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NSF Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Training - YouTube
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>> Jean Feldman: Hello, my
name is Jean Feldman.
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I'm head of the Policy
Office in the Division of
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Institution and Award
Support at NSF, and as
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part of this role I also
serve as the foundation's
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clearance officer, which
includes signing off on
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all memorandum
of understanding.
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And as part of this
discussion, we'll now be
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referring to memorandum
of understanding as MOUs.
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The number of MOUs at NSF
has grown dramatically
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over the past few years,
as well as the types of
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funding partners with whom we
are entering such arrangements.
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The purpose of this
training session is to
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provide you with very
basic information on what
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an MOU is, as well as
when such an agreement
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is likely needed.
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It should be noted that
while we use the term MOU
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throughout this
presentation, these same
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concepts also apply to
memorandum of agreement,
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letter agreements, and other
comparable arrangements.
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Before negotiating
committing NSF to a course
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of action under an MOU,
NSF programs should
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carefully consider the
need and desirability of
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an MOU, including staff
time, budgetary resources,
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impact, and opportunity
costs of the engagement
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with the other
counter-parting organization.
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Examples of previously
cleared MOUs can be found
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on the MOU database, which
I will show you how to
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access later in
this presentation.
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An MOU should be
considered only if the
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results in an activity are
consistent with the NSF
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Act, policies and
procedures, and
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contributes to the
achievement of NSF's
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mission and
strategic goals.
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In order to assist
programs in making such an
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assessment, a list of
questions to consider can
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be found on the MOU page,
again, which will be
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referenced later.
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So, now let's talk a bit
about what is an MOU?
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Well, an MOU is an
agreement to cooperate in
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areas where the
scientific, technical, or
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other interests of
the parties coincide.
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Decisions to pursue such
agreements should be
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considered, again as I
mentioned, in the context
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of NSF's strategic plan.
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These agreements typically
cover a statement of
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intent between the
parties, the authority of
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the organizations to
enter into an MOU.
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In the case of NSF, it's
the NSF Act of 1950, the
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scope of work, and how
responsibilities will be
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shared between the
organizations, a title and
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synopsis of the program,
the duration of the
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agreement, termination
provisions, reporting
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provisions, funding and
resource commitments, and
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those will likely be
detailed later through an
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inter-agency agreement
or some other vehicle of
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delivery, and resolution
of disagreements.
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The administrative details
to be specified are
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dependent on whether or
not the MOU will involve
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proposal generation,
as well as any form of
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collaborative review.
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MOUs are generally between
NSF and another federal agency.
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However, this has greatly
expanded over the last few
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years, and MOUs now are
between NSF and one or
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more entities including
private nonprofit
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organizations, industrial
entities, foreign
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governments and
organizations, industry
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consortium, for-profits and
other private organizations.
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Now let's talk about when
you might not need an MOU.
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You might not need an MOU
if you are contemplating
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some form of very
high-level agreement that
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states a willingness
to collaborate.
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These are very much
-- this is what we're
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interested in, this is
what you're interested in,
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and we plan on jointly
collaborating on those.
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So while NSF does not
typically need an organ --
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an MOU in that type of
situation, sometimes you
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will find that the other
organization that you are
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planning to
collaborate with does.
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And if that is the case,
you need to discuss this
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with the MOU team and we
will discuss how to best
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proceed in those
types of situations.
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You also might not need
an MOU when NSF is not
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sharing anything beyond
the types of science that
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NSF is funding or
that we plan to fund.
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There is no specific
information being released
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and, therefore, an MOU is
not likely to be needed.
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Another case where we
might not need an MOU is
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where NSF intends to
provide funds for a single
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award to another federal
agency, or another federal
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agency intends to provide
funding through an
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inter-agency agreement.
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One important note to
remember here though is
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that if an organization
plans to provide funding
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to support NSF through an
interagency agreement we
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will not allow the other
agency to add special
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terms and conditions to
our award, and that's
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something important to
keep in note when you're
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discussing that with the
other federal agency.
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Now a much longer list is when
we may need to have an MOU.
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So when and why do
you need that MOU?
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And even though MOUs are
nonbinding arrangements
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we've found that
documenting the details of
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the relationship in
advance greatly assists in
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ensuring a successful
collaboration.
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Some of the indicators
that we'd like to point
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out to you are you plan to
contribute resources, and
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this includes any kind
of resources from money,
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staff, equipment,
whatever it may be to the
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collaborating activity.
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Another indicator is
when you plan to issue
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a joint solicitation.
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We would like to indicate
in the MOU, for example,
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who will be issuing that
joint solicitation, the
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involvement of the other
party in developing and
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drafting that
joint solicitation.
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Another example or
indicator is when we plan
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to share review or
proposal information.
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Another example is when
staff from the other
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collaborating organization
plans to actually
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participate as an observer in
a panel that NSF is running.
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You also may need an MOU
if you plan to issue joint
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awards, and we would talk
a lot about that in
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specific detail in
any resulting MOU.
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You plan to share project
reports with the other
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organization, or the
actual award that you or
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the other funding partner
will make actually talks
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about the collaboration.
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NSF is engaging in a
collaborative arrangement
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with X entity, and that is
included in any resulting
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award that's part
of that agreement.
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So how are MOUs cleared?
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This is a very important
concept and one that we
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hope that we can help
you walk through.
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The easiest and most
straightforward way to
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accomplish this is to
contact the Policy Office.
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Okay, something also that
it is important for you to
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understand is how MOUs are
cleared at the National
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Science Foundation, and
we hope we have greatly
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streamlined that process
in the last four years by
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creation of what we
call the MOU team.
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The MOU team consists of
representatives from the
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Policy Office, the Office
of the General Counsel,
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and the Office of the
Director, and to reach the
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MOU team you will
simply send an e-mail to
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[email protected], and we
can start that clearance
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process with you.
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The MOU team will ensure
that the programmatic
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approvals have been
obtained and secured, that
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all legal, policy,
financial, or management
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issues have been resolved
in the agreement that is
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proposed for use, that the
commitment of NSF funds or
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other resources is
appropriate and, finally,
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the other party's policies
and procedures do not
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conflict with NSF under
any resulting agreements
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or actions.
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Again, the concept is
though that you are
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contacting the MOU team as this
document is being cleared.
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Some even go so far as
to contact us before they
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actually engage in
discussions with the other
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funding partner, and that
works really well because
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we can ensure that
whatever we share,
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whatever draft we share
with the other partner
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have actually -- meet NSF
policies and procedures.
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Definitely you do not want
to fall into a situation
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where you get so far down
the process that you've
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actually got both parties
to sign, NSF and the other
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partner, and then
come to the MOU team.
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That's a bit late in the
process, and we'd like to
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help you well before
that actually occurs.
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Now there are, as I've
already mentioned through
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this presentation, a
number of other resources
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that have been
developed for NSF staff.
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There is a sample MOU
template that actually
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makes it easy for you
to literally fill in the
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blanks, if you will, to
cover those items that are
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appropriate to that
collaborating relationship.
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We also have a repository
of cleared MOUs.
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You can find out what
we've done in the past
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with a particular
organization, and that
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greatly facilitates our
being able to negotiate a
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successful MOU with
them in the future.
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We also have a series of
questions that we've put
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together that you should
consider when preparing or
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planning for that MOU.
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There is also significant
coverage in the proposal
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in an award manual,
chapter 9B1.
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There is a screenshot
though on this slide that
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actually provides
information and direct
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links to all the documents
that I've mentioned, and
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it is available on the
Inside NSF website.
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I hope this information
has been useful, and
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throughout any of these
discussions within your
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organization you are
certainly free to reach
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out to [email protected], and
we are certainly happy to
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help you throughout
this process.
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Thank you very much.
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