Federal Agency Guidance

The Biographical Sketch Common Form provides instructions for the submission of a biographical sketch by each individual identified as a senior/key person on a federally funded research project. The biographical sketch is used to assess how well-qualified the individual, team, or organization is to conduct the proposed activities.

Quick Overview of Biographical Sketch Common Form.docx

Complete Biographical Sketch Common Form

The Current and Pending (Other) Support information is used to assess the capacity of any conflicts of commitment that may impact the ability of the individual to carry out the research effort as proposed. The information also helps assess any potential scientific and budgetary overlap/duplication with the project being proposed.

Quick Overview of Current & Pending Support Common Form Overview.docx

Complete Current & Pending Common Form

1. Common Form NSF SCV Biographical Sketch 24-1 must be completed in SciENcv.
2. Click NSF Biographical Sketch and copy the information from the current document to the newer version which will produce a pdf compliant version that can be attached to the proposal in Research.gov.
3. Each senior/key personnel must include a BioSketch and certify.
4. The page limitation has been removed (formerly 3-page limit) as has the Synergistic section (now uploaded as a separate attachment).
5. NSF requires use of ORCiD for the Persistent Identifier (PID) of the senior/key personnel

                PAPPG (NSF 24-1) Biographical Sketch, Chapter II.D.2.h(i)

1. Common Form NSF Current & Pending Support must be created in SciENcv. 
2. Click NSF Current & Pending (Other) Support; information will automatically populate a new form
3. NSF requires use of ORCiD for the Persistent Identifier (PID) of the senior/key personnel.
4. A distinct submission must be provided for each proposal and active project, as well as for in- kind contributions. There is no specific page limitation for this section of the application, certain            fields have character limitations for consistency and fairness.

                PAPPG (NSF 24-1) Current and Pending (Other) Support, Chapter II.D.2.h(ii)

General Information

1. NIH will require the use of Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) to complete Common Forms (i.e., Biographical Sketch, Current and Pending (Other) Support) and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement to produce digitally certified PDF(s) for use in application submission.
2. NIH will require all Senior/Key Personnel to enter their ORCID ID into SciENcv in the Persistent Identifier (PID) section of the Common Forms.
3. NIH will require all Senior/Key Personnel to link their ORCID ID to their eRA Commons Personal Profile.  
   *Since September 15, 2025, preview versions of the new forms have been available in SciENcv for users to explore the functionality. Any data entered into these preview forms will be deleted when the official forms are released.
4. NIH currently plans to continue collecting three required agency specific supplement data elements (i.e. Personal Statement, Contributions to Science, and Honors) to assess qualifications. These data elements will be collected separately from the Common Forms on a new NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement. 

NIH Biographical Sketch

1. NIH will no longer accept the NIH Biographical Sketch format page.
2. NIH will require the use of the Common Form for Biographical Sketch.
3. NIH will require the use of a new NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement to collect the “Personal Statement,” “Contributions to Science,” and “Honors” statements.

NIH Current and Pending (Other) Support

1. NIH will no longer accept the NIH Other Support format page.
2. NIH will require the use of the Common Form for Current and Pending (Other) Support.

The Department of Defense (DOD) has issued a Grant Information Notice sharing their implementation of the Common Disclosure form(s). 

1. Researchers must use the new common forms for biosketches and current and pending support documents in all applications to DoD-funded (grants/cooperative agreements) programs (Effective November 2024).

2. The common forms require expanded disclosure of activities, including those related to foreign governments and consulting arrangements.

3. Individuals must electronically certify on the forms that they are not a party to a malign foreign talent recruitment program.

4. The use of ORCID ID’s is mandatory for all senior or key personnel listed in a proposal for an assistance award for R&D (Effective April 2025).

Disclosure Guidance was issued in the Implementation of Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations which includes updates to the NASA Grant and Cooperative Agreement Manual 

AS such, NASA requires the use of the Common Disclosure forms for  Biographical Sketches/Current & Pending Support - fillable forms that can be found on the NASA Grants Policy and Compliance website.(Effective October 1, 2024).

1.  NASA applicants MUST digitally sign their NASA disclosure forms. However, if a form with a digital signature is submitted to NASA via NSPIRES, the system will remove the certification data associated with that digital signature. The signature will still be legible, but NASA will not be able to view any certification data embedded in the form. As such, NASA applicants and award recipients must maintain original disclosure forms with digital signatures and make them accessible to NASA upon request. Stanford recommends storing these in SeRA within the relevant SPO/project record.

2. Certification of disclosure documents must be completed by each senior/key person and may NEVER be delegated.

NASA is also exploring SciENcv as an option for electronic implementation of the Common Disclosure Forms - stay tuned for updates on this.

The Department of Energy (DOE) implementation of the Common Forms for Biographical Sketches and Current and Pending (Other) Support that will be exclusively available in SciENcv is anticipated for November 2025.  DoE will issue subsequent guidance to announce final details of DOE Common Forms implementation.  An ORCID ID will be required.

Currently, DOE Office of Science (SC) strongly encourages all researchers to use the online SciENcv system to ensure documents are prepared in the appropriate format with the least inconvenience.