News and updates

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released details on how it will spend funding provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Key points of the NSF plan include the following:

• NSF will use a large share of its ARRA funding to address the backlog of existing proposals.  The notice states, “With the exception of the Major Research Instrumentation, Academic Research Infrastructure and Science Masters programs, the majority of proposals eligible for Recovery Act funding include those that are already in house and will be reviewed and/or awarded prior to September 30, 2009…NSF also will consider proposals declined on or after October 1, 2008.”
• Proposals supported with ARRA funds will have to be expended in a timely fashion. The notice states, “Given the goals of the Recovery Act, awardees will be informed that they are expected to expend funds in a timely manner on allowable award costs and that NSF will be monitoring awards for expenditures. If, after 12 months, no allowable expenditures have taken place, NSF may consider reducing or terminating the award and reallocating the funds.”
• All grants issued with Recovery Act funds will be standard grants with durations of up to five years. The notice says this approach “will allow NSF to structure a sustainable portfolio.”
• Funding for new principal investigators and high-risk, high-return research will be a top priority for ARRA funding.

On March 19th, the Senate confirmed John Holdren as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Jane Lubchenco as Administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Both nominations had been placed on hold. Some senators attempted to bring about changes in unrelated legislative issues by blocking the nominations. However, the legislative tactic was dropped and the nominations moved forward without much objection to the actual nominees.

On the same day, NOAA budget officials expressed gratitude for the FY09 increase in NOAA research funding. By the end of April, NOAA should have details on its website about FY09 programs and projects funded. NOAA officials also expressed concerns about the ability of Grants.gov to handle the surge in traffic related to Recovery Act funding, given that the system experiences difficulties under normal circumstances. The possibility exists that grantmaking agencies could temporarily go back to a paper submission process. NOAA revealed that the FY10 budget development process is taking place slowly, and that the release of the President’s budget request could be after May 1st. NOAA remains undecided on how it will use much of the funding provided in the Recovery Act, but expects to release details by mid-April.