NCRA Guidelines for Starting New Projects

1. Before starting, please browse our current projects within the NC Regional Research Portfolio. Once you are certain your project/committee is not redundant, contact the NCRA Office and inform us of your intent to set up a proposal request.

2. Be sure you have registered with the NIMSS system and have your username and password handy.  If you are unsure if you are registered, contact the NCRA office for assistance.

3. Decide which option will best suit your committee:

NCDC projects - Development Committees (2-year projects designed for proposal/committee development)

• NCDCs follow the federal fiscal year (October to September), so all NCDCs, regardless of when they start, will expire on September 30 of their second year.

• Requirements:

  • Submission of a "Request to Write a Proposal" in NIMSS (Projects >> Request to Write a Proposal >> Create New select Appendix B)

  • Two letters of support from NC AES directors - one of these directors must be willing to serve as the project AA or assign someone to fill the role for them.  Preferably, these letters should be sent electronically to the NCRA office.

  • Electronic submission of a committee justification to NIMSS.  This is done during the "Request to Write" stage.

  • Members of the pending NCDC are requested to locate a project Administrative Advisor prior to submitting this request.  Qualified individuals within the NCRA are listed here.  Please be aware projects cannot form without an AA; since we must be sure the region will support a project, the NCRA will no longer assign AAs for you.

• These activities have two years from the date of initiation to convert to an association sanctioned activity (either an NC-type project, NCCC, or NCERA.  Please refer to the NCRA's regional guidelines for detailed descriptions of these projects), Thus, the technical committee has the option, at a later date, to obtain approval as a multistate research project or other multistate research activity, through normal procedures.

NC-500 - Rapid Response Projects

• The purpose of rapid response research (Series-500/ NC-500) activities is to provide a mechanism to assure responsiveness to acute crises, emergencies, and opportunities using the multistate research approach and MRF.

• Requirements:

  • Two letters of support from NC AES directors are required.  Preferably, these letters should be sent electronically to the NCRA office.

  • A report of intent is submitted to the regional association's chair (usually through the ED's office). The Chair of the regional association approves the project and serves as the AA to the project or assigns that responsibility to another director.

   To make the approval process move quickly, we strongly suggest the committee line up an AA prior to beginning the NC-500 series project request.

  • An Appendix F must be submitted to the NCRA Office (via NIMSS) ASAP (Projects >> Request to Write a Proposal >> Create New; select Appendix F).  

  • When all materials have been submitted appropriately, the NCRA office will notify CSREES of the project approval.

• Neither CSREES nor regional association approval is required. If CSREES does not respond within five working days, the project will be approved. NC-500 series projects not require review by either the appropriate North Central Administrative Committee (NCA) (committee of department heads/chairs) or the NCRA Multisate Research Committee (MRC).

• The technical committee for a Rapid Response Research activity is made up of an AA, CSREES representative, research scientists, and as applicable, extension specialists and/or extension agents.

• These activities have two years from the date of initiation to convert to an association sanctioned activity (either an NC-type project, NCCC, or NCERA.  Please refer to the NCRA's regional guidelines for detailed descriptions of these projects), Thus, the technical committee has the option, at a later date, to obtain approval as a multistate research project or other multistate research activity, through normal procedures.