July 14, 2022

Subject: Department of Energy New Current and Pending Support requirements

From: Laura Johnston, Asst Director, Office of Sponsored Programs

To: SPA News Listserv

On June 1, 2022 the Department of Energy (DOE) released a Financial Assistance Letter (FAL), No. FAL 2022-04 to DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Contracting and Grants Officers. The FAL provided information and guidance on what should be included in Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) and Financial Assistance Agreements related to Current and Pending (C&P) Support disclosures. Effective immediately, DOE FOAs and newly issued Financial Assistance Agreements will include the new requirements. For a detailed description of the requirements, please see the DOE section of our Current and Pending webpage (also included as reference below). Significant things to note regarding the new requirements:

• May require past support to be reported. If so, it will be noted in the Funding Opportunity Announcement.
• Research gifts must be included (with or without terms and conditions).
• On the C&P form, when entering the total cost of the proposal, award or activity, you must include direct costs, indirect costs and cost share.
• The C&P form must be signed and dated and include DOE’s certification statement. The FAL did not specify whether the signature had to be electronic or digital, or if it could be a scanned wet signature.
• Upon request, supporting documentation for any identified source of support must be provided to DOE, including translations of any documentation.
• At the award negotiation stage or during the performance of an award, DOE may designate additional project personnel as Senior/key and require their Current and Pending Support form. This could include consultants, postdocs, graduate students, etc.
• At the award stage:
• Changes or additions to Senior/key personnel - the new person must submit a C&P form within 30 days of joining a project team*
• Changes to previously submitted C&P - any changes to a previously submitted C&P form must be submitted within 30 days of the change*

*Timeline may be adjusted by the program office

If you have any questions related to requirements at the proposal or Just-in-Time stage, please contact your OSP Proposal Team. For questions during the performance of an award, please contact the CGA Awards Group.

Following is information from the Current and Pending / Other Support Requirements by Sponsor webpage, for your reference:

Department of Energy (DOE)

On June 1, 2022 the Department of Energy released a Financial Assistance Letter (FAL), No. FAL 2022-04, to DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Contracting and Grants Officers. The FAL provided information and guidance on what should be included in Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) and Financial Assistance Agreements related to Current and Pending Support disclosures. Effective immediately, DOE FOAs and newly issued Financial Assistance Agreements will include the following requirements for Current and Pending Support:

Who Must Report

• All Senior/key personnel. DOE defines Senior/key personnel as:

• “An individual who contributes in a substantive, meaningful way to the scientific development or execution of a Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) project proposed to be carried out with a DOE award.”

• DOE clarifies that typically these individuals have a doctoral or other professional degree, although individuals with other levels of education/experience may be considered Senior/key if their involvement meets the above DOE definition.

When to Report

• Proposal stage: Follow the instructions provided in the Funding Opportunity Announcement for your proposal submission. DOE instructed Contracting and Grants Officers to begin including these requirements in new FOA’s, as of June 1, 2022.

• Award stage:

• Adding new Senior/key personnel - If there are changes or additions to Senior/key personnel for the project, the new person must submit a Current and Pending Support form within 30 days of joining the project team, or on a timeline provided by the program office.

• Changes to previously submitted Current and Pending Support – Changes to a previously submitted Current and Pending Support form must be submitted within 30 days of the change, or on a timeline provided by the program office.

Note: Typically not applicable to financial assistance agreements that exclusively fund conferences, workshops, and other technical meetings.

What to Report

The Current and Pending Support form must include:

• “…all resources made available, or expected to be made available, to an individual in support of the individual’s RD&D efforts…” This is regardless of:

• Whether the source of support is domestic or non-domestic

• Whether the resource is made available through MSU or directly to the individual

• Whether the resource has monetary value

Examples include:

• All proposals and ongoing projects/awards. May also include past support, if so, the requirement to include past support as well as the timeframe, will be included in the Funding Opportunity Announcement.

• Research gifts (with or without terms and conditions)

• Professional appointments, regardless of whether the appointment is:

• Full-time, part-time or voluntary

• Faculty, visiting, adjunct or honorary

• Consulting activities that involve conducting research

• Research conducted during the summer semester for faculty members with an Academic Year appointment

• “…in-kind contributions requiring a commitment of time and directly supporting the individual’s RD&D efforts.” Examples include:

• Provision of office or lab space

• Access to equipment or supplies

• Access to employee or student labor

How to Report

DOE uses NSF’s Current and Pending Support format, which can be completed through SciENcv, or the PDF template. For each activity included on the Current and Pending Support form, include the following items:

• Sponsor of the activity or source of funding

• Award # or other identifying #

• Title of award or activity

• If the title of the activity isn’t descriptive, include a brief description of the research being performed. The description should help identify overlaps or synergies with the proposed research.

• Total project period (start and end date of the activity)

• Person-months effort (per year) being dedicated to the award or activity

• Use the overlap field to identify overlap, duplication of effort, or synergistic efforts with other awards or activities.

New – the Current and Pending Support form must be signed and dated, and include the following certification statement:

I, [Full Name and Title], certify to the best of my knowledge and belief that the information contained in this Current and Pending Support Disclosure Statement is true, complete, and accurate. I understand that any false, fictitious, or fraudulent information, misrepresentations, half-truths, or omissions of any material fact, may subject me to criminal, civil or administrative penalties for fraud, false statements, false claims or otherwise. (18 U.S.C. §§ 1001 and 287, and 31 U.S.C. 3729-3733 and 3801-3812). I further understand and agree that (1) the statements and representations made herein are material to DOE’s funding decision, and (2) I have a responsibility to update the disclosures during the period of performance of the award should circumstances change which impact the responses provided above.

The above certification statement is currently not included on the PDF template, nor is there a designated signature/date field. This must be added to the PDF template, or if using SciENcv, it must be attached.

Note: Details of any obligations to a program, entity or organization sponsored by a non-domestic government must be provided to DOE upon their request. This may include providing supporting documents (with certified translation to English) of any identified source of support.