Frequently Asked Questions

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North Carolina state government agencies, excluding higher education institutions, are eligible to apply for a grant. This includes Council of State agencies and certain boards and commissions. Universities are encouraged to be research partners.

Interested state agencies are strongly encouraged to identify and coordinate with a research partner to develop and submit a proposal, though identifying a research partner at the application stage is not required. 

The NC Office of Strategic Partnerships can help agencies publicize their evaluation proposals to potential research partners through the NC Project Portal. Contact OSP at partnerships@osbm.nc.gov to request assistance and initiate the process.  

Agencies must have an agreement with external research partner(s) to receive funding for the proposed project. OSBM may grant awards to agencies conditional on pairing with a research partner to conduct the project.
 

Research partners must be external to state government, such as investigators from higher education or research institutions. Research partners may be private or non-profit. They may be based outside of North Carolina. 

A project proposal may involve multiple research partners. 
 

No. OSBM is aiming to award 5-10 grants totaling $1million. 

No more than 10% of the total grant award can be used toward indirect costs.

OSBM will disburse the funds to agency grantees within 10 business days after executing a memorandum of agreement with the agency and receiving documentation of the agency’s research partner(s) for the project.

Agency grantees do not have to go through the competitive procurement process to enter contracts with research partners for the scope of work identified in the grant proposal. The State Purchasing Officer has approved an exemption for contracts entered into by state agencies when utilizing these grant funds.
 

To promote the research integrity of funded projects, OSBM requires that NC Evaluation Fund grantees adhere to open science best practices, including the registration of a pre-analysis plan and a commitment to publicly share all results and, where possible, underlying research materials such as data and code. Confidential information shall be aggregated or otherwise protected as required by law.

After receiving the grant award, agencies will be required to:

  • Publish a pre-analysis plan (also known as a preregistration) on a public registry such as Open Science Framework and submit the publication link to OSBM before data collection begins or - if analyzing already existing data - before data analysis begins. 
  • Submit to OSBM twice yearly reports on spending, project progress, and deliverables.
  • Submit to OSBM a final report including project findings and methodology, total spending, and a description of all policy and program changes planned or enacted as a result of the project findings.
     

We are no longer accepting new applications. You can email evaluationgrants@osbm.nc.gov with questions. 

Contact Carrie Hollis, OSBM Program Analyst, at evaluationgrants@osbm.nc.gov.