COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES
***PROPOSAL SUBMISSION POLICY***
(original effective date: 01/27/2005, update effective 01/03/2007)
REVISED DATE: 11/21/2006

The University of Delaware has converted the Grants Management System to PeopleSoft Grants, which has made it necessary to impose deadlines within the College in order to meet processing requirements in the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR).

The timeline has been changed recently to reflect the proposal processing time needed to accommodate Grants.gov proposals and the increased proposal activity in the College.

** It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator to make sure that all approvers will be available to approve electronically or sign any necessary documents.**

10 working days before due date (minimum)

  

Contact College Financial Manager in Dean’s Office for budget assistance/review and proposal entry in the grants system

7 working days before due date

  

FINAL documents must be emailed to Financial Manager

6 working days before due date

  

Proposal must be to Department Chairperson/Director for review and approval – the Chairperson will receive the documents via a web form

5 working days before due date

  

Proposal must be to Dean’s Office for review and approval

72 hours (minimum)

  

Proposal and any documents requiring signature must be in OVPR (effective 01/03/2007 per new OVPR policy)

** Please note: If the proposal is not to OVPR within the 72-hour window, there is no guarantee that the proposal will be signed.**

The College Financial Manager needs the following documents 10 days prior to the due date:

  • Budget and Budget justification
  • Abstract (draft is acceptable)
  • Statement of work (draft is acceptable)
  • Proposal (draft is acceptable)
  • Subcontractor documents (if applicable, see below)

Seven working days before the due date, the final documents are due electronically to the College Financial Manager to be attached to the web form. This will allow sufficient time to start the routing process.

Typos and minor edits can be made UNLESS it is a Grants.gov proposal

Proposal process:

For the Principal Investigator:

  • Identify funding source. Talk to your Department Chairperson/Director and the Associate Dean regarding your intent to submit. Consider if you have enough time to prepare the proposal to meet the due date. Check to see if the due date is receipt or postmark. Note: If submitting to a Foundation, the University Development Office may need to be involved. Please send an email to Dan Bailey in the Development Office (copy the Financial Manager) to inform him of your intent to submit. He will let you know if they have others submitting to the same Foundation or if they have ongoing projects with that Foundation. He will also help with the Letter of Intent and securing the President’s signature if needed.
  • Send email to College Financial Manager with a link to the sponsor website, or provide a copy of the request for proposal. Schedule a budget preparation meeting if necessary. Consider all possible costs: academic salary (release time) and fringe benefits, graduate students (and fringe benefits), consultants, subcontracts, equipment, mailing costs for surveys, travel, summer salary, indirect costs, etc. Refer to College buy-out policy located on the College web page for guidelines on summer pay.
  • Prepare proposal. Complete all applicable sponsor forms. Contact the Financial Manager if you need assistance in completing the forms or have questions regarding information needed on the forms. Consult the OVPR information sheet found at:

http://www.udel.edu/OVPR/projman/infosheet.html

The Financial Manager will complete the 398 face page and checklist as well as several administrative information pages in the SF424 (Grants.gov) package.

  • Be sure that your Conflict of Interest (COI) statement is current (if not sure, ask the College Financial Manager). A COI is good for 1 year and a new COI is due annually on January 1. Anytime that a proposal you are submitting has a potential financial conflict, a new statement must be signed. Dean and Department Chairperson/Director signatures are required on this form. Co-PI’s must also have a COI on file.

If the sponsor requires IRB approval at the time of proposal submission, you must have the proper documentation from the IRB to submit with the proposal.

  • If Animals are involved in your study, you will need to seek approval from the IACUC.
  • If match (cost share) is required, or if a match would be desirable, please consult your Department Chairperson/Director to seek approval for matching funds. OVPR may be able to provide matching funds when a large sum is required, but approval must be obtained prior to proposal submission. Allow extra time from the above deadlines to obtain approval.
  • Subcontracts: The following documents are needed from a subcontractor: statement of work, letter of intent (PHS398 face page if NIH proposal), indirect cost agreement and budget/justification. If unsure about the definitions of subcontract, consulting agreement or fee for service, please contact the College Financial Manager. The Financial Manager will acquire the necessary documents once it has been determined that a subcontract is necessary. If you will be proposing a subcontract, please allow additional time to obtain all of the documents.
  • If submitting an on-line proposal, you cannot push the submit button until OVPR has approved the proposal. Please print screens of on-line proposal for review. You are submitting a proposal on behalf of the University; therefore, all forms should have University addresses, signatures, etc. In no case should you submit a proposal on behalf of University without proper approvals.
  • Send electronic drafts of all proposal materials to the College Financial Manager 10 working days prior to the due date. Copy the Department Chairperson/Director so they may begin their initial review process. Note: These documents may be in draft form but should give the Department Chairperson/Director enough information regarding your proposal.
    • With the new PeopleSoft Grants system, electronic copies of the abstract, budget, statement of work, match information and other miscellaneous documents can be attached to the electronic routing form and stored on the server. It is recommended that the documents are saved in PDF form to avoid changes being made by others, however, Word and Excel documents are acceptable.

***FINAL files must be emailed to the College Financial Manager no later than 7 working days from the sponsor due date.***

  • Allow enough time for all signatures and approvals to be obtained! Remember, it is the Principal Investigator’s responsibility to make sure approvers are available.
  • Once proposal information is entered, an electronic routing sheet will be available for your approval. If there are Co-PI’s on the grant, they will need to be available to approve the electronic form as well.
  • Once you approve, the form will be routed to the Department Chairperson/Director. Please keep in mind possible dates that the Department Chairperson/Director may be out of the office and unavailable for approving the form. If this is the case, secure permission for an alternate to approve.
  • After the approval by the Department Chairperson/Director, the form is routed to the Dean for approval and then to OVPR.
  • The Financial Manager will pick up any signed forms from OVPR and arrange a delivery to the PI.
  • It is the faculty members responsibility to make the appropriate number of copies (including a complete copy for the Dean’s Office) and mail the proposal. Send an electronic copy of the final proposal to your Department Chairperson/Director, if not already done.

Responsibilities for the College Financial Manager:

  • Prepare budget
  • Review proposal guidelines to determine if the proposal can be submitted by the University
  • Review budget/proposal for compliance with sponsor guidelines
  • Enter data into Grants system
  • Verify all assurances are completed as required
  • Deliver proposal materials to OVPR as needed
  • Handle OVPR inquiries regarding proposal
  • Pick up signed documents (if applicable) from OVPR and arrange delivery to PI

Notes about Grants.gov

Proposals for most Federal agencies are now (or soon will be) being submitted via Grants.gov. Grants.gov allows for an electronic submission with no paper forms to be mailed. It is expected that by September 2007, all Federal proposals will be submitted through Grants.gov.

The procedures for Grants.gov are as follows:

  • The PI downloads the application package as explained in the request for proposal
  • Save the document on your local hard drive
  • Send the file to the College Financial Manager who will fill in most of the administrative forms in the package and send the document back to you
  • Complete the application making sure that all yellow blocks (required fields) are filled in. The College Financial Manager will fill most of the blanks in.
  • All documents that are attached to the application package MUST be in pdf form. Note: Adding .pdf to the end of a word document does NOT make it a pdf document. You must convert the document into a pdf for it to be accepted by grants.gov.
  • Send the FINAL application package with all pdf documents to the Financial Manager to be attached to the web form for approvals. The FINAL document must be received no later than 7 working days before the due date
  • OVPR will upload and submit the proposal to Grants.gov. They must have the final document 72 hours prior to the deadline, which means we must route the final document 6 days prior to the deadline to allow time for all approvers to review and forward the web form to OVPR.
  • Earlier submission to Grants.gov allows more time to correct any mistakes that may bounce back from the system.
  • Please consult the College Financial Manager if you have any questions about the grants.gov application.

RS:rs/jrb

MS Word Version of Document