The Research Performance Progress Report (RPRR) will be used by agencies that support research and research-related activities to collect interim progress reports from recipients of Federal grant and cooperative agreement programs. It can also be used when appropriate for relevant contract award reporting. The RPRR will replace other interim progress report formats used by agencies thus benefiting award recipients by standardizing the types of information required in interim progress reports and thereby reducing administrative burden and cost.
The RPRR was developed by the Research Business Models subcommittee, which exists within the framework of the National Science and Technology Council, a Cabinet-level Council of the executive branch organized to coordinate science and technology policy across the Federal research and development enterprise.
The RPRR comprises several elements including a standard cover page as well as various mandatory and optional components. The final Federal Register notice was published in January, 2010, and the final format of the RPRR is available here: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/rppr/format_ombostp.pdf.
Each agency’s implementation of the RPRR will vary in that not all components are required for all agencies. Agencies may collect RPRR data either on paper or electronically. If they collect data electronically, information such as the standard cover component demographic data should be pre-populated for subsequent reports. “Accomplishments” – what was done and/or learned – is a mandatory reporting category within the RPRR. Other categories are optional and include Products (such as publications or intellectual property…), Participants and Other Collaborating Organizations, Impact, Changes/Problems, Special Reporting Requirements specified in the award terms and conditions, Budgetary Information, and Demographic Information for Significant Contributors. Agencies may also develop additional agency- or program-specific reporting components and instructions. For example, the NIH will need to collect clinical trial information on certain awards.
Each agency was required to post its RPRR implementation plan by January 2011, and they are available on the NSF website: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/rppr/
NIH’s plan, for example, notes that all NIH grantees will transition to using the RPRR for all award types and that NIH will implement an electronic system to collect this data. NIH is working toward the goal of beginning pilot testing of the RPRR submission system in January 2012 with full implementation no later than 31 July, 2012 and applicable for non-competing awards issues in FY2013 and beyond. FDA, CDC, and AHRQ intend to adopt the NIH version of the RPRR as well. NIH’s electronic submission will be via the NIH Commons with future development anticipated to support S2S submission.
NSF will implement the RPRR through the Research.gov platform and eventually will support submission of the RPRR for NSF and other Research.gov partner agencies. NSF too, anticipates eventual support for S2S submission of the RPRR. NSF anticipates full implementation of the RPRR by January, 2013 and will require the following components:
- Mandatory Category:
- Accomplishments: What was done? What was learned?
- Optional Categories:
- Products: What has the project produced?
- Participants & Other Collaborating Organizations: Who has been involved?
- Impact: What is the impact of the project? How has it contributed?
- Changes / Problems
- Special Reporting Requirements (where applicable)
- Appendix 1: Demographic Information for Significant Contributors
At InfoEd Global, we are actively engaged with federal agencies through the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) and other mechanisms in agency implementations of the RPRR and, in particular, on plans for support of S2S submissions.