National Science Board Report on NSF Cost Sharing
In August, the National Science Board (NSB), the policy setting body of the National Science Foundation (NSF), issued its long-awaited report entitled, "Investing in the Future: NSF Cost Sharing Policies for a Robust Federal Research Enterprise." The report is NSB's response to a directive contained in the August 2007 America COMPETES Act (P.L. 110-69).
In short, the NSB report prescribes a set of recommendations with two primary objectives: (1) to allow, but narrowly circumscribe, the application of mandatory cost sharing requirements in NSF programs in which cost sharing is foundational to achieving programmatic goals, and (2) to prohibit voluntary committed cost sharing in NSF proposals and thus eliminate post-award tracking and reporting requirements associated with such cost sharing.
Steven Beering, NSB Chairman, stated in an introductory memo, "The Board firmly believes that prohibiting voluntary committed cost sharing, and permitting mandatory cost sharing requirements only in limited and appropriate circumstances, will not reduce institutional commitment and financial contributions to NSF-sponsored projects or negatively impact institutional stewardship of Federal resources. Instead, it likely will enhance the ability of institutions to strategically and flexibly plan, invest in, and conduct research projects and programs, and will promote equity among grantee institutions in NSF funding competitions."
One of the key results of the report is recommendation 3, which says, "NSF should enhance its training of program officers to avoid unintended implicit or explicit requests for voluntary committed cost sharing during the budget negotiation process, and to ensure consistent application of NSF cost sharing policy."
So what does the report mean for WPI? In essence, the report parallels the NSF's 2004 policy update by reiterating that grantees should not be required to incur cost sharing expenditures except for specifically designated programs that have been approved by the NSF Director. The report also recommends that NSF Program Officers discontinue efforts to engage recipient institutions in cost sharing in order to receive awards.
The NSB report is available at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsb0920/nsb0920_1.pdf should you wish to read it. As always, please feel free to contact the Office of Sponsored Programs with any cost sharing or other questions you may have.
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: October 09, 2009 14:05:20