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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Subject:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> COGR: NSF ARRA Awards - Immediate Deadline (March 2) for Spending Waivers<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>NSF issued <b><i>ARRA Acceleration Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for NSF Principal Investigators with awards funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)</i></b> which can be accessed at: <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/arra/faqs_pi.jsp">http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/arra/faqs_pi.jsp</a> <br> <br><b>If you want your ARRA award to be considered for a waiver to permit expenditures after September 30, 2013, you must request that waiver NO LATER THAN TODAY, March 2, 2012. <br></b>7. <b>Has NSF determined for which grants it will request OMB waivers and what can I do to be considered for a waiver?</b><a name=7></a> <br>If your grant currently expires after September 30, 2013, you must contact your cognizant NSF Program Officer in writing (and copy your organization's sponsored projects office) <b>by March 2, 2012</b>, with either a plan to accelerate completion of your project or to request that a waiver be sought for you to complete the project as originally planned (except for CAREER awards see FAQ #9). Cooperative Agreement PIs have until <b>March 9, 2012 </b>to provide the same information to their program officer. Your program officer will only recommend waivers in accordance with the four OMB-identified criteria above. NSF will then determine which ARRA awards to include in our agency waiver request package to be submitted to OMB in June 2012. At this time, there is no information available on when responses to agency waiver requests will be available.<br>If a waiver request is not submitted to OMB for your award (or if OMB denies the request for a waiver), NSF will amend your award to modify the expiration so that your project cannot continue past September 30, 2013. NSF is maintaining close contact with all institutions and principal investigators with ARRA funding and will be keeping the research community apprised of the Foundation's response to implementation of OMB's directive to accelerate expenditures for its awards. <br> <br>Concerning CAREER Awards<br>9. <a name=9></a><b>I am a PI for a CAREER award and have heard that these might be treated differently. What should I do? <br></b>NSF is encouraging responsible acceleration of funds for all ARRA awards, including CAREER awards. Recognizing that the entire portfolio of ARRA-funded CAREER awards were issued as five-year awards, which do not expire until 2014, NSF is working to develop a strategy for a programmatic waiver request to cover all CAREER PIs. Therefore, if you are the PI for a CAREER award, you do not need to contact your NSF Program Officer regarding submission of a waiver at this time. However, you are reminded that there is no guarantee that OMB will approve a waiver request. <br> <br>Carol J. Blum<br>Director, Research Compliance and Administration<br>Council on Governmental Relations<br>1200 New York Ave., NW, Suite 750<br>Washington DC 20005<br>202.289.6655, ext. 117/202.289.6698/fax<br><a href="mailto:cblum@cogr.edu">cblum@cogr.edu</a><br>website: <a href="http://www.cogr.edu /">www.cogr.edu <br></a><o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>