Research Proposal Submission Steps
Submission
Process
There are essentially three sign-off hurdles that a proposal must pass before it is formally submitted, namely the SoC, the Dean's office, and finally OSP. Due to a new federal grant submission process a new schedule for proposal submission has been put into place. Note that it is necesssary to let the SoC know about an intended proposal submission in advance so that if a particular signatory is going to be out of the office then a backup signatory can be alerted to the upcoming duties. If no advance warning is given, then the proposal deadline may be missed. It's your choice. A warning minimum of 10 days prior to the proposal deadline is required. Current signatories for this process are Ellen Riloff (SoC), Eric Eddings (COE), and Laurel Duncan (OSP). The only exception to this signatory list is for limited submission proposals which typically will involve the VP of Research approval as well. The warning needs to be an email message to riloff@cs.utah.edu. Your warning will be forwarded to Eric Eddings, and to Laurel Duncan.
OSP Point of Contact for SOC
Laurel Duncan
581.3006
Submission
Schedule
You should assume that there are no exceptions to the following schedule. In exceptional well justified cases, and exception might be approved if negotiated well in advance.
10 days in advance of proposal deadline: notice of proposal submission and the due date sent via email to riloff@cs.utah.edu
For grants.gov:
Noon, 5 working days before the due date: OSP must have the complete grants.gov package ready to submit. This includes the entire proposal, budget, letters of support, etc. No changes will be allowed after OSP receives the package. Currently, NSF-CISE is still using Fastlane and most NIH proposals use grants.gov.
For NSF Fastlane Only:
Noon, 5 working days before the due date: Hardcopy proposal summary, final budget, budget justification, and document summary sheet due in the SoC office. This pre-proposal package will be forwarded simultaneously to the Dean's office and OSP. OSP no longer requires a signature from the Dean's office for proposal review unless there is a match.
8 a.m., 3 working days prior to the due date: Final proposal due in OSP - no changes to the proposal will be allowed after this date without prior consent from OSP. This includes all portions of the proposal including letters of support. OSP will only guarantee submission if they receive the OK to submit 3 business days prior to the proposal due date.. Note for NSF proposals this means that all documents have been loaded into Fastlane and the "OK to submit" button has to have been pushed.
For paper Proposals:
For proposals which must be submitted in paper form, you will need to think about this process differently. Namely this due date is when the proposal hardcopy version must be shipped by close of business in order to meet the real due date of the funding agency. The 5 day rule will be in effect for these proposals.
Footnote:
We realize this impacts the way we all do business. If you read the memo from the VP of Research, you will notice that OSP will strive to submit proposals that do not meet these deadlines. That means if you work with OSP and cooperate with them, you can make the choice to modify the proposal beyond the 3-day limit (for instance, up until 8am of the day of the agency deadline). The risk is that OSP will not guarantee they will be able to submit the proposal. To guarantee submission, you must follow the proposal deadlines as outlined above.