10/13/2023
By Holly Norton
To encourage more timely submission of annual project reports, the Nastional Science Foundation (NSF) plans to leverage and assess the effectiveness of exercising their existing authority to temporarily withhold cash payments pending the submission and approval of annual project reports. This includes awards that have overdue project reports of 60 days or more from three participating Divisions at NSF, the Divisions of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF); Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI); and Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS).
From Oct. 2, 2023 through Jan. 31, 2024, PIs and AORs for grants or cooperative agreements with overdue annual project reports will receive a notice (the “First Notice”) informing them that the annual report is overdue and request that the report is submitted as soon as possible. If the report remains overdue by the beginning of the second month, PIs and AORs will receive a Second Notice, and if the report remains overdue by the third month, a Final Notice will be sent informing the recipient that NSF is acting to temporarily withhold award cash payments on the grant or cooperative agreement through the Award Cash Management System (ACM$). This process ensures that each award will have at least 60 days after an annual report becomes overdue to have the report submitted and approved by NSF.
Please note, project reports remain delinquent in research.gov until the report is approved by the cognizant NSF Program Officer.