The Division of Institution and Award Support in NSF’s Policy Office has issued a notice of intent to limit the expenditure period for cooperative agreements funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to ensure project completion by 30 September 2013. This notice applies to all NSF awardees with active agreements that have been supported in whole or in part with ARRA funds.

This notice advises Principal Investigators (PIs), co-PIs, and awardee organizations of NSF’s implementation of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-11-34, “Accelerating Spending of Remaining Funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for Discretionary Grant Programs,” which specifically directs federal agencies to take steps to ensure that awardees complete ARRA-funded projects by 30 September 2013. NSF will not have the authority to approve the extension of any cooperative agreement supported solely by ARRA funds, or to allow for any costs incurred by ARRA-funded activity beyond 30 September 2013.

Agencies have been directed to request waivers sparingly. Such requests must be based on criteria outlined in the OMB memo and follow established procedures. Awardees must contact their NSF Program Officer in writing by 9 March 2012 if they anticipate asking NSF to consider submitting a waiver request to OMB.

For further information or questions about the waiver request process, awardees, PIs, and co-PIs managing ARRA funded projects should contact the NSF program manager who manages their award.

For more information, please see Special Notices at: http://www.nsf.gov.