NSF Current & Pending Support

Each person designated as senior personnel on the proposal, including non-Co-PI senior personnel, must submit C&P at the time of the proposal.

Learn more about the NSF definition of senior personnel.

What sort of information must be included in Current and Pending?

Current and pending support information must be provided for this project, for ongoing projects, and for any proposals currently under consideration from whatever source, irrespective of whether such support is provided through the proposing organization or is provided directly to the individual.

• If the project (or any part of the project) now being submitted has been funded previously by a source other than NSF, information must be provided regarding the last period of funding.

Information collected on the C&P Form includes:

• Title of project/subproject
• Status, ie. current, pending, submission planned or transfer of support
• Project number
• Source of support
• Primary place of performance
• Dates of  approved/ proposed project
• Total award amount for the entire award period covered (including facilities and administrative costs)
• Person months per year

Considerations

1. Current & Pending aims to capture the resources to which you have access. This is not limited to grants and contracts but includes the many and varied resources in support of your research.

Example sources of funding include:

• funds from all foreign and domestic entities; including:federal contracts, non-federal research grants, cooperative agreements, institutional awards, foreign talent program support, in-kind support, etc.
• a non-U.S. resource that supports the research of an investigator and/or researcher, but does not meet the definition of a foreign component because the work is being performed in the U.S. financial support for laboratory personnel;
• provision of high-value items that are not freely available (e.g. biologics, chemical, model systems, technology, data, etc.)

2. “In-kind support” must also be included in the C&P. In-kind support includes resources without a specific monetary value.

Examples: equipment, supplies, lab resources and visitors to your lab supported by a another entity. (See also #1.)

3. C&P includes resources that are related to your research as well as those directly supporting your research.

4. Resources available to you from sources outside of WU must also be included in C&P. These may include domestic or foreign institutions or colleagues outside WU.

5. C&P does not include: prizes, gifts, start-up funds from your home institution (but start-up from outside organizations must be reported).

4. In-kind contributions with no associated time commitment: If the in-kind contributions with no time commitment are NOT intended for use on the proposed project, the information is not required in C&P. However, if the in-kind contributions with no time commitment are intended for use on the proposed project, they must be included in the Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources section.

Example:  individuals working on the project but who are not charging effort to the project

What do foreign collaborations and research support have to do with the NSF C&P?

In recent years, documents like the C&P, Biosketch, Facilities documents in a proposal and the annual report have become increasingly important tools for disclosing one’s research affiliation with institutions outside the U.S. This comes as a time when the security of U.S.-funded intellectual property has received more attention.

NSF addresses these issues through topics related to research support reporting, especially “in-kind” support in the Current & Pending and Facilities documents, and via reporting of institutional affiliations in the biosketch.

Issues surrounding foreign influence and international activities in federally funded research has been an evolving topic, in which the U.S. Government has shown increasing concern. These concerns include:

• Diversion of intellectual property to foreign entities;
• Disclosure of confidential grant application information by NIH peer reviewers to third parties;
• Failure of researchers to disclose research resources and support provided by other organizations, including foreign entities.

Agency attention on this issue is outlined in the OVCR’s website Disclosure and Reporting Requirements for International Research Partnerships and Collaborations.

Investigators are encouraged to stay abreast of agency updates and requirements for proposal documents and award documents in order to best comply with these reporting requirements.

Resources

Disclosure and Reporting Requirements for International Research Partnerships and Collaborations.

See also: NSF FAQ on Current & Pending Support.

As of October 5th 2020, one must submit a Current & Pending form in “an NSF-approved” format.

Approved formats for creating current & pending support are:

1. SciENcv – SciENcv will produce NSF-compliant PDF versions of the current & pending support format. Proposers must save these documents and submit them as part of their proposals via FastLane, Research.gov or Grants.gov.
   Proposers may also user their SciENcv account to create NIH Biosketches.
   Read FAQs on using SciENcv
2. NSF Fillable PDF –  NSF is providing a fillable PDF of the current & pending support format. Proposers can download the form form the NSF Current & Pending website, complete the form, and upload as part of their proposal via FastLane, Research.gov or Grants.gov.
   FAQs on BIO and CPS Fillable PDFs (Sept 2021)

Learn more about SciENcv for NSF and NIH Biosketches and Current & Pending documents.

• The fillable PDF template may not be altered in any way. Information must be typed or copied and pasted into the NSF template. Any other PDF, Word document, or alterations to the NSF form will generate an error message upon submission.
• The fillable PDF has space for 15 projects/grants. Investigators with more than 15 projects/grants will need to use SciENcv, which allows for an unlimited number of entries.
• The fillable PDF allows for whole numbers only in the grant number field. Effort appears as calendar person months per year. NSF is working on updating these fields to allow for letters and academic/summer months, respectively.
• The fields on the fillable PDF form have character limits.  SciENcv is suggested for more flexibility.
• Regarding project time frames, please note the following. For projects that exceed 5 years, report on the next 5 years of the project. For projects that span 2 fiscal years, report on the latter of the 2 years.
• SciENcv requires a greater initial time investment, but may prove more efficient in the long term.
  Once investigators have created and maintained their linked accounts, many biosketch and support documents can be generated with a few clicks.
• Learn more about SciENcv for NSF and NIH Biosketches and Current & Pending documents.

SciENcv has been adopted by federal agencies like NIH and NSF to streamline production of common grant elements like Current and Pending Support. Log in using youur NSF credentials and then link to your My NCBI and/or ORCid accounts. Linking your NSF account with your My NCBI and/or ORCid account allows SciENcv to pull your biographical and publication information to create support documents.

SciENcv creates a master profile from which you can create an untold number of Current and Pending Support documents specific to any proposal that you are involved in. As a My NCBI account holder, you can invite other individuals to act as your delegate and grant them the ability to view, edit, and create documents in your SciENcv.

• Video: SciENcv tutorial.

SciENcv can also pull information from your ORCiD account to populate biosketches. Integrate your ORCiD to ensure better tracking of your research productions in national databases like SCOPUS.

• Video: Connecting ORCiD to SciENcv.

Learn more about SciENcv for NSF and NIH Biosketches and Current & Pending documents.

• NSF Current and Pending Support page
• Detailed instructions from NSF’s Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG)
• NSF PAPPG (NSF 22-1) webinar (recorded September, 2021)
• FAQs on BIO and CPS Fillable PDFs (Sept 2021)

• SciENcv Guidance on Creating an NSF Current and Pending Support document, including step-by-step instructions and screenshots for the two required sections (This is a subsection of the guidance at SciENcv Help.)
• WU Becker Library Guide: My SciENcv
• Video (3:34): NCBI Tutorial: SciENcv Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae