The Research.gov Proposal Submission System provides the ability to create, submit, track, and update proposals associated with active NSF funding opportunities. This furthers an NSF goal of providing quick access to proposal information and grants management services in one location in Research.gov. NSF goals for the system are to provide a modernized, intuitive environment for proposal preparation and submission; reduce administrative burden via real-time compliance checking; provide online help tips and guidance; and incorporate a proposal wizard that walks users through the proposal setup process.

Research.gov currently supports preparation and submission of Research, RAPID, EAGER and RAISE proposals including collaborative proposals. Other proposal types including conference, equipment travel, fellowships, and other proposal types identified in the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) are not yet available in Research.gov.

Yes, FastLane continues to be available for proposal preparation. However, on September 22, 2020, NSF issued Important Notice 147: Research.gov Implementation Update   and is now taking proactive steps to incrementally move the preparation and submission of all proposals from FastLane to Research.gov with a tentative target date for completion by 2022. Funding opportunities will clearly specify whether submission via Research.gov is available or required.

Research.gov is being developed incrementally, and features are expanding to support the transition of all proposal preparation and submission functionality from FastLane to Research.gov. NSF strongly encourages the use of Research.gov where possible and wants feedback on your experience, so NSF can continue to prioritize features and offer a better user experience.

Note that if you prepare a proposal in Research.gov, you will not be able access or edit it in FastLane and vice versa. In addition, the proposal must be submitted in the system where it was prepared, and a proposal file update/budget revision also must use the same system as the original proposal.

A proposal Temporary ID Number is a unique identifier that is generated by the system to keep track of and manage proposals before they are submitted. Once submitted to NSF, proposals are assigned permanent proposal IDs. The Temporary ID Number is also used by lead and non-lead organizations to link separately submitted collaborative proposals from multiple organizations.

The Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide   (PAPPG) is comprised of documents relating to the Foundation's proposal and award process for the assistance programs of NSF. The policy and procedural guidance contained in Part I of the PAPPG pertains to proposals submitted via the NSF FastLane System and Research.gov.

Automated proposal compliance checks triggering an error will prohibit proposal submission to NSF, whereas checks triggering a warning will still allow proposal submission. Expanded compliance checking in Research.gov reduces administrative burden for the research community and NSF staff, as well as minimizes Return Without Review proposals. Refer to the Automated Compliance Checking of NSF Proposals   page for the current automated proposal checks in Research.gov and in FastLane. Proposers who receive a compliance error or warning should check the Automated Compliance Checking of NSF Proposals page and their solicitation for specific proposal requirements.

Submitted proposals cannot be deleted but they can be withdrawn by the submitting organization by contacting the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 (7:00 AM - 9:00 PM ET; Monday - Friday except federal holidays) or via rgov@nsf.gov.

The following proposal types are now available in Research.gov and associated compliance checks have been added:

• Rapid Response Research (RAPID)
• EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER)
• Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (RAISE)

The proposal Cover Sheet must now include the number of months of proposed duration for the project. Prior to this release, this field could be left blank. Lastly, the number of years in a subaward budget must be equal to or less than the number of years than the prime organization budget. Refer to the Automated Compliance Checking of NSF Proposals   page for a complete list of all compliance checks for Research.gov proposals.

The compliance checks and associated compliance warnings for font type and font size were removed in Research.gov to align with FastLane. PAPPG Chapter II.B.2.a.   proposal font requirements must be followed.

The Research.gov proposal preparation demo site was enabled for the research community and NSF staff and provides users the ability to perform all proposal preparation functions that a Principal Investigator (PI) can perform in the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System.

Note that demo site proposals are not available on the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System, and information cannot be transferred between the demo site and the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System.

The demo site is accessible to external users by signing in to Research.gov with an existing NSF account or through a new NSF account after entering the primary email address and password, NSF ID and password, or through organization-issued credentials if the organization participates in the InCommon Federation and the credentials are activated for the user's NSF ID. Activation of organization credentials for a user's NSF ID will be prompted in Research.gov as necessary.

If you are in Research.gov and have not sign in, select the “Prepare New or Existing Proposals” link under the “Prepare & Submit Proposals” category on the homepage. That will direct you to the Research.gov Sign In page. After signing in, you are directed to the proposal preparation landing page. If you have already signed in to Research.gov, select the “Prepare Proposals (Limited Proposal Types)” link under the Prepare & Submit Proposals category. This will direct you to the proposal preparation landing page.

Yes, InCommon access login credentials can be used. From the Research.gov Sign In   page, select your organization from the organization drop-down menu to be taken to the InCommon Log In page for your organization.

A Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) is able to review and edit proposals, proposal file updates, revised budgets, and post-award requests after the proposal's Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI shares proposal access.

An Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) is authorized to sign on behalf of the proposing organization. The AOR is able to view, edit, and submit proposals after they are shared with the AOR by the proposal's Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI.

Presently, only a PI can initiate a proposal in Research.gov, however, individuals with other roles (i.e., SPO, AOR, and Other Authorized User (OAU)) who are granted access to the proposal by the PI will be able to prepare and edit the proposal.

A PI or co-PI can share a proposal with the SPO/AOR even before required proposal data or sections are completed. On the main page of the proposal, select “Share Proposal with SPO/AOR.” The PI or co-PI can proceed with providing access even when error(s)/warning(s) display. Continue past the error(s)/warning(s) and select the type of access to provide the SPO/AOR: No access, View-only access, Edit access, or Edit access with Allow proposal submission (AOR only).

Effective June 1, 2020, the Research.gov Proposal Submission System was enhanced to allow users with the OAU role to assist with proposal preparation in Research.gov without being required to also have another organization-approved role (e.g., “View Only” role). The OAU role change happened automatically, and no additional action is required for users who had the OAU role prior to the system enhancement. Users with the OAU role can assist with preparing proposals by selecting the “Work on an In Progress Proposal” link in Research.gov.

Users without the OAU role can request this role from their organization by following the instructions in the “Add a New Role” section   of the Account Management Guide.   The organization's Administrator can remove a user role (e.g., “View Only” role) via the Administrator Dashboard. Administrators can refer to the “View My Users – Administrator's Dashboard” section   of the Account Management Guide   for step-by-step instructions and screenshots.

A collaborative proposal is one in which investigators from two or more organizations wish to collaborate on a unified research project. Collaborative proposals may be submitted to NSF in one of two methods: as a single proposal, in which a single award is being requested (with subawards administered by the lead organization); or by simultaneous submission of proposals from different organizations, with each organization requesting a separate award. In either case, the lead organization’s proposal must contain all of the requisite sections as a single package to be provided to reviewers (that will happen automatically when procedures below are followed). All collaborative proposals must clearly describe the roles to be played by the other organizations, specify the managerial arrangements, and explain the advantages of the multi-organizational effort within the Project Description. Please see PAPPG, Chapter II.D.3.   for additional information about collaborative proposals.

Research.gov supports the preparation and submission of collaborative proposals from one organization and separately submitted collaborative proposals from multiple organizations. For separately submitted proposals from multiple organizations, all proposals in the collaboration must be prepared and submitted in Research.gov and cannot be a mix of Research.gov and FastLane proposals. If the lead organization prepares the separately submitted collaborative proposal in Research.gov, then the non-lead organization(s) must also use Research.gov to prepare and submit their non-lead proposal(s). In addition, a proposal file update (PFU) must be prepared and submitted in the system where the proposal was initiated.

In a collaborative proposal from one organization (with subawards) there can be a maximum of five — one PI and up to four co-PIs. In a separately submitted collaborative proposal from multiple organizations, each proposal may have a maximum of five — one PI and up to four co-PIs.

The lead organization's proposal must contain all of the required sections as a single package that will be provided to proposal reviewers. The non-lead organization will inherit the Proposal Title, Funding Opportunity, Where to Apply, Proposal Type, Submission Type, and Due Date from the lead organization proposal after the lead and non-lead organization proposals are successfully linked. For additional details, see the PAPPG, Chapter II.D.3.b  

The Proposal Title cannot be blank on the non-lead proposal since it is a mandatory field required to complete proposal preparation. The non-lead organization should enter an interim proposal title during preparation and will inherit the lead organization's title upon linking.

No, during proposal preparation an organization cannot change from a lead proposer role to a non-lead proposer role or vice versa. In this scenario, the in-progress collaborative proposal should be deleted and a new proposal can be initiated with the desired role on the project (i.e., lead proposer or non-lead proposer).

Required sections of the proposal differ based on the organization's role. The non-lead organization proposal will only have the following sections available on the main page of the proposal:

• Cover Sheet
• Budget(s)
• Budget Justification(s)
• Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources
• Senior Personnel Documents
• Biographical Sketch(es)
• Current and Pending Support
• Collaborators and Other Affiliations
• Optional: Other Personnel Biographical Information
• Optional: Other Supplementary Documents
• Optional: List of Suggested Reviewers
• Optional: List of Reviewers Not to Include

For additional information about proposal sections required to be submitted by a lead and non-lead organization in a collaborative proposal from multiple organizations, please see PAPPG, Chapter II.D.3.  

Yes, Supplementary Documents and Single Copy Documents are available for both the lead and non-lead organizations to upload.

Yes, both the lead and non-lead organizations have the option for subawards in a separately submitted collaborative proposal.

A linked collaborative proposal results when a lead organization proposal has been linked with one or more non-lead proposals that will be submitted together.

A non-lead organization should work offline with the lead organization to provide its Temporary ID Number. The lead organization can then click the Link/View collaborative proposals button on their in-progress lead proposal form to enter the non-lead proposal's Temporary ID Number to send the link request to the non-lead organization proposal. The request must be accepted by the non-lead organization proposal.

The lead organization should contact the PI for the non-lead organization offline to verify the non-lead proposal Temporary ID Number and to confirm that the non-lead organization did not initiate its proposal in FastLane. Proposals may be prepared in Research.gov or FastLane but cannot be a mix of both systems.

By clicking the Link/View Collaborative Proposals button, the lead organization can view the list and status of all non-lead organizations that have been sent link requests. The lead organization will see the non-lead organizations that have accepted or rejected link requests as well as any pending link requests. The non-lead organization(s) will only be able to view the status of the linked lead proposal on the Link/View Collaborative Proposals page.

Lead organization proposals can unlink a non-lead organization proposal by clicking the Link/View Collaborative Proposals button on the proposal form and clicking “Unlink Proposal” on the non-lead organization proposal they intend to unlink. Non-lead organization proposals cannot unlink from lead organization proposals and must coordinate with the lead organization to unlink proposals.

Only lead organizations have the ability to cancel link requests. A lead organization can cancel a link request by clicking on the Link/View Collaborative button on the lead organization proposal forms page. Click “Cancel Link Request” next to the non-lead proposal(s) that have a pending link request (i.e., the non-lead organization hasn’t accepted or rejected the link request). Once the link request is cancelled, the pending link request will disappear from the Link/View Collaborative Proposal table on both the lead and non-lead organization proposals.

A non-lead organization proposal that has been unlinked from a lead organization proposal will retain the information (i.e., Proposal Title, Funding Opportunity, Where to Apply, Proposal Type, Submission Type, and Due Date) that was inherited from the lead organization proposal, but the non-lead organization proposal cannot be submitted until it is linked with a new lead organization proposal. Upon linking to a new lead organization proposal, the non-lead organization proposal will inherit information (i.e., Proposal Title, Funding Opportunity, Where to Apply, Proposal Type, Submission Type, and Due Date) from the new lead organization proposal.

A non-lead organization proposal can only be linked to one lead organization proposal at a time. In addition, a lead organization cannot send a link request to a non-lead organization that has accepted a link request or has a pending link request from another lead organization proposal.

No, there is no limit on the number of non-lead organizations that can participate in a collaborative proposal.

There is no maximum number of subawards for lead and non-lead organization proposals.

Once the proposals are linked, a PDF of all proposal pages within the collaboration will be displayed when a PI, co-PI, SPO, AOR, or OAU of either the lead or non-lead organization clicks “Print Proposal”.

There is only one difference between a submitted collaborative proposal and an in-progress collaborative proposal when printed. When submitted, the header of each lead and non-lead organization proposal page will display the name of the respective PI, and the assigned Proposal Number. The formatting of this display is: Submitted/PI: [PI First Name Last Name] /Proposal No: [Proposal Number].

No, proposals cannot be linked or unlinked once the entire collaboration (i.e., all lead and non-lead organization proposals in the collaboration) has been fully submitted and has a “Submitted to NSF” status. In addition, proposals cannot be linked or unlinked during an in-progress Proposal File Update (PFU) or Budget Revision (BR).

An in-progress separately submitted proposal can only be deleted by the organization if it is not linked and does not have any pending link requests with another proposal in a collaborative set. Proposers who want to delete the in-progress linked proposals must first un-link from all other proposals. There is a “Delete Proposal” button in the left navigation pane in the Proposal Actions Section available to the PI and co-PI to delete in-progress collaborative proposals.

The Research.gov system checks PAPPG format compliance after a PDF document is uploaded. If non-compliance is detected, a warning or error message will display that identifies the issue(s). Some issues prevent document upload (i.e., compliance errors), such as a violation of page length, while others allow document upload to complete (i.e., compliance warnings), such as violations of line spacing. For complete information, see the PAPPG, Chapter II proposal preparation instructions   and the Automated Compliance Checking of NSF Proposals   page. If unexpected errors occur when uploading a PDF document, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 for assistance. The PDF can be analyzed, and a solution can be identified. The NSF Help Desk is available by phone from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM ET Monday - Friday except federal holidays or via email to rgov@nsf.gov.

The proposal must conform to the following requirements. These requirements apply to all uploaded sections of a proposal, including supplementary documentation. Compliance warnings for font size and font type were removed from Research.gov on November 23, 2020, to align with the PAPPG and FastLane. PAPPG Chapter II.B.2.a.  proposal font requirements must be followed.

• Lines and Margins
• No more than six lines of text within a vertical space of one inch.
• Margins, in all directions, must be at least an inch. No proposer-supplied information may appear in the margins.
• Paper size must be no larger than standard letter paper size (8½ by 11").

Some potential root causes may be:

• Page numbers: Be sure that the document has no text in the header or footer including page numbers. The system will automatically paginate and add page numbers for you when the proposal PDF is generated, so page numbers should be removed.
• Inserted images or shapes: Margins can be set to one inch, but a stray image or shape can violate the margin rule. Setting the margin rule to one inch would not automatically correct the images or shapes back within margins. Be sure to review all inserted images or shapes.

A section heading must be on its own line without any other text.

The following are some examples of known issues:

• OpenOffice inserts an unallowable font for superscript and subscript.
• Google Docs may not properly export bulleted text.
• Certain LaTeX-generated PDF elements are not yet supported.
• Microsoft Office for Macs “Save as PDF” functionality “Best for Printing” may not be supported. Instead, select the “Best for electronic distribution and accessibility (uses Microsoft online service)” option.
• For Microsoft Office, do not use “Print as PDF” to create a PDF. Instead, use “Export” and “Create PDF.”

The following are some examples of possible causes:

• Cell contents cannot exceed 255 characters including spaces.
• Ensure all data is entered especially column A for tables 2-5.
• Ensure “Last Active” column is entered as a valid date format (MM/DD/YYYY).
• Cutting and pasting from other programs or files with formatting may produce errors or bring in invalid fonts and borders and would display warning(s) on upload.

NSF continues to invest in expanding automated compliance checking capabilities to reduce administrative burden on both the research community and NSF staff. Additional information is available on the Automated Compliance Checking of NSF Proposals   page.

Only the AOR can submit a proposal to NSF. The PI must first provide the AOR with submit access, at which point the AOR will see an "Initiate proposal submission" button on the left navigation pane under Proposal Actions. Clicking "Initiate proposal submission" will trigger the proposal submission wizard to start.

All lead and non-lead organization proposals in a separately submitted collaboration from multiple organizations are held in a queue with a "Submission Pending" status upon submission by the respective AOR. Once all proposals in the collaboration have a "Submission Pending" status, the collaborative set will be submitted to NSF and each proposal will be assigned a proposal number.

Proposals with pending link requests must either accept the link request (non-lead organization action), reject the link request (non-lead organization action), or cancel the link request (lead organization action) before submitting the proposal. If the lead organization chooses to continue with submitting the proposal, all pending link requests to non-lead proposals will automatically be cancelled.

In this scenario, the lead organization could unlink its proposal from the non-lead organization proposal not able to submit by its deadline. The lead organization proposal and the remaining linked non-lead proposals could then be submitted to NSF by the deadline. The final collaborative proposal should be revised before submission to account for the change in participating organizations. You will not be able to link more non-lead proposals after the entire collaboration is submitted to NSF.

Proposals must be received by 5 p.m. submitter's local time on the established deadline date. In this example, the lead organization on the East Coast must submit by 5 p.m. Eastern Time, and the non-lead organization on the West Coast must submit by 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

How you edit your proposal will depend on the status of your proposal and whether it is a single submit or separately submitted collaborative proposal.

• For separately submitted collaborative proposals after a lead or non-lead organization proposal is submitted, it will receive a status of “Submission Pending” if there are other proposals in the collaboration that have yet to submit. When a lead/non-lead organization proposal has a status of “Submission Pending,” there will be an “Edit Proposal” button visible to the PI/co-PIs, SPO, AOR, and OAU of the proposal. Clicking the “Edit Proposal” button removes the proposal from the “Submission Pending” status and returns it to an “In-progress” state. Proposals that are removed from the submission pending status will require a new submission by the AOR.
• For separately submitted collaborative proposals, if all proposals in the collaborative set have been submitted, then the proposal can be edited via the “Initiate PFU/ Budget Revision” button on the submitted proposal form.
• For single submission or single submission with subawards (collaborative) proposals, all edits must be done via the “Initiate PFU/Budget Revision” button on the submitted proposal form.
• See PAPPG, Chapter III.C   for additional information on Proposal File Updates.

When a PFU/BR is initiated, the original submitted version remains intact until it is replaced by the PFU/BR. If it is not submitted, the original submission will remain, and the collaborative set is not impacted.

Saving the Cover Sheet when the proposed duration is zero or has been left blank will result in an error. A proposal cannot be submitted without a valid proposed duration saved on the Cover Sheet.

The number of months entered for proposed duration should align with the number of years entered in the prime organization’s budget. The proposed duration should not extend beyond five years (60 months) unless specified in the solicitation. Use the chart below for appropriate alignment:

Academic and summer months do not need to be reported in Research.gov. Only person months need to be specified in the budget for the Senior Personnel and Other Personnel sections in Research.gov. Currently, when a printable PDF of the proposal is displayed in Research.gov, the academic and summer month labels will still display as blank fields. In the future, these fields will also be removed from the Research.gov print view.

Line M on the proposal budget will only appear in year 1 of the prime organization proposal budget when the selected funding opportunity includes a mandatory cost sharing requirement. Currently, those programs are identified under the NSF Cost Sharing Policy section at https://nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/  

The requirement to include cost sharing in a proposal will be identified in a program solicitation. The cost sharing amount must be included on Line M of the budget before submitting the proposal and will be considered as an eligibility rather than a review criterion. Failure to provide the level of cost sharing required by the NSF solicitation and reflected in the approved NSF award budget may result in termination of the NSF award, disallowance of award costs, and/or refund of award funds to NSF by the grantee.

No, cost sharing is not included as part of a proposal's Total Requested Amount and is treated as a separate and independent amount in the budget.

The cost sharing budget line (Line M of the Proposal Budget) will appear in the Prime Award Organization budget directly under the “Total Amount Requested” budget line (Line J) when the funding opportunity selected requires cost sharing. The cost sharing data will only appear under the Year 1 column within the Prime Award Organization's budget page and will represent the total proposed cost sharing amount.

An explanation of the source, nature, amount and availability of any proposed cost sharing must be provided in the budget justification. The budget justification upload screen can be found on the main proposal page below the Budget section.

Yes, the cost sharing amount on Line M on the Proposal Budget can be added, removed, or edited as part of a PFU/Budget Revision or Budget Revision.

Yes, proposals that require cost sharing can be shared or submitted with a cost sharing amount of $0 entered on Line M of the Prime Award Organization's Year 1 Budget. Although the proposer will be prompted with a warning to check that the amount entered is correct based on the conditions in the solicitation, the warning will not prevent proposal submission and can be bypassed to allow the AOR to submit the proposal. A value of $0 is acceptable because based on the solicitation, certain institutions are exempt from the mandatory cost sharing requirement. For example, the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program provides that, "only non-Ph.D.- granting academic institutions of higher education are exempt from the cost-sharing requirement and cost sharing by those institutions may not be provided."

The number of years in a subaward budget must be equal to or less than the number of years in the prime organization budget. If the number of years in a subaward budget exceeds the number of years in the prime organization budget, the proposal will be prevented from being submitted to NSF.

Certain categories of information that are submitted in conjunction with a proposal are for "NSF Use Only" and not provided to reviewers for use in the review of the proposal. Single Copy Documents include: Collaborators and Other Affiliations Information, Proprietary or Privileged Information, Disclosure of Lobbying Activities, Nature of Natural or Anthropogenic Event, Deviation Authorization, and Additional Single Copy Documents. Please see PAPPG, Chapter II.C.1.   for additional information about Single Copy Documents.

Navigate to the proposal Cover Sheet and select the checkbox for the Single Copy Document you would like to add to your proposal and then save the Cover Sheet. At the top of the saved Cover Sheet you will see a blue information message with a link to the added Single Copy Document upload section. Additionally, if you scroll down to the "Other Information" section of the Cover Sheet, you will see a clickable link below the checkbox you selected, and this link will also direct you to the associated upload screen for the specified Single Copy Document.

A Deviation Authorization permits the proposer exceptions to the PAPPG   standard proposal preparation requirements, per PAPPG Chapter II.A  . On the Deviation Authorization text entry screen, the proposer can provide either the program solicitation number or the name and title of the NSF official who authorized the deviation and the date of the authorization.

Patentable ideas, trade secrets, privileged or confidential commercial or financial information, disclosure of which may harm the proposer, should be included in proposals only when such information is necessary to convey an understanding of the proposed project. The box for "Proprietary or Privileged Information" must be checked on the Cover Sheet when the proposal contains such information. While NSF will make every effort to prevent unauthorized access to such material, the Foundation is not responsible or in any way liable for the release of such material. Such information may be included as a separate statement and must be submitted as a Single Copy Document. Please refer to PAPPG Chapter II.D.1  .

A Proprietary or Privileged Information Single Copy Document is not included as part of the printed proposal (or on the print preview screen) and is not shared with reviewers. This Single Copy Document can only be seen in the official system of record after proposal submission.

The checkbox for "Disclosure of Lobbying Activities" must be checked on the Cover Sheet if, pursuant to the Lobbying certification provided in the System for Award Management (SAM), submission of the Form SF LLL is required. The SF LLL form can be downloaded from the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities upload screen. For more information, refer to PAPPG Chapter I.G.2.   and PAPPG Chapter C.1.d.  

In the case of a natural or anthropogenic event, or other reason that interferes with an organization's ability to meet a proposal submission deadline, proposers are instructed to check the "Special Exception to the Deadline Date Policy" checkbox on the NSF Cover Sheet and upload written approval from the cognizant NSF Program Officer. Note that checking this box and uploading a Nature of Natural or Anthropogenic Event document will allow the proposer to submit the proposal after the listed deadline date, but acceptance is still at the discretion of the Program Officer. Please see PAPPG Chapter I.F.3.   for more information.

A Nature of Natural or Anthropogenic Event Single Copy Document is not included as part of the printed proposal (or on the print preview screen) and is not shared with reviewers. This Single Copy Document can only be seen in the official system of record after proposal submission.

No, a special exception to the deadline date and the corresponding Nature of Natural or Anthropogenic Event Single Copy Document must be added prior to proposal submission. The Nature of Natural or Anthropogenic document can be viewed when executing a PFU/Budget Revision but cannot be added through a PFU/Budget Revision after a proposal has been submitted.

Other Single Copy Documents that are seen only by NSF and not included in the proposal seen by reviewers should be uploaded as Additional Single Copy Documents and include:

• AOR designation of a substitute negotiator
• Other documents as specified in the relevant program description or funding opportunity
• Documents without their own, separate section

A Postdoctoral Mentoring plan is required as part of a lead organization proposal when funds are requested for postdoctoral scholars in the lead organization proposal budget or in a linked non-lead organization proposal budget. The lead organization's PI, co-PI, and OAU will receive an email notifying them when requested funding for postdoctoral scholars is added for the first time or is removed entirely from their collaborative proposal set. For single submission collaborative proposals, a Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan is required when funds are requested in the proposal's budget for postdoctoral scholars.

The proposal preparation demo site provides the research community the opportunity to familiarize themselves with Research.gov by preparing and editing proposals before preparing proposals in the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System. The demo site also allows NSF staff the ability to familiarize themselves with the preparation process for Research.gov proposals.

All demo site users will be able to perform the proposal preparation functions that a Principal Investigator (PI) is able to execute in the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System such as initiating or editing a proposal, uploading proposal documents, and adding a budget. The demo site does not support the submission of proposals and will not trigger any system-generated email notifications (e.g., link requests for separately submitted collaborative proposals).

Note that demo site proposals are not available in the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System, and information cannot be transferred between the demo site and the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System.

The “Give Feedback” button is displayed on all demo site proposal pages for proposals created in the demo site. When this button is clicked, a new browser tab will open and display the “ Research.gov Feedback ” page. Select the "Proposal Preparation Demo Site" option under "Site Area" to submit feedback about the demo site. Demo site feedback from users will help NSF improve the site, as well as identify potential enhancements to improve the user experience when preparing proposals in the Research.gov Proposal Submission System.

External users can access the demo site by following these steps:

• Navigate to Research.gov.
• Click "Sign In" located at the top right of the Research.gov page.
• Sign in to Research.gov using your primary email address, NSF ID, or your organization-issued credentials (Note: Only InCommon Federation participants can use their organization-issued credentials to sign in to Research.gov. If you are signing in with your organization-issued credentials, you will be prompted to link your credentials to your NSF ID if they are not already linked.).
• After signing into Research.gov, you will land on My Desktop, where there are two ways to access the demo site:
  • From the top menu bar, select "Prepare and Submit Proposals," then select "Demo Site: Prepare Proposals."
  • From the tiles on the page, in the "Prepare and Submit Proposals" tile select "Demo Site: Prepare Proposals."

You will first need to create an NSF account and obtain an NSF ID by clicking “Register” on the Research.gov homepage to be able to access the demo site. Additional information about creating an NSF account is available on the Research.gov About Account Management page. Users with an existing NSF account (i.e., NSF ID) will use that account to access the demo site. After signing in to Research.gov, you will land on My Desktop, where there are two ways to access the demo site.

• From the top menu bar, select "Prepare and Submit Proposals," then select "Demo Site: Prepare Proposals."
• From the tiles on the page, in the "Prepare and Submit Proposals" tile select "Demo Site: Prepare Proposals."

No, you are able to access the demo site if you have an NSF ID and can sign in to Research.gov. All demo site users will be given the PI role for demo site use only and are not required to obtain a special user role to access the demo site. All demo users will have the National Science Foundation as their organization for purposes of the demo site. The demo site PI role will not be available in the user's NSF account profile for use on the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System.

The organization(s) that you are affiliated with in your NSF account profile WILL be incorporated when you are in the proposal preparation demo site, but the user role(s) that you have will NOT be available in the demo site. All users who access the demo site will be given the role of PI, and unaffiliated users including NSF staff will be assigned National Science Foundation NSF as their organization. Users with any affiliated organization(s) in their NSF account profile will have both those organization(s) and the NSF organization incorporated in the demo site.

The only user role supported in the demo site is the PI role. Any research community or NSF staff user that logs in to the demo site will automatically have the PI role in the demo site in order to perform all of the proposal preparation functions that a PI is able to execute in the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System such as initiating a proposal, uploading proposal documents, and adding a budget. User role(s) that you have in your NSF account profile and use in the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System are NOT available in the demo site. In addition, other user roles such as Sponsored Projects Officer (SPO) and Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) are NOT available in the demo site.

Yes. Any individual added to a demo proposal as a co-PI and/or Other Authorized User (OAU) will be able to access that proposal in the demo site via the “In Progress Proposals” section on the “Proposal Preparation” demo site homepage. The permissions and available functions for the co-PI and OAU in the demo site are identical to the permissions and available functions for the co-PI and OAU in the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System.

No. The ONLY role that is supported in the demo site is the PI role. You will be able to go through the process of sharing proposal access (view, edit and/or submit) with the SPO/AOR, but the SPO/AOR will not be able to view, edit, and/or submit the proposal since SPO and AOR roles and proposal submission are not supported in the demo site. In addition, no system-generated email notifications will be created or sent to the SPO/AOR in the demo site.

Yes. You can add real subaward organization(s) to any proposal that’s created in the demo site. However, no system-generated email notifications will be created or sent to personnel affiliated to the subaward organization(s) when their organizations are added to your demo proposal.

No. All system-generated email notifications are DISABLED in the demo site.

The proposal preparation demo site currently only supports the initiation, preparation, and editing of non-collaborative and collaborative proposals. Proposal submission is a future capability that will be implemented in the demo site.

Proposals created in the demo site will be available for six months and then will be deleted by NSF. Neither NSF nor users will be able to access deleted demo proposal data. If your demo proposal was created within the previous six months and your proposal data is not visible, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 or via rgov@nsf.gov for assistance.

Yes. All compliance checks that are enabled in the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System will also apply to proposals in the demo site.

Yes, as other proposal types are added to the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System, they will also be added to the demo site. The demo site is a replica of the actual system.

No. Proposal data created in the demo site will NOT be displayed in and cannot be transferred to the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System. Proposal data created in the demo site is only be available in the demo site.

The only time other users will be able to view and/or edit any proposals that you create in the demo site is if you add them to the proposal as a co-PI or OAU. If you don’t add any users to the proposal, no one will else will be able to access, view, or edit your demo proposal.

No. If you attempt to link a lead/non-lead proposal created in the demo site to a lead/non-lead proposal that was created in the actual Research.gov Proposal Submission System, you will receive an error and will not be able to link the proposals together. You are only able to link lead and non-lead proposals together that were created in the demo site and that are affiliated with different organizations.