Swift: Guest Investigator Program Information---Budgets

SWIFT GUEST INVESTIGATOR PROGRAM - CYCLE 1 Budget Preparation

SWIFT BUDGET PREPARATION

General Information

In addition to judging the scientific and technical merit of guest investigator proposals, the Swift Cycle 1 proposal review process will allocate support for the accepted investigations. The amount of support for a given investigation will depend on a number of considerations including, but not limited to, the complexity of the analysis, the number of accepted proposals for which the PI is requesting support under this announcement, and other sources of funding relevant to this request.

A cost proposal is required for each investigation for which financial support from NASA is requested. Investigations will be funded for a period of one year.

Eligibility

Participation in this budget process is limited to proposers whose primary affiliation is with a US institution.

Only one budget proposal will be allowed for each scientific proposal submitted to Cycle 1. Communications concerning the budgets and budget proposals will only be with PIs.

Subgrants

In order to reduce institutional overheads, the use of subgrants to fund co-investigators at secondary institutions is allowed and encouraged in this budget process. The PI or may direct funds to a Co-I at an institution other than his or her own by following the instructions included in this and associated documentation. The Co-I at the secondary institution will then receive the funds directly.

Useful WWW Sites/Pages

The NASA Office of Space Science "Guidebook for Proposers"

BUDGET SUMMARY AND CONTENT

For each proposal submitted, proposers should include a budget form, a one-page justification of the budget, and a funding status page listing current and pending support for the PI. The budget form is not electronically submitted. In addition, for any subgrants the hardcopy submission will require a signed RPS General Form, budget justification, and budget form from the secondary institution and Co-I.

Budget Form: Proposers must use the budget form available via the Web as LaTex, PDF, or PS. The LaTex file has been annotated to ease the process of data entry. In addition to the mandatory standard form, proposers may include a cost section prepared according to the guidelines of the institution submitting the proposal. For any Co-Investigator for which funding is being requested as a subgrant, and who is located at a different institution from the PI, a separate budget form using the standard form is also required.

The budget form(s) should contain:

The title of the proposal, and the name of the PI.
Cost estimates for direct labor, including individual person-months and rates for the personnel involved.
Estimated costs for equipment, material, and computer services, including type of computer and number of hours of mainframe computer use. Itemize items over $500.
Travel costs - Itemize trips. In general, only one trip per team member to a professional society meeting will be supported.
Overhead costs and rates.
Other costs, with explanation.
Contributions from any cost-sharing plan.
Total cost of support being requested from NASA.
Subgrants to be awarded directly from NASA to Co-Investigators at institutions other than that of the PI. The total dollar amount of these subgrants must be reflected in the overall cost of the proposal, and should not include any overhead from the PI institution in the cost listed in the standard form. In general, subgrants should not be for less than $2,500.

4) Budget Justification and Summary: A brief, one-page budget justification must be included providing the rationale for the various cost items and amounts requested. This justification should allow the review panel to assess the degree of the necessity of each budget item. The justification should include a detailed breakdown of the responsibility of the various investigators who are requesting funding. The budgets must explicitly list any funds requested for Co-Is, and justify their support.

5) Current and Pending Support: A complete list of awarded and pending research funding support from NASA or other sources for the Principal Investigator, and all Co-Investigators requesting support. The information needed includes: Agency, Grant/Contract Number, Title, Amount, Starting and Ending Dates, and Level of Effort (percent).

Budget Contents and Page Order

SECTION	PAGE LIMIT	COMMENTS
Budget Form	1	REQUIRED. Must be the standard form downloaded from the Swift budget pages.
Budget Justification	1	REQUIRED.
Co-I General Form	As Needed	Required when Co-I funds are directed to a separate institution. Must be the standard form, generated by RPS. Institutional endorsement by Co-I institution required.
Co-I Budget Form	As Needed	Required when Co-I funds are directed to a separate institution. Must be the standard form downloaded from the Swift budget pages.
Co-I Budget Justification	As Needed	Required when Co-I funds are directed to a separate institution.
Current and Pending Funding	As Needed	REQUIRED.
Institutional Pages	As Desired	Institution cover pages, budget pages, and any other pages which institutional authorities find necessary to add to budget proposals. Any such pages must be included only at the end of the proposal.

Provision of funds to individual GIs will likely occur near the time Swift data enters the HEASARC archive.

INSTITUTIONAL CERTIFICATIONS

In accordance with U.S. Code, there are currently two certifications required from every institution, except from U.S. Federal institutions, submitting a proposal, namely,

* Debarment, Suspension, and Other Responsibility Matters;

* Lobbying for Contracts, Grants, Loans and Cooperative Agreements (required only for proposals seeking a cumulative total in excess of $100,000)

In addition, one assurance is currently required,

* Assurance of Compliance with NASA Regulations Pursuant to Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs.

In order to reduce paper work required by the submitting institutions, language is now included on the printout of the proposal Cover Page that confirms that these requirements are met by the proposing institution once that printed item is signed by the Authorizing Institutional Representative and submitted with the proposal. Therefore, these Certifications and Assurances are included in this Guidebook only for reference and information; they should not be submitted with the proposal.

Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension, and

Other Responsibility Matters

This certification is required by the regulations implementing Executive Order 12549, Debarment and Suspension, 14 CFR Part 1265, Participant?s responsibilities. The regulations were published as Part VII of the May 26, 1988 Federal Register (pages 19160-19211).

(1) The prospective primary participant certifies to the best of its knowledge and belief, that it and its principals:

Are not presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from covered transactions by any Federal department or agency;

Have not within a three-year period preceding this proposal been convicted of or had a civil judgment rendered against them for commission of fraud or a criminal offense in connection with obtaining, attempting to obtain, or performing a public (Federal, State, or local) transaction or contract under a public transaction; violation of Federal or State antitrust statues or commission of embezzlement theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false statements, or receiving stolen property;

Are not presently indicted for or otherwise criminally or civilly charged by a governmental entity (Federal, State or local) with commission of any of the offenses enumerated in paragraph (1)(b) of this certification; and

Have not within three-year period preceding this application/proposal had one or more public transactions (Federal, State, or local) terminated for cause or default.

(2) Where the prospective primary participant is unable to certify to any of the statements in this certification, such prospective participant shall attach an explanation to this proposal.

Certification Regarding Lobbying

No Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid, by or on behalf of the undersigned, to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in connection with the awarding of any Federal contract, the making of any Federal grant, the making of any Federal loan, the entering into of any cooperative agreement, and the extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of any Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement.

If any funds other than Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in connection with this Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement, the undersigned shall complete and submit Standard Form-LLL, "Disclosure Form to Report Lobbying," in accordance with its instructions.

The undersigned shall require that the language of this certification be included in the award documents for all subawards at all tiers (including subcontracts, subgrants, and contracts under grants, loans, and cooperative agreements) and that all subrecipients shall certify and disclose accordingly.

This certification is a material representation of fact upon which reliance was placed when this transaction was made or entered into. Submission of this certification is a prerequisite for making or entering into this transaction imposed by section 1352, title 31, U.S. Code. Any person who fails to file the required certification shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $10,000, and not more than $100,000 for each such failure.

ASSURANCE OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS PURSUANT TO NONDISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS

The ________________________________________________

(Institution, corporation, firm, or other organization on whose behalf this assurance is signed, hereinafter called "Applicant")

HEREBY AGREES THAT it will comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-352), Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20U.S.C. 1680 et seq.), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 U.S.C. 16101 et seq.) and all requirements imposed by or pursuant to the Regulation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (14 CFR Part 1250)(hereinafter called "NASA") issued pursuant to these laws, to the end that in accordance with these laws and regulations, no person in the United States shall, on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, handicapped condition, or age be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity for which the Applicant receives federal financial assistance from NASA; and HEREBY GIVES ASSURANCE THAT it will immediately take any measure necessary to effectuate this agreement.

If any real property or structure thereon is provided or improved with the aid of federal financial assistance extended to the Applicant by NASA, this assurance shall obligate the Applicant, or in the case of any transfer of which federal financial assistance is extended or for another purpose involving the provision of similar services or benefits. If any personal property is so provided, this assurance shall obligate the Applicant for the period during which it retains ownership or possession of the property. In all other cases, this assurance shall obligate the Applicant for the period during which the federal financial assistance is extended to it by NASA.

THIS ASSURANCE is given in consideration of and for the purpose of obtaining any and all federal grants, loans, contract, property, discounts or other federal financial assistance extended after the date hereof to the Applicant by NASA, including installation payments after such date on account of applications for federal financial assistance which were approved before such date. The Applicant recognizes and agrees that such federal financial assistance will be extended in reliance on the representations and agreements made in this assurance, and that the United States shall have the right to seek judicial enforcement of this assurance. This assurance is binding on the Applicant, its successors, transferees, and assignees, and the person or persons whose signatures appear below are authorized to sign on behalf of the Applicant.

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Goddard Space Flight Center