Timely project progress updates, budget execution and submission of NRP funded project deliverables are project funding requirements.

PIs who consistently fail to meet budget expectations, submit project deliverables and/or respond to data calls, may be denied future NRP opportunities, including possible denial of project funding awards and/or experience a delay in funding allocations for currently ongoing projects, until deliverables are met.

Budget Execution

NRP is responsible for funding and budget execution. PIs are required to adhere to their budget/spend plan, and to communicate with NRP immediately regarding any plan deviations.

PIs are expected to respond to spend plan data calls and requests for information in a timely manner, when requested by NRP.

Travel Reporting

Every NRP-related trip must have a travel report submitted to NRP.

This report must:

• Describe the purpose of the trip and how it relates to your NRP project
• Describe where you went and its importance to your NRP project
• List who you met and their role within your NRP project
• Describe what you achieved during the trip to further your NRP project

Travel reports must be submitted by all travelers within 5 business days of completion of each trip. Reconciliation of travel must occur within 5 business days of completion of each trip. This is a requirement for all government travel. Failure to do so may affect approval of future travel.

NRP does NOT pay for:

• Thesis development trips
• Travel for student graduations
• Travel for other research projects
• Travel for academic purposes
• Personnel not listed in your NRP project

Submit a travel report using our Travel Report Submission Form.

Mid-Year Progress Reviews (MPRs)

Documented MPRs with the Topic Advocate are mandatory. PIs send communication details (report, PowerPoint slides, etc.) to the NRP Program Office mid-way through the project. MPRs provide status of the project and are critical in maintaining technical visibility.

At minimum, MPRs must include:

• Progress to date
• Status of the project compared with the proposal projections
• Any risk encounters or mitigation measures
• Topic Advocate POC updates, as position assignments change
• Any updates to student or faculty researchers working on the project.

Formatting and writing requirements:

• 5 pages in the body (not including table of contents, title pages, etc)
• Filenames formatted according to this standard: "NPS-24-123A_NRP_MPR_PI-LastName"
• Must use the NRP MPR template (or the NPS Tech Report template for LaTeX)
• Must be copyedited to prevent formatting errors and typos
• PowerPoint slides are not satisfactory for complete MPRs and are merely an optional component
• Must be submitted by the PI, not a Co-PI, additional researcher, or student

PIs may complete/conduct the MPR brief in their preferred forum, mutually agreed upon with the Topic Advocate (in person, teleconference, etc.).

Submit a Mid-Year Progress Review by using our MPR Submission Form. Please save any Word files as a PDF before uploading, to reduce errors when viewing formulas and charts.

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Final Deliverables Requirements & Process

PIs and Co-PIs are responsible for all project specific deliverables agreed upon with the Topic Advocate and produced as a result of NRP-funded research. Deliverables must be submitted no later than the last day of the project-specific Period of Performance.

These deliverables include:

• Executive Summary using the NRP Executive Summary Template (public release Distribution Statement A required)
• Final Technical Report using the NPS Technical Report Template
• Optional research poster using the NRP Research Poster Template
• Final stakeholder debrief presentations
• Student theses, if applicable
• Journal publications, if applicable

All deliverables are to:

• Be prepared and submitted using the most recent official NRP or NPS process and templates, as appropriate
• Contain all elements requested in the specific document template
• Comply with the NPS Public Release Policy for scholarly material
• Reference the full NRP project ID (IREF ID) e.g. NPS-25-N500-B
• Reference the NRP as the funding sponsor with the following statement: "This research is supported by funding from the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program (PE 0605853N/2098)."
• Include a Distribution Statement
• Reference NRP as the funding sponsor
• Be submitted as final works
• Be of postgraduate academic writing and publishing quality

At minimum, NRP PIs are required to submit a Graduate Writing Center (GWC)-reviewed and accepted Technical Report, and a GWC-reviewed and accepted Executive Summary, at the end of the project Period of Performance.

Distribution Statements

Statement A
Approved for public release: distribution is unlimited.

Statement B
Distribution authorized to U.S. Government agencies only.

Statement C
Distribution authorized to U.S. Government agencies and their contractors.

Statement D
Distribution authorized to the Department of Defense and U.S. DoD contractors only.

Statement E
Distribution authorized to DoD Components only.

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Document guidance

All public release NRP deliverables will be placed in the Calhoun NRP Project Documents Collection by NRP once finalized and ready for publication.

Executive Summary

An Executive Summary is submitted for inclusion in the publicly distributed NRP Annual Report. The Executive Summary must:

• Be reviewed and accepted by the NPS Graduate Writing Center (GWC)
• Be marked for public release with Distribution Statement A
• Have filenames formatted according to this standard: "NPS-24-123A_NRP_ExecSum_PI-LastName"
• Be of academic publishing quality
• Follow all guidance outlined in the NRP Executive Summary Template
• Have a maximum of 2,000 words

PIs will work with the GWC to develop a publish-ready Executive Summary for an audience that are not subject matter experts. The GWC can help during any stage: planning, drafting, revising, copyediting, and/or finalizing. When looking at your Executive Summary, the GWC pays close attention to the following:

• Does your executive summary do what an executive summary should?
• Do the sections fulfill their purpose?
• Are ideas, paragraphs, and sentences logically ordered?
• Are all acronyms defined and accurate?
• Is the summary thorough, yet concise?
• Is the writing clear and accessible?
• Is it written for a non-SME audience?
• Is it free of typos and grammatical and punctuation errors?
• Has APA format for citations and references been followed?

At minimum, you are required to provide your near-final draft to the GWC for publication-ready review through our deliverables submission form.

Your GWC-reviewed, public release Executive Summary Word file will be sent to NRP by the GWC after receiving email approval from the PI.

Technical Report

A GWC-reviewed and accepted Technical/Final Report produced produced using the standard NPS Technical Report Template (LaTeX version here) is required no later than the end of the project Period of Performance. The Tech Report must:

• Be reviewed and accepted by the NPS Graduate Writing Center (GWC)
• Be marked with the appropriate Distribution Statement or classification level
• Have filenames formatted according to this standard: "NPS-24-123A_NRP_TechReport_PI-LastName"
• Be of academic publishing quality
• Follow all guidance outlined in the Instructions for Publications at NPS
• Be a minimum of 25 pages (approximately 9,000 words) in the body of the document

Report Title, Signature, and Documentation page guidance:

• Report Title page: "Prepared for: [Project Specific Topic Advocate Organization]. This research is supported by funding from the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program (PE 0605853N/2098). NRP Project ID: [Your project ID, e.g. NPS-25-N500-B]"
• Report Signature page: "The report entitled [Title of the Report] was prepared for [Project Specific Topic Advocate Organization] and funded by the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program (PE 0605853N/2098)."
• Report Documentation page
  • 5c. 0605853N/2098
  • 5d. NRP Project ID; JON [e.g. NPS-23-N500-B; W5152]
  • 9. Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program; "NRP Project Topic Advocate Agency"
  • 10. NRP; Project Topic Advocate Acronym [e.g. NRP; NAVSPECWARCOM]
  • 11. RSPO/Dept assigned report number; NRP Project ID [e.g. NPS-CS-23-500R; NPS-23-N500-B]

Use the Submission Form to submit your Tech Report for iThenticate review, GWC copyediting, and signature preparation.

1. GWC receives your Tech Report and sends it through iThenticate review. Results and recommended next steps will be emailed directly to you.
2. Use the Submission Form again to request a GWC editor for copyediting.
   1. For classified reports, simply select the appropriate clearance level and click "next" then "submit." The form does not require any file uploads, to prevent spillage. A GWC editor will reach out to you with next steps.
3. After review and acceptance of the GWC editor's changes, use the Submission Form to submit your finalized report to prepare for signatures. Send your report in Word format (or PDF if using LaTeX). GWC will handle all the rest.
4. Signatures are needed on Page iii from the PI, any Co-PIs, and their department chairs. It is your responsibility to obtain these signatures.
5. After these signatures have been obtained, use the Submission Form to submit the signed report to route it for signature by the Vice Provost of Research (VPR).
6. Once VPR signature is obtained, GWC sends the final report to NRP.
7. NRP processes your report for publication in Calhoun and DTIC.

For deliverables Distro A through E, submit using the Submission Form. For classified deliverables (Secret and above), please submit just a cover sheet, then arrange transfer of your classified deliverables via SIPRNet.

Classified reports use the same NPS Technical Report Template (LaTeX version here) as unclassified reports. Simply add banners to the header and footer marking the document at the appropriate classification level, and portion-mark paragraphs.

• Distro A: Public release, not restricted
• Distro B: US Government agencies only
• Distro C: US Government agencies & their contractors only
• Distro D: DOD & DOD contractors only
• Distro E: DOD components only
• Classified SECRET (must transfer securely via SIPRNet)
• Classified TOP SECRET (must transfer securely via SIPRNet)

Research project specific deliverables

These are any deliverables outside the NRP-required products that were agreed upon with the Topic Advocate. All products produced as a result of NRP-funded research are required to be sent to the Topic Advocate and the NRP Program Office no later than the end of the Period of Performance. These may include:

• Final presentation
• Source code
• Student theses
• Journal publications

A public release Distribution A research poster using the current NRP Research Poster Template is recommended to showcase the results of your research. The NRP may present your project posters online and/or at various showcase events.

Submit your research poster, final presentation, student theses, source code, etc. using the Submission Form.

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Submitting your Executive Summary to FAIRS

Once your Executive Summary has completed the GWC copyediting process, you need to enter it into the NPS Faculty Activity and Information Reporting System (FAIRS). The data collected in FAIRS will populate the NRP Annual Report. It is very important that you complete all sections as accurately as possible, including student participant data, as all inputs will inform program required reporting.

Enter the data from your GWC-reviewed and accepted Distribution Statement A Executive Summary into Section D: Scholarship/Research.

1. Log in to FAIRS.
2. Click the Naval Research Program Projects & Reporting link in Section D: Scholarship/Research.
3. Click the Item name (of the existing record) to edit/update. (e.g., "Test NRP Project")
4. Enter all requested NRP Executive Summary data. All fields are required. Note: you may need to use the chevron symbols to expand some collapsed data fields.
5. When done click Save to finish the record.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions NRP receives regarding project deliverables.

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