Collaborative Proposals May Be Submitted to NSF in One of Two Methods: As a Single Proposal

Collaborative Proposals May Be Submitted to NSF in One of Two Methods: As a Single Proposal

Collaborative proposals are those in which investigators from two or more organization s wish to collaborate on a unified research project. They 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 (lead org links the separate awards in Fastlane).

SINGLE PROPOSAL

To complete a subaward budget:

* As lead org/PI: On the "Form Preparation" screen, select "Budgets" and "Go To Form." On the "Organization Selector" screen click on "Add New Org.", and pull up the subaward organization. Then on the "Organization Selector" screen click on "Use" to create a budget for an organization (may need to “Add Senior Person”). You will need to add the subaward total amount of request to item G.5 Subawards of the PI's Awardee organization budget.

* The subaward organization can access the proposal budget in several ways (e.g., through a proposal PIN, through a Co-PI at the sub organization, or via passing around the FastLane budget as a spreadsheet). Specifically -

--If not a PI: Either the individual or the Research Administration person can log in under OAU (other authorized users), enter your last name, NSF ID#, password, then enter the temporary proposal ID# , and the proposal PIN number.

--If a co-PI, submitting org needs co-PI’s ID# or email address to add person to the proposal, and then co-PI can get in to the proposal in usual way (with name, ID#, and password in own screen).

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSION

For collaborative proposals submitted via FastLane:

* Project title must begin with the words “Collaborative Research:”

* Lead organization’s submission will include a proposal cover sheet; project summary; project description; references cited; biographical sketches; budgets and budget justification; current and pending support; and facilities, equipment and other resources for their organization. If applicable, the lead organization’s submission also must include a supplemental mentoring plan that must not exceed one page, and that addresses the mentoring activities to be provided for all postdoctoral researchers supported under the entire collaborative project.

* Non-lead organization submissions will include all of the above for their organization except the project summary, project description, and references cited (which are the same for all collaborating organizations). Fastlane will combine the proposal submission for printing or electronic viewing.

Collaborative proposals require simultaneous submission of proposals. One organization has the lead role but all are required to submit their original proposal to NSF.

For FastLane, this means that

- Each organization prepares their proposal (thus creating a temporary proposal number).

- Each non-lead organization assigns a PIN number (PIN # created by the PI: find “Proposal PIN” button on the “Proposals Actions” screen), and provides the temporary proposal number and PIN to the lead org – and then the lead org links.

- The lead org links by entering each non-lead org’s proposal PIN and temporary proposal ID number into the Fastlane by using the “Link Collaborative Proposals” option found on the “Form Preparation Screen.” The lead org needs to let the other collaborators know when that happens.

- The proposals can be linked together, and each org can continue to do work on their own institution’s proposal, and submit when ready (thus non-lead orgs can submit before the lead org, as long as the lead org has done the linking; non-lead orgs can also submit after the lead, though less preferable since lead is unable to look at complete proposal before submitting).

- After linking each org submits their proposal. Thus, each org comes up with a different proposal number – but in the Fastlane system those separate proposals are linked together for printing or electronic viewing (with NO new collaborative number).