SBSRI Proposal Development & Support Services

SBSRI PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT & SUPPORT SERVICES

Last updated April 1, 2024

 

SBSRI Support Services, Deadlines, and Processes 

SBSRI provides a variety of support services to researchers housed in the College of SBS, who are seeking external and internal funding support to carry out their research projects. See the following timelines/ deadlines for utilizing SBSRI and SBS Business Team support services related to proposal development and application submission. 

Timeline: As soon as potential opportunity has been identified.

SBSRI personnel will meet with you to determine if the funding sponsor and the funding opportunity is appropriate for you. During this initial consultation, we will discuss the relevancy of the sponsor and/or the opportunity to your research, whether you meet eligibility requirements, experience/expertise of you as the Principal Investigator and project team, feasibility of timeframe, scope of award, etc.

 Timeline: 8 Weeks (40 business days) in advance of Sponsor Deadline

Once you decide to apply for a specific funding opportunity, SBSRI and/or SBS Business staff will coordinate a meeting to discuss the solicitation (aka Call for Proposals or Notice of Funding Opportunity). Ideally, this initial meeting will be set at least 8 weeks (40 business days) prior to the sponsor's deadline. 

During this meeting we will:

  • Provide an Overview on Finding Additional Info on Sponsor/Funding Mechanism: Sponsor & Opportunity Webpages, Past Awardees, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  •  Identify and review required/optional content. Such content may include:

    • Project Abstract/Summary

    • Project Narrative

    • Data Management Plan

    • Facilities/Resources Statement

    • PI/Senior Personnel Documents: CVs (i.e., Biographical Sketches or opportunity-tailored resumes), Current & Pending Support, Other Collaborations & Affiliations, etc.

    • Budget and Budget Justification or Narrative. This includes the identification of Lead Proposer as well as potential sub-awards, indirect cost rate (IDC; aka as Facilities & Administration [F&A] or Overhead) to be used, allowable/dis-allowable expenses, sponsor-specific expectations or requirements for mandatory or voluntary cost-share, etc.

    • Other Supporting Documents as Specified

  • Identify Method of Submission for Application (i.e., via Grants.gov, Research.gov, Sponsor-specific Portal, Email or Snail Mail)

  • Set timelines for draft materials (see information in drop-down item below)

  • Set timeline and deadlines for internal routing and approval processes

Timeline: 4+ weeks (20 business days) in advance of Sponsor Deadline

SBSRI personnel can provide direct support to applicants by reviewing drafts of their funding proposal narratives and other required non-financial application components (see general list of supported components in drop-down item above). We provide content-level feedback based on our expert reading and understanding of Call for Proposals/ funding opportunity solicitations. This review can focus on organization of ideas, responsiveness to solicitation prompts and funder mission, clarity of prose, consistency of content across documents, and feasibility of scope of work, among others. 

Find information on the review of financial-related application components in the drop-down menu below: "SBS Business Team Deadlines." 

Timeline: 3 weeks (15 business days) in advance of Sponsor Deadline 

While drafting the required components of a funding proposal, applicants will typically need to register with the funder's application submission portal and orient themselves to the functionality of the portal. Even if the applicant is familiar with the submission portal, SBSRI highly recommends that the applicant re-orient themselves well in advance of the sponsor's deadline. SBSRI personnel can provide a variety of support to applicants: individual consultations to register with application portals, guidance on navigating functions in application portals, and providing models on how to upload application components. Often, federal funding agencies require the use of external systems to prepare compliant components (eg., SciENcv, ORCiD), for which SBSRI personnel can also provide support. 

If the application portal is one that SBSRI personnel are unfamiliar with, we will familiarize ourselves with the system prior to supporting the applicant; this will require additional time. 

Timeline: 2-4 weeks (10 business days) in advance of Sponsor Deadline.  

Once you have finalized the required application materials, SBSRI personnel can provide a pre-compliance check of your non-financial proposal components. This check includes a close review of formatting requirements, including font sizes, word and page limits, margins, use of hyperlinks, reference styles, and so forth. We will also check whether each required component has been uploaded to the application portal correctly and that all required components are present. SBSRI personnel will provide you with a list of required and recommended changes to each component. 

Conducted prior to your submission of the funding proposal to Sponsored Projects Services (see drop-down items above in  Guidance on Steps for External Proposal Submission for more details), this check aims to mitigate delayed submissions to the funder.