4. Pre-Award Issues and Processes

4.1 Process for Submitting Proposals/Applications

Revised 3/12/03

All proposals and/or applications for external support must be reviewed and approved by the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) BEFORE they are submitted to a sponsor. The primary reasons for this are:

• To assist the Principal Investigator(s) in creating and submitting a proposal that is within sponsor guidelines including: assistance with an appropriate and accurate budget, assistance with format, to ensure that the proposal is complete and that it represents the University and the investigator in a positive way.
  
  
• Since the proposal document is submitted and the award is made to the University, not to the Principal Investigator (PI), OSP has the legal and fiduciary responsibility to ensure that all University, sponsor, state and federal regulations, laws, and policies are met. This at times seems "bureaucratic" but is designed to protect both the individuals and the institutions involved over the long term.

Because the actual proposal development process can take days, weeks and even months, we recommend that the PI contact their OSP administrator very early in the proposal process, so the administrator can help facilitate the overall process. 

A copy of the full proposal and/or application, whether sent in paper or electronic form, must be reviewed and approved by the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) BEFORE it is submitted to a sponsor.  OSP, because of the volume of proposals, requests that a proposal be submitted to OSP FIVE WORKING DAYS before it is due to the sponsor.   This ensures adequate time for the review and signature process.  Proposals that are incomplete or contain inappropriate information or which do not follow University policies or procedure will need to be corrected and resubmitted to OSP before the proposal may be sent to the sponsoring agency.

All federal agencies have plans in progress for full electronic submission of proposals. Our experience shows that there is generally a learning curve in the use of electronic systems and that it takes longer to submit proposals electronically than through the mail. Networks are frequently stressed during peak submissions times. Therefore, OSP must have access to electronic proposals at least FIVE WORKING DAYSprior to deadline cutoff date.  A complete University of Utah Document Summary Sheet (described in the next section) must be submitted to OSP with the final copy of the proposal to be reviewed or when electronic access to the proposal is given.

Some sponsors do not require an authorized signature or have developed electronic systems that do not require the proposal be submitted through the OSP. University policy still requires that OSP review the proposal prior to submission.

Proposals that are given to OSP with less than five working days may not be properly reviewed and it may be difficult to obtain signatures because of the availability of the authorized signature authority.  This may lead to proposals missing submission deadlines or being rejected by the sponsor for incomplete or improper information in the proposal.

For proposals that are either sent to sponsoring agencies without being reviewed and approved by OSP, or which have been given to OSP with less than five working days to review, the following may occur:

• The University reserves the right to withdraw the proposal
• The University has the right not to accept the award if funded.
• The University has the right to renegotiate the terms and conditions, budget, resources etc., before accepting the award.

Note: The award will not be accepted if the proposal contains elements which are inconsistent with University policy, has objectionable terms and conditions, requires resources not approved prior to the proposal, fails to include appropriate amount of F&A in the budget or does not receive the Chair and Dean or equivalent endorsement on a Document Summary Sheet.