Is your project idea suitable for NSF funding?
NSF has developed the Program Suitability & Proposal Concept Tool (ProSPCT) for prospective Principal Investigators (PIs) to contact the National Science Foundation (NSF) to determine suitability of a project idea prior to submission of a proposal.
Do not use this site for general correspondence with NSF. Questions about proposals or awards should be sent directly to the cognizant Program Officer or Grants and Agreements Officer.
Log in to ProSPCT, then click “Submissions” to get started. ProSPCT uses Login.gov for authentication.
Submissions made via this form will be routed within NSF for initial review by relevant program staff and made available to other NSF units with expertise germane to the project topic. An assigned cognizant Program Officer will respond to your submission. Please note, these are not full proposals and need only convey sufficient information for a Program Officer to determine whether submission of a full proposal is warranted.
To complete the submission, you will be asked to select a proposal type and then provide information about the prospective PI(s), relevant NSF unit(s), and the project idea. This information will aid in determining the appropriateness of the work for consideration under the selected proposal type.
- The NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) describes four types of proposals (Planning Proposal, RAPID, EAGER, and RAISE) that require a PI to first contact NSF for Program Officer approval to submit a proposal. See the NSF PAPPG for further details for each proposal type.
- If you are submitting a request in response to a specific funding opportunity that requires contacting NSF before proposal submission, you will have an opportunity to identify the opportunity. Please be sure to follow any instructions about the content of your submission described in the funding opportunity.