Proposal Development and Submission

Proposal Preparation

A Step-by-Step Guide (adapt to your specific needs)

Before You Begin
Steps
Federal Proposals
Electronic Research Administration (eRA)
Material Transfer Agreements and Clinical Trials
Resources

Before you begin

KNOW THE PROCESS: Depending on where you are in the university, proposals will pass through a particular sequence of reviews and sign-off. Learn the practices of review and sign-off for your area. Your supervisor should be able to help you with this. See also an overview of roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in sponsored projects at the university. If you are new to sponsored project administration, or if you are a veteran but working on a proposal which includes unfamiliar elements, call your contact person at University Research Administration (URA) and he/she will help you or will connect you with someone in the community with the expertise to guide you through the process. No need to go it alone—there are many resources available to us.

Before You Begin | Steps | Federal Proposals | Electronic Research Administration (eRA) | Material Transfer Agreements and Clinical Trials | Resources

Steps . . .

  1. Read the sponsor guidelines, RFA (Request for Application), RFP (Request for Proposal), etc. carefully. Read them again. Make sure you have the most current version of guidelines and forms.

    • Have an initial conversation with the Principal Investigator (PI). It is most efficient to have everyone involved in the preparation of the proposal meet at least once early in the process to review guidelines, RFA, RFP and assign tasks, etc.

    • Do the guidelines require any supporting documentation you must request from another part of the university—certificate of insurance, etc.? Your URA contact can tell you where and from whom to get information.

    • Cost sharing or matching should be included only if required by the sponsor. If sponsor requires, do you need department/division permissions?

    • Is the sponsor a foundation? If so, check the Sensitive Foundations list.

    • Make a list of information/documents you need from others and make your requests of them early. Give people a deadline that allows time for you to assemble the pieces URA and other reviewers such as LBC (Local Business Center), ORS for BSD (Office of Research Services), etc. will need to see, and that you will need in hand by the time the proposal is sent out. This often takes much back-and-forth effort, so begin early and follow up.

    • There is occasionally a deadline after which the sponsor will not respond to questions—make sure PI and other interested parties know this date; make sure you understand proposal requirements and pose your own questions before this date.

  2. Alert the administrators involved in your review and sign-off process that a proposal is being developed and tell them when it is due at the sponsor and when it has to go to URA. Send your University Research Administration (URA) contact a quick email letting him/her know you will have a proposal coming over and include a copy of the guidelines or RFA or RFP, the proposal due date, and the date you hope to send it to URA for review. University policy specifies proposals should be received by URA at least five working days prior to due date (but even if you have just found out about a proposal and it is due tomorrow—alert your contact at URA). Ask whatever questions you may have at this stage. If you don't understand something in the guidelines—ask now.

  3. Who will be working on the proposed project?

    • Is there a Co-PI (some agencies do not permit a Co-PI, e.g., NIH will permit co-Investigator)? What other personnel?

    • Will it involve university people from outside your school or department (if so, you need confirming emails from their Directors, Deans or Department Chairs)?

    • Are there consultants (you will need name, rate, work scope, CV or bio. sketch—it is recommended that amounts to be paid be tied to specific deliverables or tasks)? A letter of commitment generally strengthens a proposal.

    • Subcontractors - workscope, budget, institutional sign-off from the collaborating institution, a copy of the collaborating institution's F&A rate agreement (either hard copy or web link if they have it posted on their website), CV or bio. sketch of key personnel, facilities/equipment/other resources [a.k.a. capacity statement] if necessary, letter of commitment, if necessary–be reminded letters of commitment generally strengthen a proposal.

    • Get names, email addresses and phone numbers of all contact people.

  4. Consider the various components that will make up the proposal and determine who is responsible for which pieces. Make a list. If you are working alone, make a list for yourself. Think ahead:

    • Do key personnel have updated CVs? Are special biographical sketches needed? For whom do you need them? Is the format specified by the sponsor?

    • Is a Current & Pending Support required (this is often a time-consuming piece)?

    • Do you have a standard statement of facilities/equipment/other resources [a.k.a. institutional capability or capacity] that might be adapted for the purpose of this submission if you need it?

    • Do you need to include references or letters of support? If so, get the detail from the PI and make your requests early.

    • Send emails alerting all appropriate people as to what you need from them. Follow up.

    • How many copies in addition to the original must be sent? Is there an appendix that will include copies of prior publications, etc.—if so, be sure you have an adequate number of copies available. Note: some agencies limit the allowable number of reprints/preprints. Is it a large submission—will you need a box(es) for mailing? Will you need to arrange for extra help at the end to be sure all material gets assembled and proposal goes out in time?

  5. Think backwards from the due date and make a schedule for yourself and others.

    • When does the proposal have to be sent out? Be sure you know the REAL deadline—the receipt date or the mailing date?

    • How many sign-offs are required for your division/school/department/LBC? Try to set a timeline for the completion of each required review.

    • When must it get to URA to give adequate time for review and changes if there are any (university policy specifies proposals should be received by URA at least five working days prior to due date)? Make sure local administrators, PI and others working on the proposal are aware of your internal deadlines.

  6. Set up a folder for various proposal pieces (electronic and hard copy)—make sure you include file name and date on everything, and ask others to do the same. Multiple versions are inevitable and you need to be able to sort out which are the most recent.

  7. Begin budget preparation—it's very helpful to have an early draft budget, which will undoubtedly go through several iterations before it is finalized.

    • The budget templates which appear on the Division of Biological Sciences (BSD), Office of Research Services' website may be helpful, but be aware of some possible differences, eg., BSD faculty have 12 month appointments. The NIH template is particularly useful for NIH proposals. Adapt the template to your particular situation and need. Or is there a special budget format the sponsor requires?

    • Does the sponsor stipulate an indirect rate? If not, see indirect rate information posted on Fact Sheet.

    • Are there restrictions in the guidelines to which you must adhere—for example, is there a given bottom line?

    • If it is a multiyear proposal, include an annual inflation factor for salary and non-salary line items, and it is recommended to increase the fringe benefit rate (for nonfederal proposals only) by .1% for each out year.

    • Begin to prepare the budget justification—this includes mention of each person listed and his/her role or contribution to the project, the inflation rate you are using, assumptions about travel costs, publication costs, etc. See Guideline 307B regarding secretarial/clerical and other direct costs on federal research projects and required justification.

  8. Pay attention to all formatting requirements—size of type; margins; limitations on the number of pages; special format for cover page, etc. Alert anyone working on the text to the formatting requirements. Prepare as much as possible ahead of time—even if you don't have all of the information, do a mock up of a page and fill in the information as it comes to you. Be sure to note which pages require institutional signature (i.e., URA). Begin to prepare Proposal Transmittal Form (PTF) and attachments (a PTF and attachments must accompany each new proposal and each request for additional funds sent to URA).

  9. The Fact Sheet on URA's website contains information that might prove useful if you have application forms to fill out.

  10. Make sure Principal Investigator privileges and Conflict of Interest assurance are in place.

  11. For the future, make templates for yourself for frequently needed formats or information—budget, current & pending support, memos, etc.

  12. Most important: do not assume anyone is telling anyone anything. If you want to be sure people have the necessary information—tell them yourself. Communication breakdown is one of the greatest obstacles in proposal preparation.

Before You Begin | Steps | Federal Proposals | Electronic Research Administration (eRA) | Material Transfer Agreements and Clinical Trials | Resources

Federal Proposals

A new system, Grants.gov has been developed to enable all federal proposals to be submitted electronically. Grants.gov allows organizations to electronically find and apply for competitive grant opportunities from all Federal grant-making agencies. When fully implemented, Grants.gov is intended to be THE single access point for grant programs offered by the 26 Federal grant-making agencies.  See also University of Chicago Grants.gov guidance.

Before You Begin | Steps | Federal Proposals | Electronic Research Administration (eRA) | Material Transfer Agreements and Clinical Trials | Resources

Electronic Research Administration (eRA)

There is growing interest in and demand for developing processes for electronic proposal submission (see Federal Proposals above). At present, proposal submission takes one of two courses:

  • URA submits

    • All federal proposals

  • Principal Investigator submits

    • Certain sponsors (e.g., American Heart Association) allow for PI submission. The proposal passes through normal review channels (Department, ORS, URA, etc.) and having received all appropriate endorsements, the PI is responsible for the ultimate submission.

For all electronic submissions, final ready-to-submit proposals are due in URA NO LATER THAN NOON THE BUSINESS DAY BEFORE THE SPONSOR DEADLINE.
See Guideline 310 for deadline requirements.

Before You Begin | Steps | Federal Proposals | Electronic Research Administration (eRA) | Material Transfer Agreements and Clinical Trials | Resources

Material Transfer Agreements and Clinical Trials

There are separate routing forms, procedures and boilerplate agreements for Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) and Clinical Trial Agreements. Pharmaceutical company-sponsored clinical trials must pass through the Office of Clinical Research . Check with a local administrator, the Office of Clinical Research or call URA for guidance.

Before You Begin | Steps | Federal Proposals | Electronic Research Administration (eRA) | Material Transfer Agreements and Clinical Trials | Resources

Resources

If you are not familiar with the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) Circulars or the FAR regulations, check with local administrators for assistance or contact URA.
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