entry covers your organization’s fiscal year of June 2021 through May 2022, you would enter “2022” for the year and the number of person-months.
Is mentoring a trainee an example of a time commitment that must be reported in current and pending support?
An individual need not identify any mentoring activities that take place as part of their regular appointment at Penn. If an external source provides support for the mentoring activity, the external support and associated time commitment should be included in the current and pending support submission.
What is the scope of “research endeavors” that must be reported in current and pending support? For example, a trainee’s research that will result in their dissertation is not part of the PI’s individual research endeavors, correct? Should only the research endeavors of an individual be reported and not all the research in their lab?
“Research endeavors” refers to the endeavors of the individual. The current and pending support information that must be provided is all planned, pending, and current support that is either provided directly to the individual, or to the individual through Penn in support of that individual’s research endeavors. Therefore, a trainee’s research does not need to be reported.
I am a subawardee on a proposal that was submitted by a prime organization to NSF. For current and pending support, should my organization list the total amount requested for our subaward, or should we list the total award amount for the overall proposal?
The total amount requested or received by the subawardee organization (Penn) must be provided in Current and Pending Support.
For more information, please see: