Volume 14, Number 1: July 11, 2007
FEDERAL NEWS
NSF Font Guidelines
In the new Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide, effective June 1, 2007, the National Science Foundation introduced new regulations concerning the use of fonts in proposal documents:
- Use of only the approved typefaces identified below, a black font color, and a font size of 10 points or larger must be used:
- For Windows users: Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia
- For Macintosh users: Arial, Helvetica, Palatino, or Georgia
- For TeX users: Computer Modern
- No more than 6 lines within a vertical space of 1 inch; and
- Margins must be at least an inch in all directions.
Proposals not in conformance with this guidance may be returned without review.
Grants.gov Extends Transition Time to Adobe Forms
Although originally targeting the end of FY2007 to have all agencies transitioned to the new Adobe-based forms, Grants.gov has extended the time provided to agencies to fully transition to the new format into 2008. The additional time allows Grants.gov to complete their development and testing of the new forms and provides agencies with greater flexibility in how they approach the transition.
The National Institutes of Health's transition to the Adobe forms remains on hold while Grants.gov finalizes the SF424 (R&R) form set. New application packages with Adobe-based forms will not be introduced until fall at the earliest. Once transition plans are finalized, formal announcements will be posted in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts and in the NIH Extramural Nexus.
NIH Website Redesign
The National Institutes of Health and Office of Extramural Research will be introducing redesigned web sites this week. The new sites will have largely the same content and addresses, but the visual design will be improved, with a more user-friendly layout and new color scheme.