The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) has always encouraged early planning when submitting proposals to ensure the highest quality review and greatest chance for a successful outcome for your proposal.
Now, with the Faculty Research Support Team (FRST) on board to assist with putting your applications together, and per the support from the Office of the Vice President for Research, we will be enforcing Internal Grant Application Deadlines for any applications received by OSP on or after November 6, 2019. All non-science components of the application must be submitted to the OSP Pre-Award team no later than five (5) business days prior to the agency/sponsor deadline date. Science components will be due no later than one (1) business day prior to the agency deadline date.
The Office of Sponsored Programs will not submit applications to the funding agency that do not meet these timelines described herein. In order to meet these timelines, we strongly encourage PI’s to engage with FRST (or the Office of Research Services for Faculty in School of Public Health) as soon as they identify a funding opportunity they wish to apply to.
The following administrative components of an application, at minimum, will be due no later than five (5) business days prior to the sponsor deadline date. FRST is available to assist with preparation of many of these documents, as is the Office of Research Services for Faculty in School of Public Health.
• A completed External Proposal Transmittal (EPT) Form signed by all relevant parties
• A completed and signed sponsor application package (except for the Science Components defined below)
• Project Summary/Abstract (draft; should be included in the approval routing of the EPT form)
• Detailed budget and justification (Note: If the budget format required by the sponsor is not sufficiently detailed, then a detailed budget should be submitted to OSP for review. Normally, if you are using the budget worksheet available on OSP’s website, that should be sufficient.)
• Biosketches
• Appropriate administrative documents for all external participating institutions (consortia)
o Letter of Intent to enter into a Consortium Agreement, signed by the subawardee’s Institutional Authorized Official
o Statement of Work
o Budget
o Budget Justification
• Letters of support (Institutional, named consultants and/or collaborators)
• Confirmation of sponsor-specific indirect cost policy as specified in the sponsor’s published written policy or program guidelines (for indirect cost rates other than UNTHSC’s federally negotiated rate)
• Cost Share Form (if applicable)
• F&A Waiver Request Form (if applicable; deadline of 2 weeks prior to the sponsor deadline)
• PI Eligibility Form (if applicable; deadline of 2 weeks prior to the sponsor deadline)
The following science components of an application will be due no later than one (1) business day prior to the agency deadline date.
• Abstract (Final)
• Specific Aims
• Research Plan/Strategy
• Bibliography & References Cited
The OSP understands that circumstances may arise which make it difficult for Investigators to meet the five (5) / one (1) business day requirements. However, these should be exceedingly rare events (significant illness or death in family, unanticipated life events, etc.). Note: It is still possible for agency or network technical difficulties or unforeseen circumstances to prevent proposal submission when operating so close to the deadline. Please submit applications to OSP well before this deadline to avoid an electronic transmission or agency document reception problem that could prevent the successful submission/receipt of a proposal.
In cases where Proposals fail to comply with the submission requirement deadlines for either the administrative components or the science components, written approval must be obtained by the PI from the Vice President for Research (VPR) or his/her designee for the proposal to be submitted by the Office of Sponsored Programs without time for full review. Justifications for such approval will be limited to family emergencies and other extreme circumstances (noted above).
NOTE: Exceptions will be considered only in the rare instances where the funding agency provides a deadline less than five (5) business days from its initial request. In these rare exceptions, it will be necessary to provide written documentation from the agency regarding the abbreviated timeline along with a written request for approval from the VPR or his/her designee for a waiver of the five/one business day requirements.
Compliance with this new procedure assumes that all submitted components are final and complete except for changes requested by OSP staff. We recognize that adherence to these deadlines represents a change for us all. However, we are confident that being more consistent with the deadlines will help improve our service levels and increase our responsiveness to you, the research community. We look forward to your support.