NEH Grant Programs
JISC/NEH Transatlantic Digitization Collaboration Grants, Receipt Deadline: March 26, 2009
Date posted: January 12, 2009
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 45.149
Questions?
Program questions should be directed to NEH's Division of Preservation and Access at 202-606-8570 or preservation@neh.gov. Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930.
Grant Program Description
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in the United States, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), acting through the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) in the United Kingdom, are working together to offer support for digitization projects in the humanities. These grants provide funding for up to eighteen months of development in any of the following areas: new digitization projects and pilot projects, the addition of important materials to existing digitization projects, or the development of infrastructure (either technical “middleware,” tools, or knowledge-sharing) to support digitization work in the United States, England, and Wales. Collaboration between U.S. and English or Welsh institutions is a key requirement for this grant category, based in part on the recommendations for international collaboration in Professor Sir Gareth Roberts’s “International Partnerships of Research Excellence U.K.-U.S.A Academic Collaboration” (25-page PDF) and the report (51-page PDF) of the American Council for Learned Societies’ Commission on Cyberinfrastructure for the Humanities and Social Sciences.   Each application must be sponsored by both an eligible institution in the United States and an eligible English or Welsh institution (see Section III, “Eligibility,” below), and there must be a project director from each institution. The partners will collaborate to write a single application package, which the U.S. partner will submit to NEH (via Grants.gov) and the English or Welsh partner will submit to JISC (via e-mail). All potential applicants should note that while JISC and NEH each host a version of the guidelines on their respective Web sites, the requirements for the application package as outlined in Section IV, “Application and Submission Information,” are identical. However, each set of guidelines does contain some variations in grant administration procedures to be followed by successful applicants, reflecting the local administrative and organizational requirements of the United States and England or Wales. Applications should explain the need for the partnership between the U.S. institution and the English or Welsh institution and provide workable solutions to some of the issues of managing and developing transatlantic collections. Activities supported may include
  • proposing methods to rejoin via digitization “split” humanities collections that currently exist on both sides of the Atlantic;
  • connecting existing split digitized collections, detailing suitable transatlantic standards and communication strategies;
  • creating a virtual archive or resource that would serve as middleware to join complementary materials (analog or digital) in the United States and England or Wales; and
  • developing infrastructure or computational tools for integrating collections and related reference resources (e.g., encyclopedias, dictionaries, gazetteers) to provide contextual information to users.
Successful applicants will be expected to create a white paper as one of their work products. This white paper should document the project, including lessons learned, so that others can benefit from their experience.
JISC/NEH Transatlantic Digitization Collaboration Grants may not be used for
  • the digitization of materials that are the responsibility of an agency of the United States federal government;
  • the digitization of materials that will not be made regularly accessible for research, education, or public programming;
  • the retrospective conversion of a library’s general card catalog or the basic inventory of a museum's collections;
  • the maintenance or upgrading of computer systems;
  • projects that focus on cognitive psychology, pedagogical theory, research on educational methods, tests, or measurements;
  • the acquisition of collections; or
  • teaching and learning resources, tools, and reference works designed exclusively for classroom instruction.
Providing Access to Grant Products
Both NEH (as a taxpayer-supported federal agency) and JISC endeavor to make the products of their grants available to the broadest possible audience. Our goal is for scholars, educators, students, and the public in the United States, England, and Wales to have ready and easy access to the wide range of NEH and JISC grant products. For projects that lead to the development of Web sites, all other considerations being equal, NEH and JISC give preference to those that provide free and open access to the public. Detailed guidance on access and dissemination matters can be found in the Dissemination section below.
III. Award Information
Awards range from $200,000 to $300,000 (approximately £135,000 to £200,000) for a period of eighteen months, which may begin in August 2009 and may not extend beyond March 2011. The total amount requested from both agencies together should not exceed the $300,000 limit (approximately £200,000). A representative institution from each country will receive the appropriate portion of its funding from the appropriate country's funding agency (NEH in the United States; JISC in England and Wales). Any difference in funding requests from the funding agencies should not vary by an amount greater than 20 percent (see Budget, below, for more information). Projects should include a project director and institutional affiliation from each country, so that funds may be distributed according to respective national laws and guidelines. Successful applicants to NEH will be awarded a grant in outright funds or federal matching funds, depending on the applicant's preference and the availability of NEH funds.
Cost Sharing
Although cost sharing is not required, NEH is rarely able to support the full costs of projects approved for funding. In most cases, NEH grants cover no more than 50-60 percent of project costs. Cost sharing (also known as “institutional contribution” in the United Kingdom) consists of the cash contributions made to the project by the applicant and third parties, as well as third party in-kind contributions, such as donated services and goods.
(Learn more about different types of grant funding.)
Eligibility
Applications must be submitted to both NEH and JISC. Applications sent to only one agency will not be considered for review. See “How to Submit Your Application” for instructions on submitting to each granting agency.
Ineligible applications will not be reviewed.
U.S. Partner Eligibility
Any U.S. nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is eligible, as are state and local governmental agencies and tribal governments. Grants are not awarded to individuals.
NEH generally does not award grants to other federal entities or to applicants whose projects are so closely intertwined with a federal entity that the project takes on characteristics of the federal entity's own authorized activities. This does not preclude applicants from using grant funds from, or sites and materials controlled by, other federal entities in their projects.
English and Welsh Partner Eligibility
Proposals may be submitted by Higher Education (HE) institutions funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) or the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW). Further Education (FE) institutions in England that teach HE to more than 400 full-time equivalents (FTEs) are also eligible to bid, provided proposals demonstrate work that supports the HE in FE agenda. FE and HE institutions in Northern Ireland and Scotland are not eligible to bid but may be involved as partners in proposals led by institutions funded by HEFCE or HEFCW or FE institutions which meet the criteria outlined above. Funds can only be allocated through the lead partner.
Application and Submission Information
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR APPLICATION
Application advice:
Prior to submitting a proposal, applicants are encouraged to contact program officers who can offer advice about preparing the proposal. These comments are not part of the formal review process and have no bearing on the final outcome of the proposal, but applicants have found them helpful in strengthening their applications.
You will submit your single application to two funding agencies. Co-applicants should collaborate in order to create this single application package. The application materials should be exactly the same in each copy submitted to both NEH and JISC, with the following exception: Applications submitted to NEH through Grants.gov should list a primary Project Director affiliated with a U.S.-based institution; applications submitted to JISC via email in PDF format should list a primary Project Director affiliated with an English or Welsh institution.
You will prepare your application for submission via Grants.gov just as you would a paper application. Your application should consist of the following parts:
  1. Description of the project and its significance Provide a one-page abstract written for a nonspecialist audience, clearly explaining the project’s importance to the humanities, its principal activities, and its expected results. List all parts of the application and page numbers.
  2. Table of contents
    List all parts of the application and, beginning with the narrative, number all pages consecutively.
  3. Narrative
    Limit the narrative to twelve to fifteen single-sided and single-spaced pages. All pages should have one-inch (2.54-centimeter) margins and the font size should be no smaller than eleven point. Use appendices to provide supplementary material.
    The narrative should consist of the following sections. The application will be reviewed according to the criteria listed in Section V, “Application Review.”
    • Significance
      Justify the importance of the project on the basis of its long-term benefits to research, education, or public programming in the humanities.
      For projects involving humanities collections, describe the nature, size, and intellectual content of the collections and discuss their relation to similar resources. Provide information about their current and past use or potential future use, their present level of intellectual description, the physical condition of the materials, and their storage conditions. Explain how your project relates to existing resources, discuss what this project will provide that they cannot, and define the probable audiences.
    • History, scope, and duration
      Provide a concise history of the project, including information about preliminary research or planning, financial support already received, and resources or research facilities available. If a project extends beyond the scope of funding requested, briefly describe the scope and duration of the entire project, but show clearly the specific accomplishments or products intended for the grant period for which funding is requested. Describe plans to sustain the project at the end of the grant period. Explain how the project intends to broaden its base of support to allow updates and maintenance without additional NEH or JISC grants.
      If the project has been previously supported by NEH or JISC, compare the accomplishments in the current or past grant period with the intended goals. List any products or publications in print or electronic form. When appropriate, indicate print runs, sales, and royalties relating to publications. In the case of existing online projects, include the URL and provide use statistics and other relevant information.
    • Methodology and standards
      Project activities should conform to appropriate standards and accepted professional practices. If your project’s methodology departs from usual standards and procedures, explain why the project’s goals require this approach and how the project’s output would be compatible with other relevant resources that follow existing standards.
      All applications should include sample materials or reports that show the final or anticipated form of the project and illustrate the experience of the project's staff in doing comparable work.
      Provide an outline of the risks that could pose a threat to the project’s success, including their likelihood and severity, and explain how you would avoid them (or manage them if they occurred). Discuss any intellectual property or privacy issues that might affect the availability of the materials and whether permissions and informed consents have been obtained.
      Describe standards and best practices that will be followed to ensure the longevity of digital products and their interoperability with other resources and related materials. Describe the hardware and software to be employed and provide specific information about the following:
      • Preparation and processing of material
        Describe how the material will be prepared for processing and how it will be processed, e.g., digital capture, keyboarding, optical character recognition, or conversion from another electronic format. Discuss the methods for formatting the material and ensuring quality control. Where appropriate, indicate the levels of resolution, compression, image enhancement, and accuracy of textual conversion or transcription required to achieve the project's goals. For text with markup, justify the choice of tagging scheme and the level of the markup.
      • Organization of and access to material
        Explain the organization of the digitized material or database, including file structure, system capabilities, user access, and documentation. When appropriate, indicate the metadata scheme(s) that will be used to describe the materials (e.g., MARC, Dublin Core, EAD, METS), and explain the rationale for the choice(s). Provide information about metadata creation and controlled vocabularies (if applicable), and use an appendix to display sample data entry sheets, records, and screen displays. When appropriate, discuss the compatibility of the proposed technical framework with the practices of the user community. Discuss provisions for ensuring that your resource can be discovered by a search engine or become part of an aggregated resource such as a digital library, cooperative portal, or clearinghouse, or become integrated with other related resources.
      • Storage, maintenance, and protection of data
        Describe the institution’s plans for storing, maintaining, and protecting the data, and, where applicable, for the preservation or other disposition of the original source material. Discuss both the technical and the administrative provisions for ensuring the preservation of long-term access to the information. Explain how the data will be archived (independent of the processing or delivery software and interface) to enable them to be moved to future media and formats. Document the institution's capability and commitment to update and provide long-term access to the materials.
        Applicants may find it useful to consult A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections 3rd edition (100-page PDF), which contains links to other useful resources and is supported by the National Information Standards Organization, as well as the JISC Information Environment Standards, and the MINERVA Digitisation Guidelines.
    • Work Plan
      Describe the work plan in detail, including the work to be done by each partner in the collaboration. A schedule indicating benchmarks of accomplishment during each stage of the project should be included in the appendices.
    • Nature of Collaboration and Staff
      Describe the nature and strengths of the intended collaboration and the methods planned to ensure the coordination of the partnership.
      Identify the project’s staff, including consultants, and describe their duties and qualifications for the specific responsibilities assigned to them. Indicate the amount of time that the principal members of the project’s staff will devote to the project. If the project has an advisory board, explain its function. Provide two-page résumés for major project staff and all consultants in an appendix.
    • Dissemination
      Explain how the results of the project will be disseminated and why these means are appropriate to the subject matter and intended audience.
      Grantees should provide broad access to all grant products through the Internet, on-site use, interlibrary loan, or duplication of materials at cost, insofar as the condition of the materials and intellectual property rights allow. We strongly encourage projects that offer free and open public access to online resources. All other considerations being equal, preference will be given to projects that provide free, online access to digital materials produced with grant funds.
  4. History of awards
    If the project has received previous support from any federal or nonfederal sources, including NEH or JISC, list on one page the sources, dates, and amounts of these funds. If the project has a long history of support, the sources and contributions may be grouped and summarized.
  5. Consultants and advisory board members
    List consultants to the project, members of the project's advisory board (if there is one), and authors of letters of support (if provided).
  6. Budget
    U.S. partners must prepare a budget detailing costs and the requested amount from NEH, using the NEH budget form (14-page PDF). English or Welsh partners must prepare a budget detailing costs and the requested amount from JISC, including staff costs, outsourcing, travel and subsistence (if applicable), equipment and consumables, dissemination, evaluation, and other itemized costs. The combined total amount requested must fall within the limits stated in Section II, “Award Information,” above. Budgets for both funding agencies should be included in the submission materials. Applicants should include in an appendix a joint budget narrative (of no more than one page), in order to provide specific information about joint project costs and the interoperability of project budgets.
    Applicants must ensure that cost requests from the funding agencies differ no more than 20 percent in total request per agency in order to maintain as closely as possible an equitable distribution of funds. Note that budgets often include several elements: direct costs, indirect costs, and cost sharing (also known as “institutional contribution”). The sum total request of direct costs and indirect costs from each institution must not differ more than 20 percent, regardless of the cost sharing or institutional commitment involved. For example: an English institution could request from JISC a total of $110,000 (approximately £73,000), and the U.S. institution could request from NEH a total of $100,000. However, a request of $120,000 and $75,000 respectively would not be allowed: the application would be reviewed, but the final budget of the project, if funded, would be revised in accordance with the equitable-distribution rule.
    The following applies to American partners only:
    For any outsourced work, third-party contractor costs should be included in the budget category “Services.” Attach a complete itemization of these costs to the budget form. If there is more than one contractor, each one must be listed on the budget form and the costs itemized separately.
    To the maximum extent practical, all procurement contracts must be made through an open and free competition. Awards shall be made to the bidder or offeror whose bid or offer is responsive to the solicitation and is most advantageous to the recipient, considering price, quality, and other factors. Applicants must justify procurement contracts in excess of $100,000 that are not awarded by competitive bids or offers.
    Permanent equipment may be purchased for a project if an analysis demonstrates that purchasing is a more economical and practical alternative than leasing. Permanent equipment is defined as nonexpendable personal property costing $5,000 or more and having a useful life of more than one year.
    Consistent with the Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. 10a-c and Public Law 105-277), grantees and subrecipients who purchase equipment and products with grant funds should purchase only American-made equipment and products.
    The following applies to English and Welsh partners only:
    With effect from 1st August 2006 the Funding Councils have agreed that JISC should adhere to the principles of full economic costs (fEC) for all new projects funded in HEIs (English Higher Education institutions). Any proposal from HEIs should therefore be constructed on a full economic cost (fEC) basis using the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC). The bid should indicate the contribution of fEC being sought from JISC and the contribution that the lead institution and any project partners intend to contribute.
    As part of considering proposals, JISC will take into consideration the reasonableness of the fEC calculations for the project. It is important that HEIs are costing proposals accurately and seeking the appropriate level of support from JISC, so that they are not over-committed, and hence are ensuring the long-term availability of their activities. However, JISC also need to ensure consistency of treatment, and that JISC is using funding effectively, across all proposals.
  7. Appendices
    Use appendices to provide
    • the work plan;
    • sample materials and reports;
    • brief résumés (no longer than two pages) for staff with major responsibilities for the project’s implementation and for consultants involved in the project;
    • job descriptions for any additional staff who will be hired specifically to work on the project;
    • letters of commitment from outside participants and cooperating institutions, including details of any existing agreements between the proposed partners (e.g., memoranda of understanding); and
    • letters of support (preferably no more than three) from experts in the project’s subject area, the proposed methodology, or the technical plan (authors of letters of support will not participate in the review process).
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION VIA GRANTS.GOV
Register or Verify Registration with Grants.gov
Applications for this program must be submitted via Grants.gov. Before using Grants.gov for the first time, each organization must register with the Web site to create an institutional profile. Once registered, your organization can then apply for any government grant on the Grants.gov Web site.
If your organization has already registered and you have verified that your registration is still valid, you may skip this step. If not, please see our handy checklist to guide you through the registration process. We strongly recommend that you complete or verify your registration at least two weeks before the application deadline, as it takes time for your registration to be processed. If you have problems registering with Grants.gov, call the Grants.gov help desk at 1-800-518-4726.
Download the Free Adobe Reader software
To fill out a Grants.gov application package, you will need to download and install the current version of Adobe Reader. The latest version of Adobe Reader, which is designed to function with PCs and Macintosh computers using a variety of popular operating systems, is available at no charge from the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com).
Once installed, the current version of Adobe Reader will allow you to view and fill out Grants.gov application packages for any federal agency. If you have a problem installing Adobe Reader, it may be because you do not have permission to install a new program on your computer. Many organizations have rules about installing new programs. If you encounter a problem, contact your system administrator.
To submit your application, you will need to download the application package from the Grants.gov Web site. You can download the application package at any time. (You do not have to wait for your Grants.gov registration to be complete.) Click the button to the right to download the package.
Save the application package to your computer’s hard drive. To open the application package, select the file and double click. You do not have to be online to work on it.
You can save your application package at any time by clicking the “Save” button at the top of your screen. Tip: If you choose to save your application package before you have completed it, you may receive an error message indicating that your application is not valid if all of the forms have not been completed. Click “OK” to save your work and complete the package another time. You can also use e-mail to share the application package with members of your organization or project team.
The application package contains three forms that you must complete in order to submit your application:
  1. Application for Federal Domestic Assistance - Short Organizational (SF-424 Short)—this form asks for basic information about the project, the project director, and the institution.
  2. Supplementary Cover Sheet for NEH Grant Programs—this form asks for additional information about the project director, the institution, and the budget.
  3. NEH Attachment Form—this form allows you to attach your narrative, budget, and the other parts of your application.
    To assist applicants, Grants.gov provides a helpful troubleshooting page.
HOW TO FILL OUT THE APPLICATION FOR FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE SF-424 SHORT FORM
Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. Please provide the following information:
  1. Name of Federal Agency: This will be filled in automatically with “National Endowment for the Humanities.”
  2. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: This will be filled in automatically with the CFDA number and title of the NEH program to which you are applying.
  3. Date Received: Please leave blank.
  4. Funding Opportunity Number: This will be filled in automatically.
  5. Applicant Information: In this section, please supply the name, address, employer/taxpayer identification number (EIN/TIN), DUNS number, Web site address, and congressional district of the institution. Also choose the “type” that best describes your institution (you only need to select one).
    If your institution is located, for example, in the 5th Congressional District of your state, put a “5.” If your institution doesn’t have a congressional district (e.g. it is in a state or U.S. territory that doesn’t have districts or is in a foreign country), put a “0” (zero).
    All institutions applying to federal grant programs are required to provide a DUNS number, issued by Dun & Bradstreet, as part of their application. Project directors should contact their institution’s grant administrator or chief financial officer to obtain their institution’s DUNS number. Federal grant applicants can obtain a DUNS number free of charge by calling 1-866-705-5711. (Learn more about the requirement.)
  6. Project Information: Provide the title of your project. Your title should be brief, descriptive, and substantive. It should also be informative to a non-specialist audience. Provide a brief description of your project. The description should be written for a nonspecialist audience and clearly state the importance of the proposed work and its relation to larger issues in the humanities. List the starting and ending dates for your project.
  7. Project Director: Provide the Social Security Number, name, title, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone and fax numbers for the project director.
    Disclosure of Social Security Numbers is optional. NEH uses them for internal application processing only.
  8. Primary Contact/Grants Administrator: Provide the contact information for the official responsible for the administration of the grant (e.g., negotiating the project budget and ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions of the award). This person is often a grants or research officer or a sponsored programs official. Normally, the Institutional Grants Administrator is not the same person as the Project Director. If the project director and the grant administrator are the same person, skip to item 9.
  9. Authorized Representative: Provide the contact information for the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) who is submitting the application on behalf of the institution. This person, often called an “Authorizing Official,” is typically the president, vice president, executive director, provost, or chancellor. In order to become an AOR, the person must be designated by the institution’s E-Business Point of Contact. For more information, please consult the Grants.gov user guide, which is available at: www.grants.gov/applicants/applicant_help.jsp.
HOW TO FILL OUT THE SUPPLEMENTARY COVER SHEET FOR NEH GRANT PROGRAMS
Select the form from the menu and double click to open it. Please provide the following information:
  1. Project Director: Use the pull-down menu to select the major field of study for the project director.
  2. Institution Information: Use the pull-down menu to select your type of institution.
  3. Project Funding: Enter your project funding information. Note that applicants for Challenge Grants should use the right column only; applicants to all other programs should use the left column only.
  4. Application Information: Indicate whether the applications will be submitted to other NEH grant programs, government agencies, or private entities for funding. If so, please indicate where and when. NEH frequently cosponsors projects with other funding sources. Providing this information will not prejudice the review of your application.
    For Type of Application, check “new” if the application requests a new period of funding, whether for a new project or the next phase of a project previously funded by NEH. Check “supplement” if the application requests additional funding for a current NEH grant. Applicants requesting a supplement should provide the current grant number. Before submitting an application for a supplement, applicants should discuss their request with an NEH program officer.
    For Project Field Code, use the pull-down menu to select the humanities field of the project. If the project is multidisciplinary, choose the field that corresponds to the project's predominant discipline.
HOW TO USE THE NEH ATTACHMENT FORM
You will use this form to attach the various files that make up your application.
Your attachments must be in Portable Document Format (.pdf). We cannot accept attachments in their original word processing or spreadsheet formats. If you don’t already have software to convert your files into PDFs, there are many low-cost and free software packages available. To learn more, go to http://www.neh.gov/grants/grantsgov/pdf.html.
When you open the NEH Attachment Form, you will find fifteen attachment buttons, labeled “Attachment 1” through “Attachment 15.” By clicking on a button, you will be able to choose the file from your computer that you wish to attach. You must name and attach your files in the proper order so that we can identify them. Please attach the proper file to the proper button as listed below:
ATTACHMENT 1: To this button, please attach your description of the project and its significance. Please name the file “projectdescription.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 2: To this button, please attach your table of contents. Please name the file “contents.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 3: To this button, please attach your narrative. Please name the file “narrative.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 4: To this button, please attach your history of grants. Please name the file “granthistory.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 5: To this button, please attach your list of project consultants and advisory board members. Please name the file “consultants.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 6: To this button, please attach your NEH budget. Please name the file “NEHbudget.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 7: To this button, please attach your JISC budget. Please name the file “JISCbudget.pdf”.
ATTACHMENT 8: To this button, please attach your appendices Please name the file “appendices.pdf”.
Use the remaining buttons to attach any additional materials (if appropriate). Please give these attachments meaningful file names and ensure that they are PDFs.
UPLOADING YOUR APPLICATION TO GRANTS.GOV
When you have completed all three forms, use the right-facing arrow to move each of them to the “Mandatory Documents for Submission” column. Once they have been moved over, the “Submit” button will activate. You are now ready to upload your application package to Grants.gov.
During the registration process, your institution designated one or more AORs (Authorized Organization Representatives). These AORs typically work in your institution’s Sponsored Research Office or Grants Office. When you have completed your application, you must ask your AOR to submit the application, using the special username and password that was assigned to him or her during the registration process.
To submit your application, your computer must have an active connection to the Internet. To begin the submission process, click the “submit” button. A page will appear, asking you to sign and submit your application. At this point, your AOR will enter his or her username and password. When you click the “sign and submit application” button, your application package will be uploaded to Grants.gov. Please note that it may take some time to upload your application package, depending on the size of your files and the speed of your Internet connection.
After the upload is complete, a confirmation page, which includes a tracking number, will appear, indicating that you have submitted your application to Grants.gov. Please print this page for your records. The AOR will also receive a confirmation e-mail.
NEH suggests that you submit your application no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the day of the deadline. That way, should you encounter a technical problem of some kind, you will still have time to contact the Grants.gov help desk for support. The Grants.gov help desk is open Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time at 1-800-518-4726. You can also send an e-mail to support@grants.gov.
To assist applicants, Grants.gov provides a helpful troubleshooting page.
Deadlines
Applications must be received by Grants.gov on or before March 26, 2009. Grants.gov will date- and time-stamp your application after it is fully uploaded. Applications submitted after that date will not be accepted.
HOW TO SUBMIT A COPY OF YOUR APPLICATION TO JISC
The deadline for receipt of proposals in response to this call is 12 noon, March 26, 2009. Late proposals will NOT be accepted.
An electronic copy of the proposal should be sent in PDF format by this deadline to JISC-NEH-BIDS@jisc.ac.uk. This is an electronic-only submission process, therefore all documentation (including letters of support) must be submitted in PDF format. Proposals and all supporting documentation must be sent in one file or in a zipped folder. The subject line of the email should contain the name of the lead partner only (e.g., ‘institution/organisation name’). Bidders will receive an automatic confirmation of receipt of proposals sent to the above email address. This email address should not be used for general enquiries.
If no automatic confirmation is received, it is the responsibility of the bidder to contact the JISC within one day of submitting the bid to confirm whether the proposal has been received. If you do not receive an automatic confirmation, please contact Avalon McAllister on 0117 931 7124. In case of any dispute about the submission of proposals, it is the responsibility of the bidder to provide evidence that the proposal was emailed to the above address prior to the deadline.
Proposals will be peer reviewed and marked against the evaluation criteria under Section V of this document.
Application Review
Evaluators are asked to apply the following criteria in assessing applications:
Impact: the project’s intellectual significance, including how it will increase the understanding of the humanities and the extent to which the project outcomes will be of overall value to the education and research communities in the United States and England or Wales.
Quality of proposal and work plan: the extent to which the proposal addresses the issues and demands outlined in the guidelines, showing innovation as appropriate. The quality of the proposal will be assessed on the basis of the grant products proposed, the evidence provided of how and when they will be delivered, and the assessment of the risks involved.
Partnership: the degree to which the proposal demonstrates the institutions’ willingness to work in an international partnership, and the potential for extending the partnership beyond the funding period.
Dissemination: the project’s plan for providing access to grant products. All other considerations being equal, preference will be given to projects that provide free, online access to digital materials produced with grant funds
Project value: the value of the expected project outcomes vis-à-vis the level of funding requested, taking into account the level of innovation, chance of success, and relevance to the target communities.
Previous experience of the project team: evidence of the project team's understanding of the technical and management issues involved and of its ability to administer a project successfully, as shown through work done to date in the area or in related fields.
Late applications will not be reviewed.
Review and selection process
For this special competition, applicants will submit a duplicate application copy to both NEH and JISC. A panel of peer reviewers will be selected jointly by NEH and JISC. Reviewers will read each application and advise NEH and JISC about the application’s merits. NEH and JISC staff comment on matters of fact or on significant issues that otherwise would be missing from these reviews. The funding agencies will collaborate on a set of final recommended projects to be funded jointly, according to the mutual decisions of the NEH chairman, who by law makes all NEH funding decisions, and the JISC Executive Committee. The JISC Executive and NEH will notify applicants whether proposals have been funded in August 2009.
Award Administration Information
The information below is for the U.S. partner in the project. English or Welsh partners are encouraged to review the JISC guidelines for award administration information specific to institutions in England and Wales.
Award notices
Applicants will be notified by e-mail in August 2009 of the decision. Institutional grants administrators and project directors of successful applications will also receive at that time award documents by mail. Applicants may obtain the evaluations of their applications by sending a letter or e-mail to NEH, Division of Preservation and Access, Room 411, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20506 or preservation@neh.gov.
Administrative requirements
Before submitting an application, applicants should review their responsibilities as an award recipient and the lobbying certification requirement.
Award conditions
The requirements for awards are contained in the General Terms and Conditions for Awards to Organizations, any specific terms and conditions contained in the award document, and the applicable OMB circulars governing federal grants management.
Reporting Requirements
A schedule of report due dates will be included with the award document.
Interim and final performance reports will be required. Further details can be found in Performance Reporting Requirements (formerly Enclosure 2).
A Federal Cash Transactions Report (2-page PDF) will be due within thirty days after the end of each calendar quarter. A final Financial Status Report (2-page PDF) will be due within ninety days after the completion date of the award period. Further details can be found in Financial Reporting Requirements (formerly Enclosure 1).
Points of Contact
If you have questions about the program, contact:
NEH Contact for U.S. Partners
JISC/NEH Transatlantic Digitization Collaboration Grants
Division of Preservation and Access
Room 411
National Endowment for the Humanities
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20506
202-606-8570
If you need help using Grants.gov, contact:
Grants.gov: http://www.grants.gov
Grants.gov help desk: support@grants.gov
Grants.gov customer support tutorials and manuals : http://www.grants.gov/CustomerSupport
Grant.gov support line: 1-800-518-GRANTS (4726)
Grants.gov trouble shooting tips.
JISC Contact for English and Welsh Partners
Enquiries relating to content of bids should be directed to:
Alastair Dunning
a.dunning@jisc.ac.uk
020 3006 6065
General enquiries about the bid submission process should be directed to:
Avalon McAllister
a.mcallister@jisc.ac.uk
0117 931 7252
Other Information
This information is for the U.S. partner in the project. English and Welsh partners are encouraged to review the JISC guidelines for other information specific to English or Welsh institutions.
Privacy Policy
Information in these guidelines is solicited under the authority of the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. 956. The principal purpose for which the information will be used is to process the grant application. The information may also be used for statistical research, analysis of trends, and Congressional oversight. Failure to provide the information may result in the delay or rejection of the application.
Application Completion Time
The Office of Management and Budget requires federal agencies to supply information on the time needed to complete forms and also to invite comments on the paperwork burden.NEH estimates that the average time to complete this application is fifteen hours per response. This estimate includes time for reviewing instructions, researching, gathering, and maintaining the information needed, and completing and reviewing the application.
Please send any comments regarding the estimated completion time or any other aspect of this application, including suggestions for reducing the completion time, to the Office of Publications, National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, DC 20506; and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (3136-0134), Washington, DC 20503. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB number.