If you would normally handle a proposal or other application, but possess with respect to it an affiliation or relationship listed in § 681.21, you must bring the matter to the attention of a conflicts official in your directorate or staff office. The conflicts official will determine how the matter should be handled and will tell you what further steps to take.

(2) If you become aware that a prospective, current, or recent NSF employee has an involvement or interest in any proposal or other application you are handling, you must bring the matter to the attention of a directorate conflicts official. The conflicts official will decide how the matter should be handled and tell you what further steps to take. If the file reflects that a conflicts official has already been consulted and has decided how the matter should be handled, you may proceed as the conflicts official has directed, unless something of possible significance has changed.

(3) You must ask each peer reviewer of any proposal you are handling to indicate any possible conflicts of interests the reviewer may have. You should record in the proposal file all interests, affiliations, or relationships revealed by reviewers; determine how, if at all, they ought to affect the use of the review; and describe your determination in the file.

(c) Representational restrictions and involvement with proposals and projects during and after NSF service. (§§ 682.10 through 682.23) (1) Currentemployee restriction. During your Federal employment you must not represent anyone (including yourself) in dealings with any Federal official on any proposal, project, or other matter.

(2) One-year NSF restriction. For one year after you leave NSF employment you must not represent anyone (including yourself) in dealings with any NSF official on any proposal, project, or other matter.

(3) "Official responsibility” two-year restriction. For two years after you leave NSF employment you must not represent anyone else in dealings with any Federal official on any proposal, project, or other matter involving specific parties if the same matter was

active under your official responsibility during your last year at the NSF.

(4) “Personal involvement” permanent restriction. You must never represent anyone else in dealings with any Federal official on any proposal, project, or other matter involving specific parties if you were personally involved with the same matter as an NSF employee.

General effect: These representational restrictions do not preclude you from being involved as a researcher or educator with proposals submitted to the Government or projects supported by the Government. They do preclude you from negotiating with NSF officials or other Federal officials and from engaging in other representational activities intended to influence their decisions on certain proposals and projects. They do not preclude you from representing yourself before the Government on personal matters, such as audits of your individual tax returns or personnel decisions that affect you.

(d) Financial disclosure. (§§ 683.10 through 683.12)

(1) If you are an executive level, SES, or supergrade (GS-16 or equivalent and above) employee, you are a "senior employee” and must file public Financial Disclosure Reports.

(2) Otherwise, if you serve as either a program officer, a directorate administrative official, a grants officer, a contracts officer, an auditor, or 8 lawyer, you must file confidential Statements of Employment and Financial Interest.

(3) If you fit neither of these categories, no general financial disclosure is required of you.

(4) If you are required to file Financial Disclosure Reports or Statements of Employment and Financial Interests, the Foundation will supply the necessary forms. You may ask for them when you need them, but normally they will be sent to you automatically, with instructions.

(e) Acts affecting your financial interests. (§ 683.20) You must not be personally involved as a Federal employee in the handling of any matter in which you, a member of your immediate family, a business partner, or an

(7) Receipt of a gift, favor, loan, prize, or award (§ 683.36).

(g) Political activity (Hatch Act). (§§ 683.40 through 683.45)

(1) You may not run for public or party office, except in nonpartisan elections and certain local elections.

(2) You may not participate in election campaigning, except in nonpartisan elections and certain local elections.

(3) You may not take an active part in leading or managing a political party.

(4) You must not use your official authority or influence for political purposes.

§ 680.12 Underlying purposes and considerations.

(a) Conflicts sensitivity. This section outlines the primary sources of conflicts of interests and explains other considerations that underlie the conflicts rules. If you are sensitive to those considerations and identify situations in which someone might at least think that you have a conflict of interests, you will not be likely to violate the conflict-of-interests rules. When you do identify such a situation, of course, you can and should consult these regulations.

(b) Effect of conflicts of interests. There are two principal reasons why you and the NSF should avoid or mini

mize actual or apparent conflicts of interests.

(1) The success of the NSF in performing its scientific and other functions depends on the effectiveness of its proposal review process in ensuring that the best and most important work is supported. If judgments are warped because of conflicting interests, that effectiveness is compromised. The same is true of other NSF decision processes.

(2) The NSF must earn the confidence of the scientific community, the Congress, and the general public in the integrity, effectiveness, and evenhandedness of its proposal-review and other decision processes. It will not do so if the processes are seen to be compromised by conflicts of interests.

(c) What is a conflict of interests? A conflict of interests is a clash between an official's concern for the public interest and his or her private interests or allegiances. There are three primary sources: (1) Personal interests; (2) outside affiliations or relationships; and (3) gifts or favors. The examples that follow deliberately present situations that are not clear cut and do not illustrate specific rules you must follow. The pertinent rules appear elsewhere in these regulations.

(1) You might use your government position to further your personal interests, in conflict with the public interest.

Example: If as an NSF program official you recommended a conference of scientists in your field to discuss current issues, then chaired the conference yourself and delivered the principal paper, at least a inference suspicion would arise that you had used your Government position to further your own professional prestige or other personal interests.

(2) Outside affiliations or relationships could affect the objectivity of your judgments as a public official.

Example: A proposal comes to you for handling. You received your degree from the applicant institution and were a professor there until recently. The proposed principal investigator is your cousin. You have potential conflicts of interests arising from both your academic affiliation and your family relationship.

(3) Gifts or favors from those interested in agency decisions could affect the objectivity or integrity of your contribution to those decisions.

Example: The chairman of a university department that regularly sends proposals to your unit is in town. After a late afternoon meeting he proposes dinner at a restaurant on his expense account. Acceptance of the dinner would create a potential conflict between your debt of gratitude towards him and your disinterested pursuit of the public interest.

(d) Inside access and influence. A special concern that underlies many of the conflicts rules is that your insider's access to other Federal officials and your inside influence with them might allow you to sway their decisions or actions where you or those with whom you have ties are interested.

Example: A personal friend is principal investigator on a proposal pending in another part of your NSF unit. He asks you to check how things are going with that proposal. You talk with the program officer and division director handling the proposal. You not only check the status of the review, but mention what a fine scientist your friend is and how excellent his recent work has been. Your friendship with the investigator may influence your judgment on these points, and your inside influence may affect the actions and judgments of those with whom you talk. This creates a potential conflict between your private allegiance to your friend and the public interest.

(e) Conflicts that require prohibition or disqualification. Some conflicts of interests would so warp the performance of a Government agency or damage its credibility that they simply cannot be allowed to occur. (If a proposal from a member of your family or from your home institution comes into your program, for instance, you would clearly have to disqualify yourself from handling it.) Most Federal conflict-of-interests laws and a few conflicts rules special to the NSF deal with conflicts or potential conflicts of this sort. They therefore either flatly prohibit you from doing certain things that could give rise to such conflicts or disqualify you from participating in matters where you would have a potentially serious conflict.

(f) Other conflicts. By no means all conflicts of interests are so serious and

clear that flat prohibitions or disqualifications are appropriate. Many conflicts, though real, are subtle, even remote. The seriousness of others so depends on circumstances of the particular case that unvarying rules would be impractical. There are also countervailing considerations. When we flatly prohibit Federal employees from doing things others who are not Federal employees are free to do, we tend to make Federal employment unattractive and so reduce the competence of Government. Also, disqualifying officials from being involved with particular matters may remove those who are best qualified by expertise or experience to make the required judgments or effect the required actions. For these reasons, the conflicts laws and regulations do not specifically address many potential or actual conflicts that are not serious enough to require flat prohibitions or disqualifications or not easily enough identified by general rule to permit them.

(1) In the handling of the proposals and other award-related applications, these regulations require that some such potential conflicts receive special attention from a designated directorate "conflicts official." The conflicts official considers the circumstances of each case and decides whether to require either a disqualification or some form of special handling. See Part 681.

(2) Other actual or potential conflicts may not be covered by any specific rule. You should nonetheless be sensitive to them and do whatever seems wise either to avoid them altogether or to ensure that they affect neither the quality of NSF decisions nor public trust in those decisions.

§ 680.13 Summary of additional responsibilities.

Apart from the conflicts rules for all employees summarized in the preceding section, these regulations impose the following additional responsibilities:

(a) Directorates and staff offices. Each directorate and staff office is responsible for designating "conflicts officials" and for making sure that all staff who handle proposals and other

applications know who the conflicts officials are (§ 681.10(d)).

(b) Directorate (and staff-office) "conflicts officials". If your directorate or staff office has designated you as a conflicts official, your responsibilities are described in Part 681, Subpart D, (§§ 681.40-681.44).

(c) Officials who are recruiting new professional employees. If NSF officials who are recruiting determine that a person has become a "prospective employee", they are responsible for bringing that fact and subsequent developments to the attention of a directorate (or staff-office) conflicts official. Whenever a person currently listed in the NSF principal investigator/project director file seems likely to become an NSF employee, the directorate or office which has recruited that person must inform the Division of Information Systems by memo (so that the principal investigator/project director file can be "flagged" accordingly). It must also send copies of the memo to each NSF division or office that is responsible for an active award or pending proposal involving that person. These and related requirements are further described in Part 681, Subpart C, (§§ 681.30-681.33).

(d) Directorate for Administration. The Assistant Director for Administration is responsible for "flagging" the principal investigator/project director file to indicate those who are incoming, current, or recent employees (§ 681.33(d)).

§ 680.14 Summary of special rules for fulltime Presidential appointees.

If you are a Presidential appointee, you are subject to special additional rules:

(a) You must file a public Financial Disclosure Report within 5 days of your nomination to your position by the President. (§ 683.11)

(b) You may not earn from other outside activities income totalling more than 15 percent of your Government salary in any calendar year. (§ 683.30)

(c) You are not subject to the restrictions on political activity, except to those concerning use of official authority or influence for political purposes. (§ 683.40)

[47 FR 32131, July 26, 1982, as amended at 51 FR 22939, June 24, 1986]

§ 680.15 General standards of employee conduct.

(a) Summary. This section covers some standards of conduct for Government employees that are not covered elsewhere in the NSF regulations. Most of them are basic standards of integrity, decency, and obedience to law. Violation of any of these standards is grounds for serious disciplinary action.

(b) Underlying intent. The intent of these regulations generally is that you should not:

(1) Engage in criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct or in any other conduct prejudicial to the Government or to Government efficiency or economy; (2) Use your public office for private gain;

or

(3) Give preferential treatment; (4) Have direct or indirect financial interests that conflict substantially, appear to conflict substantially, with your Government duties and responsibilities;

(5) Engage directly or indirectly in financial transactions based on information obtained through your Government employment that is not available to the general public;

(6) Lose your independence or impartiality; or

(7) Make Government decisions outside of the proper official channels.

(c) Preserving public trust. You are responsible for helping to earn and maintain the confidence of the public in the integrity of the Government. This requires you to be concerned with appearances of as well as actual conflicts.

(d) Payment of taxes and debts. You are expected to pay your taxes and your just debts properly and on time. ("Just debts" means those you acknowledge or that have been reduced to final judgment. The Government will not try to determine the validity or amount of any disputed debt.)

(e) Gambling. You must not gamble in a Government office or while on duty. This includes participating in a sports pool or a lottery not officially sanctioned by the NSF.

(f) Familiarity with statutory provisions. You are legally responsible for acquainting yourself with each statute that relates to your conduct as an NSF and Federal employee. Principal among these are the criminal statutes relating to bribery, graft, and conflicts of interests contained in 18 U.S.C. 201 through 209; these regulations cover those provisions as they apply to NSF employees. These regulations also cover the provisions of Executive Order 11222, which prescribes standards of ethical conduct for Government officers and employees. They cover regulations of the Office of Personnel and Management that implement both the criminal statutes and the Executive Order. If you follow these regulations, you should have no trouble with any of those provisions. Not covered in these regulations, however, are the following statutory provisions:

(1) The prohibition against lobbying with appropriated funds (18 U.S.C. 1913).

(2) The prohibitions against disloyalty and striking (5 U.S.C. 7311, 18 U.S.C. 1918).

(3) The prohibitions against disclosure of classified information (18 U.S.C. 798, 50 U.S.C. 783) and disclosure of confidential information (18 U.S.C. 1905).

(4) The provision relating to habitual use of intoxicants to excess (5 U.S.C. 7352).

(5) The prohibition against misuse of a Government vehicle (31 U.S.C. 638a(c)).

(6) The prohibition against misuse of the franking privilege (18 U.S.C. 1719).

(7) The prohibition against use of deceit in an examination or personnel action in connection with Government employment (18 U.S.C. 1917).

(8) The prohibition against fraud or false statements in a Government matter (18 U.S.C. 1001).

(9) The prohibition against mutilating or destroying a public record (18 U.S.C. 2071).

(10) The prohibition against counterfeiting or forging transporation requests (18 U.S.C. 508).

(11) The prohibitions against embezzling Government money or property

(18 U.S.C. 641); failing to account for public money (18 U.S.C. 643); and embezzling the money or property of an employee by reason of his employment (18 U.S.C. 654).

(12) The prohibition against unauthorized use of documents relating to claims from or by the Government (18 U.S.C. 285).

(13) The prohibition against acting as the agent of a foreign principal registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (18 U.S.C. 219).

§ 680.16 Key terms.

Except where provisions plainly indicate otherwise, certain other terms are used throughout these regulations in standard meanings:

(a) "Award" means any grant, contract, cooperative agreement, loan, or other arrangement made by the Government.

(b) "Project" means the unit of work that an award supports or helps support.

(c) "Proposal" means an application for an award and includes a bid.

(d) "Other award-related application" means a request for an award amendment, for an increment to a continuing grant, for a no-cost extension, or for an administrative approval.

(e) "Institution" means any university, college, business firm, research institute, professional society, or other organization. It includes any university consortium or joint corporation such as AUI, AURA, or JOI, Inc., but not the universities that belong to it. It includes all parts of a university or college, including separate campuses. It does not include other universities or colleges in a multi-institution state or city system, unless you are an employee of the central system offices or an officer, trustee, or equivalent of the system as a whole.

(f) "Directorate" means an NSF directorate, staff office, or other organization that reports immediately to the NSF Director.

(g) "Program Officer" includes assistant and associate program officers or program managers.