INTRODUCTION

• Definitions
• Responsibilities

PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT

• Focus
• Timing
• Clearance
• Sponsor Identification
• Guidelines
• Writing the Proposal
• Proposal Developer's Guide
• A Basic Guide to Budget Components

INTERNAL REVIEWS AND APPROVALS

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

• Signatures
• Duplicating and Collating
• Delivery Distribution

REVISIONS

REJECTIONS

INTRODUCTION TO SPONSORED PROGRAMS

In order to navigate the world of sponsored programs, it is useful to understand the terminology employed and be aware of the responsibilities of the main players.

Definitions

Sponsored Program

A sponsored program is a research, training, instructional, service, or related project supported by external funds that are received by the University on behalf of a member of the University community, and for which the Project Investigator or Project Director and University are accountable. Such funds are provided as a result of a formal communication with the sponsor, such as a letter, application, or other written proposal signed and submitted by an authorized University official. A sponsored program will normally have one or more of the following characteristics:

• The sponsor has published guidelines, applications, and/or procedures for requesting support;
• The use of funds awarded is restricted to support for a particular project;
• The award includes specifications for project performance and/or outcome;
• The sponsor requires, as a condition of the award, programmatic, technical, and/or financial reports, which are subject to external audit.

If you believe that your idea or project does not share one or more of these characteristics, then perhaps your project might fall into the "gift" category. In that case you should contact your Dean and determine if it might fit within the established University priorities for the Development Office which can be found at: http://support.gallaudet.edu/

Proposal

A proposal is a formal statement of a project for which external support is sought. While a proposal can take several forms, as discussed below, in general it will:

• be initiated from a disciplinary or educational perspective;
• be characterized by a statement of need or purpose with a finite set of goals or objectives;
• include the development of a product, such as a technical report; and
• request a specific sum of money, usually with a detailed budget, for accomplishing the project.

Principal Investigator

The Principal Investigator, or the Project Director, is the lead person in the development of the proposal and the implementation of the award.

Students as Grant Beneficiaries

Occasionally a funding opportunity becomes available whereby a Gallaudet University student will be the beneficiary of a federal grant. This typically takes the form of a dissertation fellowship grant which is issued to Gallaudet University on behalf of that student either in their name and the name of a university official or in the name of their faculty advisor.

Because the OSP has, as its primary obligation, the facilitation of sponsored projects for faculty and professional staff, and, due to its small staff size and the time pressure associated with grant deadlines, the OSP is unable, under most circumstances, to work directly with students to develop applications for federal funds for fellowships or research opportunities. However, the OSP will work with a student's faculty advisor starting ten (10) working days prior to the official agency due date of the application. Students wishing to apply for external federal support should first contact their faculty advisors, share the request for proposals with their advisor, and plan to have a completed proposal submitted to their advisor no later than ten (10) working days prior to the official agency due date. The advisor has the responsibility of reviewing the student's proposal and ensuring that the proposal is feasible and that the fulfillment of the proposed project, if funded, will not interfere with the student's educational progress, nor with the operations of the department or School. After reviewing the student's proposal, the faculty member may then work with the OSP to ensure that the application is complete and ready for submission. The deadline for faculty members wishing to submit student applications for external federal funds is five (5) working days prior to the official due date.

Signature Authority

Each institution has one or several individuals who are empowered to sign documents on behalf of the institution. The individual who serves as the institutions "Authorized Institutional Official" and offers federal assurance on behalf of Gallaudet University is the President.  The Director of the Office of Sponsored Program is authorized to submit proposals and accept grants and contracts on behalf of Gallaudet University. The University is not committed to accept awards resulting from the submission of proposals not authorized by the President of the University or submitted without following university policies for sponsored programs.

Pre- and Post-Award

Pre-award refers to those activities that culminate in the receipt of an award from a sponsor. Post-award refers to those activities that occur in implementing and managing the award through project completion and close-out.

Award Mechanisms: terms and characteristics

Grants: sponsor provides funds to pursue grantee-initiated project.

• the proposal solicitation/announcement usually has stated goals and objectives;
• the sponsor has expectations about how the budget will be spent;
• the award has deliverables (may include project and expenditure reports);
• the award is governed by terms and conditions;
• there is some flexibility in making certain changes;
• the award is subject to programmatic and financial audit.

Cooperative Agreements: sponsor exercises substantial involvement in project performance.

• the proposal solicitation/announcement has stated goals and objectives;
• the sponsor has expectations about how the work will be performed and how the budget will be spent;
• the award has deliverables;
• the award is governed by terms and conditions;
• the award is subject to programmatic and financial audit;
• formal agreement results from negotiations;
• performance is closely monitored by sponsor;
• detailed technical and financial reports are required;
• any changes must be negotiated.

Contracts: sponsor provides funds to pursue sponsor-generated project

• formal agreement results from negotiations;
• contract deliverables are stipulated, usually due by times certain;
• performance is monitored by sponsor;
• detailed technical and financial reports are required;
• any changes must be negotiated;
• awards are subject to programmatic and financial audit.

Subcontracts/Subagreements

When a portion of the project is going to be carried out at another institution or organization, a subcontract or subagreement with the University is required in order to ensure compliance with sponsor requirements. Similarly, when a portion of a project being conducted at another institution will be performed at Gallaudet, Gallaudet will enter into a subagreement relationship with that institution.

These are formal relationships and require the same institutional review and approval as any proposal. In addition, subagreement actions of $25,000 or more under a federal grant to Gallaudet trigger a special procedure; this process is detailed on the Contracts and Purchasing web site.  Please consult the Office of Sponsored Programs if you will be performing tasks on a federal proposal being submitted by another institution.

Responsibilities: Who does What?

Principal Investigator

Each sponsored project has a Principal Investigator (sometimes referred to as Project Director) who assumes responsibility for the conduct of the program in both its technical and administrative aspects. Generally, the Principal Investigator is the author of the proposal and is, therefore, cognizant of the programmatic accountability expected by the sponsor for technical performance. Each Principal Investigator must also be concerned with administrative aspects of project management, including timely production of project deliverables. Responsibilities of Principal Investigators include:

• conducts technical operation of the project;
• monitors compliance with award provisions, including time and effort of faculty, staff, and students supported by the award and timely completion of the work;
• obtains sponsor approval, if needed, through the Office of Sponsored Programs for all changes to the project, including scope of work and budget;
• manages project budget, expending funds only for allowable costs and keeping expenditures within budget;
• prepares and submits, in a timely fashion, all technical/performance reports to the sponsor regarding the work performed, its progress, and final results;
• ensures that all project faculty, staff and graduate students recognize that the University and/or the sponsor own inventions, patents and specified copyrights resulting from the project in accordance with the grant or contract; and
• supervises faculty, staff, and students associated with the project and assures that participating consultants perform according to the scope of work established by the award.

Office of Sponsored Programs

The Office of Sponsored Programs is the office charged with assisting Gallaudet University faculty and staff in the pursuit of extramural funding of projects of benefit to the Gallaudet community. The Office has the responsibility for the following:

Office of the Controller - Grants Accounting

The Office of the Controller is responsible for financial management related to all awards.  The Accounting Office has a grants accountant, Mary Wyatt, who is a PIs main contact for all aspects of post-award grants financial management.  Mary may be reached via e-mail at Mary.Wyatt@gallaudet.edu or via telephone at 202-651-5273 (v/tty).

PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT

Proposal Development is a process that results in the submission of a proposal to a sponsor for consideration of funding. Writing is only one part of the process; in fact, the most important step is most likely the preliminary work involved in defining an idea and determining the best approaches to follow in implementing that idea.

The projects most likely to be funded are those which: contain innovative or creative ideas addressing pressing problems; contain tests, methods, or procedures suited to the objectives; are appropriate to both institution and sponsor; and, are represented by well-written proposals.

Once the proposal is written, it should be reviewed and edited by a person knowledgeable in the field or discipline to assure clarity and completeness before the formal institutional review.

Timing

Unsolicited proposals may be submitted at any time, but investigators should allow six to nine months between the date of submission and the anticipated starting date for sponsor review. Unsolicited proposals to be funded in a particular federal fiscal year (which ends September 30) generally should be submitted no later than February 1.

Internally, the Office of Sponsored Programs should be consulted as early in the proposal preparation process as possible. The Office requires that completed proposals be received at least five (5) working days before the sponsor's deadline. The Office of Sponsored Programs is happy to review and provide feedback on project narratives, as time allows, up to seven (7) days prior to the deadline.

Clearance

Before writing a proposal, the individual faculty/staff member should contact the dean, director or department chair to enlist approval and support for the project. Questions concerning faculty time commitments, space, and facilities, as well as proposed new courses and/or requirements, should be resolved at this time.

Sponsor Identification

Since Gallaudet is located in Washington, Principal Investigators should, if at all possible, make an appointment with the government agency program officer to discuss the project and any limitations on funding requests. The information gained in an early contact may prove very useful in structuring the final proposal. Most program officers welcome advance contact of this nature as it allows them to assist potential Principal Investigators to focus their research on areas of interest to sponsors.

For sponsors located elsewhere, an initial letter describing the project is suggested. Such preliminary proposals need not go through the formal approval process; however, if the potential sponsor is a private foundation even an initial approach must be cleared with the Development Office. The purpose of this clearance is to ensure that foundations do not receive more than one Gallaudet proposal for consideration at one time.

Some competitions require the submission of a preliminary proposal or concept paper. Such preliminary proposals require the same processing through the Office of Sponsored Programs as full proposals.

Guidelines

Since the written proposal is a formal request for the financial support of a project, most sponsors have established general guidelines for the preparation and submission of proposals to ensure a level of standardization for the numerous proposals they receive. These general guidelines may be supplemented by special guidelines that pertain to specific programs. While the Office of Sponsored Programs maintains some of printed guidelines and application packets, most of these materials are available on the web.

The importance of sponsor guidelines cannot be stressed enough. They often discuss the intent of the competition, itemize the evaluation criteria, and provide details on the sponsor's funding priorities. In addition, they provide a clear description of what should be included in the proposal and give specifications on the technical requirements for proposals. A careful scrutiny of the guidelines before and during proposal preparation is absolutely essential to success.

In addition to guideline and application information provided by sponsors, prospective investigators may wish to explore some of the numerous proposal preparation guides. The Office of Sponsored Programs maintains a small library of these materials that are available to Gallaudet faculty and staff.

Writing the Proposal

There are many excellent guides to proposal writing. The following has been prepared to provide an overview of proposal contents. More detailed suggestions can be found in the guidelines and evaluation criteria provided in a sponsor's application kit. There are also several excellent presentations developed by other universities that are accessible on the Web. Some of these are listed under OTHER USEFUL WEB SITES.

The Gallaudet University Proposal Developer's Guide lists proposal components and production considerations.

The Gallaudet University Basic Guide to Budget Components identifies and defines items to include in the proposal budget.

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INTERNAL REVIEWS AND APPROVALS

Informal Review

Once the proposal is written, it should be reviewed and edited by a person knowledgeable in the field or discipline to assure clarity and completeness. 

Formal Review

A formal proposal to conduct research, training, or technical assistance with the support of an external sponsor represents an offer by Gallaudet University to perform the activities specified in the proposal. The University's review and approval process assures compliance with both sponsor and University policies.

Proposals submitted by faculty or staff are usually routed through the Department Chair or unit Director and appropriate Dean(s) or Budget Unit Head. Note that a project which involves the direct effort of faculty or staff from another unit must also be routed through the appropriate offices of that unit.

The Principal Investigator should allow ample time for the review and approval of a proposal, particularly if the sponsor has established a specific deadline. To ensure timely submission, the Principal Investigator and The Office of Sponsored Programs should work together during the proposal development, preparation, and approval phases.

Proposals are to be submitted to the Office of Sponsored Programs at least five (5) working days prior to sponsor's deadline. Failure to meet this deadline may jeopardize the on-time submission of the proposal. Proposals not meeting this deadline may be submitted with conditional approval only and only at the discretion of the Office of Sponsored Programs. In these cases, the Principal Investigator shall be responsible for making appropriate changes, or withdrawing the proposal at a later date, if subsequent review reveals that the proposal is incomplete, contains errors, inaccuracies, misrepresentations, or does not conform with University or sponsor requirements.

The Gallaudet University Routing and Approval Form for Proposal Submission should be completed by the Principal Investigator and signed, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator/Project Director
• Department Chair/Director
• Dean of School/Budget Unit Head
• Director, Sponsored Programs/Dean, The Graduate School and Professional Programs

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Signatures

After a proposal has been reviewed and approved, the Authorized Institutional Official (the University President), will sign the proposal on behalf of the University.  This may be an actual signature or electronic signature and the OSP will solicit the appropriate type.  Some sponsors require that the signature of the Principal Investigator and/or other University officials also be appended.

Electronic Submission

After signature, the proposal is entered either by the OSP or by the PI (as per prior agreement) into the appropriate agency electronic research administration system.  Most agencies use Grants.gov but some maintain their own proprietary sites like the National Science Foundation's Fastlane or the National Institute of Health's NIH Commons.  The OSP has expertise in all of these systems and will guide the PI toward what documents are required by each agency for transmission into these systems.

Transmission of a Completed Proposal

Each electronic submission system has a different process for the submission of propoals to the intended agencies.  It is not uncommon for the actual submission process to take hours in the submission que.  The OSP recommends that for all electronic submssions, that the majority of the proposal content be transmitted to the OSP for upload to the agency system one day prior to the deadline.  The Office of Sponsored Programs does not take responsibility for the on-time delivery of proposals that do not allow for this margin and the OSP does not have any sway with the agencies if the system rejects the proposal for not meeting the timed deadline.

Distribution of Proposal Copies and Internal Forms

The Office of Sponsored Programs retains the original of the Routing and Approval Form, along with a full and exact copy of the final proposal (including all appendices). A copy of the proposal, accompanied by a copy of the Routing and Approval Form, is distributed to each person who signed the form.

REVISIONS

Revisions to the proposal budget may be necessary, often as a result of negotiations with the sponsor prior to the award of the grant or contract. Sometimes the technical proposal must also be revised.

Review and approval of budget and technical revisions should follow the same procedures as indicated for the original submission, including the use of the Gallaudet University Routing and Approval Form for Proposal Submission to obtain approvals at the department and school levels for changes in personnel and or cost-sharing.

REJECTIONS

If a proposal is rejected, it is recommended that the Principal Investigator request the reviewer's evaluation comments from the sponsor. These comments are helpful if the proposal is to be resubmitted to the same or another sponsor.  The agencies do not share these comments with the OSP, only with the PI, however, given the availability the OSP will analyse these comments for common themes and make sugggestions to make the proposal more competitive upon resubmission.

Some years ago, Dr. Ernest M. Allen, former Chief of the Division of Research Grants, National Institutes of Health, analyzed the reasons why a group of proposals submitted to the NIH were rejected (Science, Vol. 132 [November 25, 1960], pages 1532-34). Most of these reasons remain valid today in situations where funds are available, geographical distribution is not a factor, and political considerations are not present.

Problem

• The problem is not of sufficient importance or unlikely to produce any new or useful information.
• The proposed research is based on a hypothesis that rests on insufficient evidence, is doubtful, or is unsound.
• The problem is more complex than the investigator appears to realize.
• The problem has only local significance, or is one of production or control, or otherwise fails to fall sufficiently clearly within the general field of health-related research.
• The problem is scientifically premature and warrants, at most, only a pilot study.
• The research as proposed is overly involved, with too many elements under simultaneous investigation.
• The description of the nature of the research and of its significance leaves the proposal nebulous and diffuse and without a clear research aim.

Approach

1. The proposed tests, or methods, or scientific procedures are unsuited to the stated objective.
2. The description of the approach is too nebulous, diffuse, and lacking in clarity to permit adequate evaluation.
3. The overall design of the study has not been carefully thought out.
4. The statistical aspects of the approach have not been given sufficient consideration.
5. The approach lacks scientific imagination.
6. Controls are either inadequately conceived or inadequately described.
7. The material the investigator proposes to use is unsuited to the objective of the study or is difficult to obtain.
8. The number of observations is unsuitable.
9. The equipment contemplated is outmoded or otherwise unsuitable.

Investigator

1. The investigator lacks adequate experience or training for this research.
2. The investigator appears to be unfamiliar with recent pertinent literature or methods.
3. The investigator's previously published work in this field does not inspire confidence.
4. The investigator proposes to rely too heavily on insufficiently experienced associates.
5. The investigator is spreading himself too thin; he will be more productive if he concentrates on fewer projects.
6. The investigator needs more liaison with colleagues in this field or in collateral fields.

Other

1. The requirements for equipment or personnel are unrealistic.
2. It appears that other responsibilities would prevent devotion of sufficient time and attention to this research.
3. The institutional setting is unfavorable.
4. Research grants to the investigator, now in force, are adequate in scope and amount to cover the proposed research.