Manage Your Award

Information for first-time awardees

Explore key resources you must review when you are being considered for a new award from NSF.

Award terms and conditions

When you receive an award notice from NSF, it will specifically identify certain conditions that are applicable to, and become part of, your award.

Part II of NSF's Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) covers the NSF award process, from issuance and administration of an NSF award through closeout. When your award notice's conditions reference a particular section of the guide, that section becomes part of the award.

NSF's Conditions webpages provide the full text of the terms and conditions used to manage NSF grants and cooperative agreements. Topics covered on these pages include awardee responsibilities, federal requirements, pre-award costs, no-cost extensions, significant project changes, travel, allowable costs, project reports, final report requirements and more:

Grant General Conditions
Research Terms and Conditions
Cooperative Agreement Conditions
Special Conditions for NSF conference or group travel awards, awards made to international organizations, or awards involving international research.

Together, the PAPPG and the award terms and conditions detail NSF's administrative requirements, cost principles and audit requirements for its awards. If these two documents are silent on a specific area covered by 2 CFR § 200, the requirements specified in 2 CFR § 200 must be followed.

Oversight and monitoring guidance

As a part of its oversight and monitoring of its funding portfolio, NSF may choose to undertake one or more of the following reviews to assess your organization's ability to administer your NSF award:

This review will determine whether your organization has established award management policies, procedures and practices sufficient to manage NSF funds compliantly. Read the desk review fact sheet and NSF's desk review basics .

This review will assess:

Your organization's capacity for award administration.
Compliance with administrative regulations, public policy requirements, and award terms and conditions, including those contained in the NSF program announcement/solicitation and your grant or cooperative agreement.
The extent to which your organization maintains a controlled environment where awards are likely to be administered in compliance with federal financial and administrative regulations and NSF agreement provisions.

Read the site visit fact sheet .

Training tools and guides

Use the checklists and guides in this section to verify that your award management practices meet NSF's and federal requirements.

Manage Your Award