The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued revised NSF Grant General Conditions (GC-1) effective for all new NSF grants and funding amendments to existing NSF grants effective April 1, 2001. The complete text of the GC-1 is available on the NSF web site at http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/cpo/policy/start.htm.

Significant changes include: Article 2, all of the prior approval requirements specified in this article must be submitted electronically to NSF via the Fastlane system at http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov. The threshold for Rearrangements/Alterations (Construction) has been changed to aggregate costs of $25,000 or more. Article 4, all awardee-authorized no-cost extensions must be submitted electronically via the Fastlane system. In addition, awardees are not authorized to extend an award that contains a zero balance. Article 5, consultant services has been updated to reflect a change in the statutory maximum daily rate that may be paid to individuals for consulting services. The NSF web site address that contains the most current rate available is http://www.nsf.gov.bfa/cpo/policy/faqs.htm#cons. Article 10, revised to change the threshold for Rearrangements and Alterations that do not constitute construction to costs aggregating less than $25,000. Costs aggregating more than $25,000 require the written prior approval of the NSF Grants Officer. Article 14, annual project reports are required to be submitted electronically via the Fastlane system. Article 15, final reports are required to be submitted electronically via the Fastlane system. Article 19, Publications, has been supplemented with language that states the NSF support must be acknowledged verbally during all news medial interviews. Article 21, clarifies that reports on cost sharing which total $500,000 or more must be sent on an annual and final basis to the cognizant NSF Program Officer.