Applications containing proprietary or other types of confidential information will be immediately returned to the applicant without review. All grant applications are initially reviewed to determine their legal and administrative acceptability and responsiveness to this solicitation. Acceptable applications are then reviewed by a technical peer review group. This review is designed to evaluate and rank each proposal according to its scientific merit. The review group is composed primarily of non-government scientists and engineers who are experts in their respective disciplines.
All reviewers are proficient in the technical areas that they are reviewing.
Funding decisions are the sole responsibility of the participating federal agencies. Proposals may be recommended for funding by any of the participating agencies, at the agencies' option, not the proposer's. Grants are awarded on the basis of technical merit, relevancy to the research priorities outlined, program balance, and budget. May 1, 1996. Informal, incomplete, or unsigned proposals will not be considered.