Proposal Preparation Process
Grants coordinators assist with proposal preparation for externally sponsored projects. All proposals to an external sponsor must be routed through OSP for review, institutional approval, and submission to the sponsor.
All proposals must be submitted to OSP for review and transmission to the sponsor in advance of the sponsor’s published deadline. Please allow as much time as possible for:
- Internal routing of draft information and budgets via NuRamp
- Sponsored Programs to review the complete proposal package and provide feedback on any necessary or recommended changes
- Investigators to implement changes and return revisions to Sponsored Programs
- Sponsored Programs to recheck and transmit the proposal
Note: Most electronic systems now require time for proposal validation before the proposal is considered received. On heavy deadline days, this can a few minutes to several hours.
Proposal Guidelines
A Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) or Request for Proposal (RFP) is a programmatic guideline announcing the availability and requirements of funding for sponsored projects. Regardless of sponsor type, principal investigators need to be aware of institutional eligibility, proposal requirements, submission deadlines, and application portals. Read the guidelines early, carefully, and often.
For those sponsors or mechanisms that limit an entity’s submissions, please see the Limited Submissions section for additional information.
Contacting OSP
Once an applicant (PI) has decided (or is considering) applying for external funding, they should contact their assigned grants coordinator as soon as possible. This is critical for establishing timelines and checklists, ensuring eligibility, securing cost share, or other applicable programmatic and institutional requirements.
To receive the best assistance, the PI should include the following items when contacting their grants coordinator:
- FOA/RPF/proposal guidelines and/or any links to sponsor guidance
- Pertinent deadlines (Letter of Intent, pre-proposal, and full proposal deadlines)
- If known, a list of items to include in the budget (personnel, equipment, operating costs, etc.)
- Names and contact information of external collaborators
Final Submission of Proposal
After the Grants Coordinator reviews and obtains signatures from UNO’s authorized office, OSP submits the application to the sponsor. Applications are submitted per sponsor guidelines. Guidelines generally include an identifier (e.g. Funding Opportunity Announcement number), due date and time, paper or electronic submission instructions, required contact and format, award amount (including F&A), period of performance, and eligibility requirements. Guidelines may be program-specific or generally applicable to the sponsor.
Upon successful submission, the Grants Coordinator will upload the proposal documents into the NuRamp form.