NSF Dear Colleague Letter (DCL)

A Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) is a formal written communication issued by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) — typically by a directorate, division, or cross-cutting NSF initiative — to inform the research community of a matter that does not require the structure of a full program solicitation. Per NSF's Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), Chapter I, a DCL is used to provide general information to the community, clarify or amend an existing NSF policy or document, or inform prospective proposers about upcoming funding opportunities and areas of programmatic interest. A communication counts as a DCL, rather than a program solicitation, when it does NOT itself impose a distinct set of eligibility restrictions, proposal-preparation instructions, or a dedicated review process beyond what already exists under NSF's standing proposal types and the PAPPG — a DCL points proposers toward using an existing mechanism (most often Rapid Response Research (RAPID), EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER), Rapid Assessment of Immediate/Systemic Effects (RAISE), Planning Grants, or Conference/Workshop proposals) rather than creating a new one. If a document instead establishes its own eligibility criteria, submission deadlines, and a standalone competitive review framework, it is a program solicitation (or, more broadly, a funding opportunity announcement), not a DCL, regardless of what it is titled.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 17 Jul 2026

Worked examples

Is an instance

NSF's CISE directorate periodically issues a DCL encouraging investigators to submit EAGER proposals in an emerging computing topic the directorate has identified as a priority for the coming year — the DCL does not create new deadlines or a new review panel, it directs interested proposers toward the existing EAGER mechanism under the standard PAPPG rules.

Is an instance

An NSF program issues a DCL clarifying how an existing PAPPG requirement (for example, a biographical sketch or data management plan expectation) applies to a particular class of proposals — this is purely informational/clarificatory and does not itself invite or fund proposals.

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance

A published NSF Program Solicitation with its own solicitation number, defined eligibility requirements, submission window, and dedicated merit-review panel is not a DCL, even if NSF staff informally refer to 'writing to colleagues about it' — the defining feature of a DCL is that it does not carry its own independent competition and review structure.

A Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) is one of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s standard mechanisms for communicating with the research community, distinct from a Program Solicitation or Funding Opportunity Announcement. NSF’s Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), Chapter I, describes DCLs as communications used to provide general information, clarify or amend an existing NSF policy or document, or inform the proposer community about upcoming opportunities — not to establish an independent funding competition.

How a DCL differs from a Program Solicitation

The practical test research administrators should apply is structural, not just topical: does the document create its own eligibility rules, proposal-preparation requirements, submission deadlines, and review process? If yes, it is a Program Solicitation (or another formal funding opportunity announcement) — governed as such under the PAPPG and typically covered in detail in a page like CASRAI’s NSF Grants: An Overview. If instead the document simply flags an area of interest, clarifies a policy point, or directs proposers to an existing NSF proposal type (RAPID, EAGER, RAISE, Planning Grant, or Conference/Workshop), it is a DCL. NSF is explicit that a DCL does not, by itself, substitute for a full solicitation or carry a dedicated review framework.

Why DCLs matter for research administration

Because a DCL is often the earliest signal of a new NSF programmatic priority — sometimes months before any solicitation or expanded funding line materializes — sponsored-programs offices and grants administrators frequently track directorate-level DCL pages as part of funding-opportunity horizon scanning. Unlike a solicitation, a DCL rarely has a hard proposal deadline of its own; instead, proposals responding to a DCL are usually submitted under the standing rules of whichever existing mechanism (e.g., EAGER) the DCL points to, and are subject to that mechanism’s normal PAPPG requirements (award size and duration caps, internal concurrence steps, PI eligibility, etc.). Administrators should not treat a DCL as a guarantee of funding availability — it signals interest, not a set-aside budget or a commitment to fund a given volume of proposals.

Where DCLs are published

NSF directorates and divisions publish their own DCLs (for example, NSF’s CISE directorate maintains a running list of Dear Colleague Letters at nsf.gov), and NSF also issues cross-cutting DCLs on agency-wide policy matters (such as changes to biographical sketch or current-and-pending-support requirements ahead of a PAPPG update). Because DCLs are dispersed across directorate pages rather than centralized the way solicitations are indexed, tracking them typically requires either subscribing to directorate-specific mailing lists or periodically checking NSF’s DCL listings directly.

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="NSF Dear Colleague Letter (DCL)"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/nsf-dear-colleague-letter-dcl" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

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