• New Campus Guidelines for Electronic Proposals
• PRF Revised for Electronic Proposals
• Marcia Smith, New AVC of Research Administration and Compliance, Arrives August 1
• New ZIP Code for SPO: 94704-5940
• Chancellor's Faculty Partnership Fund to Support Groundbreaking Collaborations
• Campus Training Resources
• NIH Updates SF424 (R&R) and PHS 398 Electronic Forms
• Reminder: Campus Requirement to Submit Proposals Through SPO/IAO
• Feds Withdraw Proposed Export Control Changes; Form Advisory Committee
• Commerce Amends EAR to Include Select Agents
• NOAA Announces 2007 Grant Programs
• NSF Reorganizes Engineering Directorate
• SAMHSA Publishes Grants List for 2007
• SPO is Hiring!

Funding Program Announcements

Contract and Grant Awards in May and June

Limited Submission Programs

Faculty Prize and Award Programs

The Vice Chancellor for Research issued the following memorandum to the campus on electronic proposal submission on June 6, 2006. The memo is available in CALmessages at https://mossberg.berkeley.edu/CALmessages/display_message.asp?d=6/6/2006&s=101.

By February 2007, all twenty-six federal granting agencies must receive the majority of grant proposals through Grants.gov, the federally mandated electronic system that will be used for locating funding opportunities, applying for, and managing grants.

Investigators who have submitted electronic proposals under the Grants.gov system have found the process to be more complex and time consuming than the traditional paper application procedure. When the electronic proposal is submitted, Grants.gov checks for errors and omissions, and will not accept the proposal until the errors are corrected. The corrected proposal must be resubmitted to Grants.gov in time to meet the original proposal submission deadline. Due to the nature of Grants.gov, error checking is a very tedious and time consuming process. In order to meet the submission deadline you must plan ahead and allow extra time to finalize the proposal submission.

In order to insure successful submission for Grants.gov and all other electronic proposal submissions, it is crucial that Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) receives the fully completed proposal with a signed proposal review form A MINIMUM OF FIVE WORKING DAYS PRIOR TO THE AGENCY RECEIPT DEADLINE. If the proposal is not submitted by this time, SPO cannot guarantee review and successful submission of the application.

Early submitters receive faster responses to their proposal submission, have greater access to support staff, and have more time to make any needed corrections to their applications to address errors or omissions. Like any new process, there is a learning curve with electronic submission. Waiting until the last minute to submit your application is risky business - submit early!

Sincerely,
Beth Burnside
Vice Chancellor for Research
and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

PRF Revised for Electronic Proposals

The Proposal Review Form has been revised to help identify electronic proposals. The line to provide the date now includes the time the proposal is due, in Pacific time, and a checkbox for proposals that require electronic submission.

By providing this information, investigators and campus staff will assist SPO and IAO to manage proposals more effectively. The revised form, dated 6/06 and available at http://www.spo.berkeley.edu/Forms/UCForms.html#PRF, should be used immediately.

Vice Chancellor for Research Burnside announced that a new Assistant Vice Chancellor of Research Administration and Compliance has been appointed and will be joining the campus on August 1, 2006. The campus announcement below is also available at https://mossberg.berkeley.edu/CALmessages/display_message.asp?d=6/23/2006&s=100.

I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Marcia Smith as Berkeley's new Assistant Vice Chancellor of Research Administration and Compliance (AVC-RAC).

Marcia joins us from Boston where she served for the last several years as Director of Research Grants and Contracts for Partners HealthCare System, a shared governance operation responsible for the $900M/year sponsored projects portfolio

of Harvard's Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's Hospitals. In this role she was not only responsible for sponsored projects but also played a central role in assurance of institutional compliance and improving services to investigators and staff. Prior to the creation of Partners, Marcia led the Grants and Contracts operations at Massachusetts General Hospital. She has also had private sector experience as Director of Contracts and Administration at B&M Technological Services, Inc. and university experience with Boston University's Office of Sponsored Programs.

Marcia's extensive background will be an asset to all of us as she assumes responsibility for the Sponsored Projects Office, the Office for the Protection of Human Subjects, and the Office of the Animal Care and Use Committee here at Berkeley. Marcia will be joining us on August 1, 2006, when she will move into her new office on the third floor of the Power Bar Building.

Please join me in welcoming her to Berkeley.

Sincerely,
Beth Burnside
Vice Chancellor for Research
and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

The Sponsored Projects Office has been assigned a new zip code as a result of the move to Shattuck Avenue. SPO's campus mail code remains the same: 5940. SPO's address is now 2150 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 313; University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94704-5940.

A new campus funding program will provide up to $100,000 in seed funding for the development of highly innovative, interdisciplinary research projects proposed by teams of two or more faculty members. Participating faculty members must come from different research fields and different departments in science and engineering and must commit to explore interesting new ideas arising from the intersection of elements from each field. At least one faculty member of the proposing team must be untenured. Grant funds are to be used primarily for postdoctoral fellowships and graduate student support, as well as supplies and equipment; funds cannot be used for more than one month of faculty summer salary.

The call for proposals for the first round of competition will be issued in early September from the Vice Chancellor for Research Office. The announcement of this new program is available at https://mossberg.berkeley.edu/CALmessages/display_message.asp?d=6/22/2006&s=100.

SPO and the Vice Chancellor for Research Office will be offering the following NCURA live satellite workshops during the coming year. DVDs will also be available for departments to borrow.

• Technology Transfer for the Research Administrator (September 12, 2006)

SPO has DVDs of the following past workshops available. To borrow a DVD, contact Betty Roberts (2-8112, bkrobert@berkeley.edu).

• National Securities Issues Video Workshop (June 13, 2006)
• Grants.gov: Working Towards a Common Vision
• Post-award Issues for the Pre-award and Departmental Administrator
• Principles of Federal Research and Development Contracting
• Best Practices in Research Compliance: Update on Policies and Regulations and Implementation at Institutions

Other suggested training:

• NIH's New Electronic Grant Application Process and the SF424 (R&R): http://era.nih.gov/training/ElectronicSubmission/

The National Institutes of Health and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recently changed the standard SF424 (R&R) and agency-specific PHS 398 electronic form components used for the electronic submission of grant applications.

Applicants, especially if submitting to an older funding announcement with multiple receipt dates, should make sure they are using the correct forms.

The NIH forms update plan and its affect on applicants is summarized below. Applicants should also see the announcement published in the June 23 NIH Guide at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-06 -078.html.

New FOAs (Release/Posted Date after June 15)

• The application package attached to the Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) will already contain the new forms and application guide. Make sure to use the application guide available for download with the forms.

Older FOAs (Release/Posted Date before June 15)

• FOAs that have a single receipt date (typically RFAs and PARs) will be evaluated and, in most cases, will be allowed to close naturally with no change to the associated form package.
• For older FOAs with multiple receipt dates, applicants will need to pay close attention to the form set used to create the application package. NIH and AHRQ will be updating existing FOAs that use the older forms and are open for multiple receipt dates. Once the new form packages are in place for a particular FOA, the old form packages will no longer be accepted by Grants.gov. Any application in progress will need to be moved to the new form package.

Please remember that according to campus policy, proposals must be submitted through the Sponsored Project Office or Industry Alliances Office. The campus is not accepting awards for proposals that did not go through SPO or IAO.

This policy was stated in a memorandum issued by the Vice Chancellor for Research on February 7, 2006, available in CALmessages at https://mossberg.berkeley.edu/CALmessages/display_message.asp?d=2/7/2006&s=102.

The memo states: "Effective immediately, the campus will refuse to accept any grant or contract for extramural funding that has not been appropriately submitted through SPO or IAO. If SPO or IAO receive an award document for a proposal not formally and appropriately submitted through SPO or IAO, the award will be declined. Exceptions may be made only in highly exceptional cases and must be approved in advance and in writing by the Chancellor."

Questions about this policy may be directed to the Vice Chancellor for Research Office.

In May, the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) withdrew the proposed rules that would have revised provisions of the deemed export rules in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Additionally, the Commerce Department is creating a new Deemed Export Advisory Committee.

Withdrawal of Proposed Changes

The proposed EAR revisions would have had substantial negative impact on universities and on international students and scholars performing research in the U.S.

BIS received over 300 comments from academic institutions, lawyers, companies, trade associations, U.S. national laboratories, academic associations, federal agencies, foreign governments, and individuals in response to the proposed revision published in March 2005. The comments are available at http://efoia.bis.doc.gov (see June 25, 2005).

According to the withdrawal notice, published in the May 31 Federal Register (available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/E6-8370.htm), based "upon a thorough review of the public comments and a review of foreign immigration requirements, BIS has determined that the current licensing requirement based upon a foreign national's country of citizenship or permanent residency is appropriate."

The notice also states that "While the deemed export rule plays a crucial role in preventing foreign nationals from countries of concern from obtaining controlled U.S. technology, BIS also recognizes that export controls must take into account the integral and critical contribution of foreign nationals to U.S. fundamental research. U.S. research institutions play a vital role in advancing science and technology for future generations. Part of the vitality of the research enterprise is the contribution made by foreign national students, faculty, and visiting scientists."

Deemed Export Advisory Committee

In the May 22 Federal Register, the Commerce Department published a notice of intent to establish a Deemed Export Advisory Committee to "undertake a comprehensive review of the national security, technology, and competitiveness dimensions of the deemed export issue and provide recommendations for potential changes to the current deemed export policy." Candidates for the 12-member committee are now being recruited from academia, industry, and other fields.

Campus faculty and staff with questions related to deemed export regulations may contact Paula Burkhart in SPO at 2-8110 or pkburkhart@berkeley.edu.

The Commerce Department has amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to include select agents and toxins on the Commerce Control List (CCL) that have been determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to have the potential to pose a severe threat to human, animal, and plant life, as well as certain sectors of the U.S. economy.

The amendment became effective June 12, the date of publication in the Federal Register (http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/E6-8995.pdf).

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a consolidated source of program and application information for FY 2007 grants and cooperative agreements in the June 12 Federal Register, available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-5225.htm or at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html.

The announcement includes 45 programs in ocean science, education, ecosystem management, habitat and species protection and conservation, climate change, and environment.

Effective October 1, 2006, the Engineering Directorate (ENG) of the National Science Foundation will reorganize. The new structure will consolidate the five current disciplinary divisions into three divisions and establish three crosscutting units.

• The divisions of Chemical and Transport Systems and Bioengineering and Environmental Systems will merge to form the division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET). CBET will have two windows for unsolicited proposals: August 15, 2006 through September 15, 2006, and February 1, 2007 through March 1, 2007.
• The divisions of Civil and Mechanical Systems and Design and Manufacturing Innovation will merge to form the division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI). CMMI will have two windows for unsolicited proposals: September 1, 2006 through October 1, 2006, and January 15, 2007 through February 15, 2007.
• The division of Electrical and Communications Systems will add cyber systems and become the division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS). ECCS will have two windows for unsolicited proposals: September 7, 2006 through October 7, 2006, and January 7, 2007 through February 7, 2007.
• The Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) will now provide more emphasis on its role as a crosscutting division within the directorate.
• The Office of Industrial Innovation, which houses SBIR/STTR, will broaden to include new partnerships and become the division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP).
• A crosscutting Office of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) will be added and report to the Office of the Assistant Director.

More information is available from NSF at http://www.nsf.gov/eng/general/reorg/.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services has published a chart of anticipated grant programs for FY 2007, based on the President's FY 2007 budget request. Final figures will not be available until after SAMHSA receives its FY 2007 appropriation. The grants overview is available at http://www.samhsa.gov/Grants/2007/fy2007opps.aspx.

SPO is recruiting for a Senior Research Administrator (Senior Administrative Analyst). See the SPO web site (http://www.spo.berkeley.edu/position.html) or the campus employment web site (http://jobs.berkeley.edu, job number 004771) for more information on the position.