"NSF and the National Institutes of Health routinely place their program announcements and various other documents in an easily searchable and retrievable form on Internet. NSF's Science and Technology Information Service is accessed many thousands of times each week for information about NSF activities, funding opportunities, abstracts about research grants, and various reports on science and technology. Access is easy, and is provided at no charge." The URL for this information is http://www.nsf.gov A reference for using Mosaic and the WWW for interactive business functions is described in the NSF FastLane project: http://www.nsf.gov/oirm/fastlane.htm FastLane What is FastLane? FastLane is a 3 year experimental program utilizing advanced information technology to explore methods to re-design and streamline the way NSF does business with the research, education and related communities. The program strategy will be to develop pilot systems which will test the application of advanced information technology, together with new processes for exchanging information among proposers, reviewers, university research administrators, NSF staff, and the systems that support their work. These pilot systems will be tested with subsets of the NSF research community. Successful pilots will then be implemented more widely. FastLane continues NSF's long-standing emphasis on reducing the administrative burden on NSF staff and institutions, and improving processes through the use of technology. FastLane is central to NSF's government re-invention initiatives. The Report of the National Performance Review cites "NSF's efforts to automate grant management activities...as an example of an effective way to keep up with increasing workload by handling program administration more efficiently." FastLane is also one of 53 projects selected to test measurement provisions of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. Performance indicators will be developed to measure the effectiveness of the FastLane pilots. What Will FastLane Do? As originally conceived, many existing paper or telephone interactions would be re-designed to allow computer access to NSF via a dial-up or Internet connection to Mosaic or other World Wide Web (WWW) servers. Anyone using standard PC technology will have "point and click" access to software that will facilitate most of NSF's business transactions -- from completing proposal forms, to inquiring about the status of proposals. Doing business with NSF will be simpler, faster, more accurate, and less expensive. Proposers, reviewers and awardees will have more choices in how to do business with the Foundation and will be provided greater access to information. Most applications will be designed with a "smart form" that uses all information already available in the NSF system in order to minimize the time and effort required to complete transactions while providing a "help" facility during the process. The amount of redundant information collected during proposal submission will be greatly reduced. Internal NSF systems will also be re-designed to support a new level of connectivity and automation. Improving the quality of the Principal Investigators, reviewers and institutions interactions with the Foundation will directly affect the productivity, timeliness, and effectiveness of the proposal and review system by reducing the administrative burden associated with it. A FastLane Internal Review Committee was formed in May 1994 to provide guidance to the project. The committee includes representatives from NSF directorate management, program management, grants and contracts, financial management and information systems. Members are currently focused on describing the NSF internal processing functions, gathering samples of input data and resolving policy issues. The committee identified 19 potential projects. Six of these projects have been selected for pilot applications; they are: * 1. Electronic Proposal Forms Submission. An NSF forms server will provide the capability for electronic submission of administrative information related to proposals. The process will provide an automated checklist and edit filters so that submissions are complete and mathematically correct. For people who have previously submitted, a large portion of required information will be provided by the system. Information could be entered directly or by "cut and paste" from local word processing software. * 2. Proposal Status Inquiry. The NSF proposal status server will allow PI's and other authorized individuals to receive the current status of a pending proposal. * 3. Submission of Final Project Reports. An NSF forms server will provide an electronic version of its final project report Form 98A), and enable electronic submission of the form and attachments. At a later date, project results information collected will be made publicly available. * 4. Cash Transaction Requests. NSF will allow access to a menu driven cash request system, including automatic e-mail acknowledgment and confirmation. * 5. Submission of Review Information. Proposal reviewers will be provided access to a menu driven system allowing reviewers to enter ratings and review comments or cut and paste from a local word processing document. * 6. Announcements of Award Actions. The NSF server will provide a list of recent awards, including information on the institution, principal investigator, amount, and duration. At a later date, additional information about NSF awards will be made available. The other thirteen projects are planned for implementation in 1995 and 1996. How will NSF Involve the Research, Education and Related Communities? NSF will directly involve a limited number of colleges and universities, representing a cross section of its community, in the design and pilot testing of each application. Project information will also be disseminated widely through the Foundation's normal publications, Science & Technology Information System (STIS), the NSF Home Page, etc., and in presentations and site visits. NSF customer survey instruments and other feedback mechanisms will also solicit feedback on FastLane objectives and plans. How will FastLane Relate to Similar Efforts of Other Federal Agencies? NSF has established working relationships with other Federal agencies that are developing similar systems, including the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Defense. FastLane will be used as a model to ensure the development of systems government-wide that will promote a seamless interface between the institutions and the agencies. Additional Information: Send email to fastlane@nsf.gov > >
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