Grant Proposal Requirements

Funding requirements are controlled by the current solicitation or notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), the effective agency guide, and the submission portal. A general agency summary never overrides the call.

Reviewed: 2026-10-01

Required Order of Authority

Use sources in this order:

1. current solicitation, NOFO, or Broad Agency Announcement (BAA);
2. amendments and agency notices;
3. effective agency application guide and form set;
4. submission-portal validation; and
5. institutional sponsored-research guidance.

Record the source URLs, versions, and date checked in the proposal workspace.

NSF

Current policy basis

• PAPPG landing page: https://www.nsf.gov/policies/pappg
• Proposal preparation overview: https://www.nsf.gov/funding/preparing-proposal
• Current PAPPG Chapter II: follow the version marked current on the landing page
• SciENcv: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/

As reviewed on 2026-10-01, NSF 24-1 remains the current PAPPG for proposals submitted or due on or after 2024-05-20, with Supplement 1 (26-200) and Supplement 2 (26-202). Recheck this status for every deadline.

Verified common research-proposal rules

Unless the solicitation modifies them:

General formatting

• Times New Roman or Computer Modern at 11 points or larger under the current general rule.
• No more than six lines of text in one vertical inch.
• Margins of at least one inch in every direction.
• Portal-generated forms and solicitation-specific instructions may control individual sections.

Important change from older guidance

Do not use the obsolete “three-page NSF biosketch with Synergistic Activities inside it” pattern.

Current workflow:

1. prepare and certify the Biographical Sketch in SciENcv;
2. prepare and certify Current and Pending (Other) Support in SciENcv; and
3. upload Synergistic Activities as its own one-page document.

Project Summary

Clearly label:

• Overview — proposed activity, objectives, and methods;
• Intellectual Merit — potential to advance knowledge; and
• Broader Impacts — potential to benefit society and produce desired societal outcomes.

The summary should be understandable to a broad scientific audience and is not merely the proposal abstract.

Project Description

A practical drafting structure is:

1. problem, prior work, and gap;
2. objectives or hypotheses;
3. research plan and methods;
4. expected outcomes, risks, and alternatives;
5. timeline and team roles;
6. Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts; and
7. Results from Prior NSF Support when required.

This is writing guidance, not a required section order. Follow the solicitation.

Data Management and Sharing Plan

Use the Research.gov tool and current program prompts. Data supporting NSF-funded publications must be shared at publication unless an exception is justified in the plan. Do not upload the bundled prose as an assumed two-page substitute.

Address applicable plans for:

• data and other research products;
• standards and metadata;
• access, sharing, and any justified restrictions;
• reuse and redistribution;
• preservation and archiving; and
• roles and responsibilities.

Directorate, office, division, or program guidance may add requirements.

Bundled NSF scaffold

assets/grants/nsf_proposal_template.tex is a planning scaffold for common narrative components. It is not an NSF-issued upload package. Split content into the appropriate Research.gov or Grants.gov fields and use SciENcv/common forms where required.

NIH

Current policy basis

• Application Guide: https://grants.nih.gov/grants-process/write-application/how-to-apply-application-guide
• Attachment formatting: https://grants.nih.gov/grants-process/write-application/how-to-apply-application-guide/format-attachments
• Page limits: https://grants.nih.gov/grants-process/write-application/how-to-apply-application-guide/page-limits

Use the form set and instructions applicable to the due date. The NOFO always takes precedence over general page-limit tables.

Verified common page limits

As reviewed on 2026-10-01:

Not every activity code uses every attachment. Check the NOFO and activity-code instructions.

Attachment formatting

Verify the current guide for:

• accepted PDF format;
• paper size and margins;
• approved fonts and minimum size;
• file naming;
• hyperlinks;
• headers, footers, and page numbers; and
• whether a format page or common form is mandatory.

The current NIH attachment guide requires text of at least 11 points, at most 15 characters per linear inch, at most six lines per vertical inch, and margins of at least half an inch. Smaller legible text is permitted in graphics. Helvetica is among the recommended fonts; Arial is not uniquely required. Do not add headers or footers/page numbers unless the attachment instructions request them. Do not compress text or figures to evade a page limit.

Specific Aims

A useful writing pattern is:

1. significance and unresolved gap;
2. long-term goal and proposal objective;
3. central hypothesis or guiding premise;
4. concise aims with approach and expected outcome; and
5. impact and next-step payoff.

The pattern is not an NIH-mandated outline. Adapt it to the mechanism and science.

assets/grants/nih_specific_aims.tex is a writing scaffold for the one-page attachment. Confirm the current font, margin, and PDF rules before use.

Research Strategy

For R01-style research applications, organize around:

• Significance;
• Innovation; and
• Approach.

Address rigor, feasibility, analysis, expected outcomes, potential problems, alternatives, milestones, and relevant biological variables where applicable. Mechanism- and NOFO-specific instructions can add or replace requirements.

Biosketch and common forms

Use the Biographical Sketch Common Form and NIH supplement through SciENcv for current applications. NIH implemented Common Forms for due dates on or after 2026-01-25; NOT-OD-26-079 sets system enforcement from 2026-05-08. The research-security-training certification starts on 2026-05-25, a separate date. Consult current form instructions and certifications. A legacy five-page row in the general limits table is not authorization to use the old form.

DOE

Official starting points

• Office of Science funding opportunities: https://science.osti.gov/grants
• DOE funding opportunities: https://www.energy.gov/funding-financing
• Office of Science current calls: https://science.osti.gov/grants/FOAs/Open
• Office of Science submission guidance: https://science.osti.gov/grants/Policy-and-Guidance
• SAM.gov: https://sam.gov/content/opportunities

DOE requirements vary substantially by Funding Opportunity Announcement. Extract exact rules for:

• pre-application or concept paper;
• project narrative;
• resumes/biosketches and support disclosures;
• data management or data-sharing plan;
• budget files and cost sharing;
• current/pending support;
• milestones, deliverables, and technology readiness; and
• submission system.

Submission systems are office- and stage-specific; Office of Science guidance uses PAMS/Grants.gov, while other offices can use their own exchanges. Follow the active call. No DOE template is bundled in this skill.

DARPA

Official starting points

• Opportunities: https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities
• SAM.gov: https://sam.gov/content/opportunities

Every BAA defines its own volumes, page limits, abstract/full-proposal stages, security markings, cost package, and submission channel. Do not apply a generic “20–25 page DARPA proposal” limit.

Use the official Heilmeier Catechism as a thinking aid when relevant:

• What are you trying to do?
• How is it done today, and what are the limits?
• What is new, and why might it succeed?
• Who cares, and what difference will success make?
• What are the risks, cost, schedule, and measurable tests?

The BAA controls the actual proposal structure. No DARPA template is bundled.

Private Foundations

Foundation programs change frequently. Start from the exact open call and capture:

• eligibility and geographic restrictions;
• concept-note or invitation stage;
• narrative questions and character limits;
• indirect-cost policy;
• budget template and currency;
• required partners or letters;
• data, open-science, and intellectual-property terms; and
• portal deadline and timezone.

Do not use remembered award sizes or historical success rates as current facts.

Proposal Compliance Matrix

Create a matrix before drafting:

Use the exact source language rather than paraphrasing ambiguous limits.

General Proposal Checklist

• [ ] Solicitation/NOFO number and amendment date recorded
• [ ] Effective agency guide and form set confirmed
• [ ] Eligibility and registration complete
• [ ] Every component mapped to a portal field
• [ ] Page, character, font, margin, and file rules verified
• [ ] Biosketch/support forms use the required current system
• [ ] Budget and cost-sharing rules reviewed institutionally
• [ ] Human/animal subjects, export control, security, and data rules addressed
• [ ] Required letters and certifications collected
• [ ] Portal validation and institutional review completed before the deadline

Timing

Begin compliance mapping before writing. Build in time for:

• collaborator and subaward documents;
• SciENcv/common-form certification;
• institutional budget and compliance review;
• PDF conversion and portal validation; and
• correction of errors before the deadline.

Never use a generic template as evidence that the final package is compliant.