Preliminary Planning
Before beginning to write a proposal, it is important to create a clear plan and timeline. The following information provides guidance on some of the steps you should take.
Contact Pre-Award Early
| Timeline | steps to submission |
|---|---|
| 30 days |
Notify OSPR and leadership of Intent to Submit: Fill out Intake Form and notify chair and dean (or equivalent leadership) of submission. This allows OSPR time to allocate resources to support you. |
| 30 days to 1 week before deadline | Develop budget and key proposal components: OSPR will work closely with you to develop the budget and will assist you in identifying necessary proposal elements. |
| 1 week before deadline | Route for internal approvals: OSPR will initiate routing through Kuali with a final budget and narrative draft. Your chair and dean will have to review and approve. OSPR has final approval. |
| 3-4 days before deadline | Send OSPR final versions of all proposal components for review: OSPR requries a few days to provide thorough review and give feedack. Sending OSPR materials for review with less than 3 days to the deadline is not sufficient time to ensure compliance with funder requirements and may result in less competitive proposals. |
| 2 days before deadline | SUBMIT EARLY when possible! Prepare for submission to avoid last minute technical issues, unforseen circumstances, and last-minute corrections. OSPR submits after final review and approval. |
| Day of deadline | OSPR will not submit past 5 PM, EST, even when the sponsor deadline is later. If you've waited until the deadline to submit, OSPR needs your final documents by noon. |
With at least 30 days’ notice, the the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research (OSPR) can support various aspects of the proposal development phase, including budget development and proposal/project narrative editing, culminating in the successful submission of a proposal.
Submit the intake form to notify the OSPR Pre-Award team and initiate the proposal submission process.
Pre-Award Intake FormContact the pre-award team early in the proposal preparation process to notify them of intent to apply and to begin to discuss support and resource needs.
Planning Stage
The pre-award team will work with you on the following:
- Determining eligibility, both for the individual faculty member and the institution.
- Determining sponsor priorities, mission, and past award amounts.
- Consider contacting the sponsor program officer/contact to assess the fit of your project with the funding source.
- Assess the project’s needs as they relate to the proposal.
- Do you have the necessary partnerships and/or can they be formed before the deadline?
- Determine project evaluation needs.
- Review the evaluation criteria, the review process, and particular role of the peer reviewers within the specific sponsoring organization.