The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is releasing a Policy Notice for its 2024 Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG). The PAPPG documents the agency's proposal and award process, which govern the management of grants and cooperative agreements.

NSF will defer release of the 26-1 version of the PAPPG, previously developed and planned for publication in Fiscal Year 2026, to ensure alignment with forthcoming Uniform Grant Guidance updates. NSF will issue policy revisions via supplemental Policy Notices in the interim.

Please refer to the full notice linked above for specific changes. 

If you have questions, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs. 

OSP is happy to announce the new F&A Cost Waiver Request DocuSign form! You may find this form on the OSP website under the Forms Page. Per UMBC policy IV-2.00.01, UMBC requires the application of its full and applicable federally negotiated F&A cost rate on ALL Sponsored Project proposals and awards.

UMBC may allow for the application of a rate lower than its full and applicable federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA) rates under the following two (2) limited and special conditions:

1. Limit Imposed by Sponsoring Agency Policy. Some federal, state, and private sponsors impose an F&A cost rate that is below the federally negotiated rate. Similarly, many private foundations limit or exclude F&A as a matter of policy. In effect, they are requiring the recipient institution to agree to share in the cost of performing the proposed work, even though this is not stated formally as “cost UMBC Policy # UMBC IV-2.00.01 Page 2 of 4 sharing”. In all such cases, the decision to proceed with a proposal will depend on the non-monetary value of the Sponsored Project to the institution, traded off against the under-recovery of F&A costs that are incurred.

2. Sponsored Project proposals that are intended to get a new investigator started in a research area or help an established investigator begin working in a new field may call for a reduction or elimination of the F&A portion of the proposed cost. It may be in the institution’s best interests in these cases to preserve the direct cost expenditures and reduce the recovery of indirect costs. It is expected that such proposals will be limited in duration and scope and will promote future funding that will recover full F&A costs.

**Please note if the sponsor has a published written policy, an F&A cost waiver is not required, simply upload the policy to Kuali**

All requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Please ensure adequate documentation is provided to justify the request for a waiver. The waiver can be initiated by a PI’s business administrator or Shared Service Center (SSC). It is recommended that the Kuali proposal be started but not routed fully for signatures until after the F&A waiver has been reviewed and either approved or denied by OSP and ORCA. Please ensure the finalized waiver is than attached to the Kuali proposal for routing.

The current F&A Cost Waiver Request form that is required for manual routing for signatures will be active until August 1^st 2025. During this time OSP and ORCA will accept either the new DocuSign or the old form;  however, ONLY the DocuSign will be accepted after August 1^st.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at ospa@umbc.edu. 

Thank you,

OSP

OSP Coffee Chat Series

The Office of Sponsored Programs Training Team would like to invite you to join us for a casual yet informative, virtual coffee chat. Bringe your coffee and your questions to join us in this short information session. This invitation is for you if you are a faculty, staff, or otherwise active participant in sponsored research at UMBC and would like to learn more from your OSP Team on various topics including: What is OSP? What is F&A? What is Cost Share? And more!

In an effort to create an even more open path to communication and education, and real-time answers, OSP’s virtual coffee chat series kicks off May 8^th, 11:30 am -12:00 pm.

Present Topic: OSP 101 – What is the Office of Sponsored Programs All About?

Presenters: Jamie Cole, Chelsea Raff, and Allison Martins Machado

Description: The present topic will be all about OSP including their duties and function within UMBC.

At the end of each session there will be time for some Q&A. Please feel free to comment with questions ahead of time to be answered during the current or future sessions. If you have questions that pertain to a specific grant, please reach out to your Grants Manager individually.

To Join Via Webex on May 8th, please use the information below:

https://umbc.webex.com/umbc/j.php?MTID=m4f8fbaedd21081b07d06223f1d702881

Meeting number (access code): 2870 366 4002
Meeting password: a7wWmEpKh32

TAP TO JOIN FROM A MOBILE DEVICE (ATTENDEES ONLY)
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JOIN BY PHONE
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Thank you!

OSP training Team