PROPOSAL SUBMISSION
PROPOSAL SUBMISSION
PROCESS
FYAP – May 6, 2014
Julie Wammack, Assistant Director
Sponsored Research Administration (SRA)
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Steps for Proposal Submission
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Find funding that matches your research
interests/needs
Review all the agency documents – funding
solicitation, agency guidelines, etc.
Prepare proposal
Obtain institutional approvals
Submit the proposal to Sponsored Research
Administration (SRA)
Proposal Tools
• Staff Assignment Sheet
• Facts Sheet
• Transmittal Form/Instructions
• Program Announcement/Solicitation
• Application package
• Agency Guidelines
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Contact Sponsored Research
Administration (SRA) – ASAP
• Establish a working relationship with the
administrator who will process your proposal
• Administrator provides agency-specific expertise
• Questions about the proposal process can be
answered
• 3-day submission policy
• Documents needed for SRA
• PI Responsibilities/SRA Responsibilities
Three-Working-Day Policy
• SRA Administrator needs at least three working days
prior to the proposal deadline to review the proposal for
compliance
• This allows for feedback and suggestions to keep the
proposal compliant with the agency guidelines and FSU
policies
• By 9am of three-day deadline, SRA Administrator must
receive “complete proposal”
• PI can work on narrative/scope of work until 9am of the
deadline day
Three-working-day Deadline Chart
Sponsor Deadline
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday (if no agency guidance, Friday is
considered deadline)
Sunday (if no agency guidance, Friday is
considered deadline)
SRA Internal Deadline
Previous Wednesday by 9 am
Previous Thursday by 9 am
Previous Friday by 9 am
Monday of the same week by 9 am
Tuesday of the same week by 9 am
Tuesday of the same week by 9 am
Tuesday of the same week by 9 am
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Review ALL Proposal Documents
• Funding Announcement:
Request for Proposal (RFP), Program Solicitation,
Request for Application (RFA), Broad Agency
Announcement (BAA)
• Application Instructions
• Agency Guidelines
• All these documents provide information pertinent to
your proposal
• The instructions/guidelines must be followed or you risk the
proposal being ‘returned without review’ for non-compliance.
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Request for Proposal (RFP)
• Program Description
• Eligibility (Limited Submission?)
• Funding Limits
• Deadlines – Due Dates for Submissions
• Submission process – electronic? Hard copy?
• Review/Evaluation Criteria
• Award Description
• Award Administration
• Reporting requirements, etc.
NEH – Challenge Grant
Deadline: May 1, 2014
Program Description:
• NEH challenge grants are capacity-building grants,
intended to help institutions and organizations secure
long-term support for their humanities programs and
resources.
Expenditures not eligible for support:
• recovery of indirect costs
Type of award:
• Matching grant - Recipients must raise three times the
amount of federal funds offered, . . .
Eligibility:
• Institutions may apply for only one NEH challenge grant in
a calendar year
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Basic Proposal Documents
• Transmittal Form
• Scope of Work
• Budget
• Budget Justification
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plus • All other agency-required documents
NOTE:
Proposal must be submitted to SRA in ready-form for
submission
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Transmittal Form –
Institution Approvals
• Agency and funding announcement
• Proposal due date and submission type
• Name of PI/Co-PIs, other personnel and departments
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involved
Amount requested and project performance period
Distribution of the indirect costs between the
participating departments
Special commitments
PI, Co-PIs, Chair & Dean approvals of proposal
Electronic Transmittal - OMNI
• To submit a proposal through OMNI - use the proposal
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guide
http://www.research.fsu.edu/contractsgrants/documents/pro
posaldevelopmentguide.pdf
Any employee may create a proposal/submit it for approval
Employees entered on the Proposal Resources page or
added by the workflow program can view the proposal
Once the proposal data has been entered and attachments
uploaded, ‘Start Approval Process’
After this step, the proposal is frozen and may not be edited
by anyone unless denied & returned back to the originator
or after the SRA office has approved and submitted
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Scope of Work
• May be referred to as project narrative, project
description, or technical portion
• This is the most important part of the proposal and
should be the reason why the project is or is not
funded
• The agency outlines the requirements or sections that
should be included
Additional Documents
Other Items that may be required:
• Requests for internal approvals (i.e., cost sharing
commitment form) with appropriate departmental, chair,
and dean approvals
• Commitment letters from entities with whom you wish to
subcontract
• Forms and/or application required by the sponsor
• References, biosketches, current/pending support, etc.
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Prepare the Proposal Application
• Download the application forms from the agency
website or upload the proposal documents for
grants.gov, FastLane or other sponsor-specific
electronic submission systems
• Complete forms in the application and attach required
items
• Most proposals include the following:
• Abstract, Project Narrative, Budget, Budget Narrative,
Biosketch, Current/Pending Support, References,
Facilities/Equipment Statement
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Standard NSF Grant Application
• Project Summary – 1 page
• Project Description (narrative) – 15 pages
• Budget/Justification (3 pages)
• References
• Biosketches – 2 pages – specific format
• Current/Pending Support
• Facilities/Equipment
• Data Management Plan
• Postdoc mentoring plan if requesting support for a
postdoc
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Budget Development
• Direct Cost Categories
• Facilities &Administrative (F&A) Costs or
Indirect Costs or “overhead”
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Direct Costs – A-21
• Direct costs are those costs that can be identified
specifically with a particular sponsored project, an
instructional activity, or any other institutional activity,
or that can be directly assigned to such activities
relatively easily with a high degree of accuracy.
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Indirect Costs - F&A - Overhead
• Costs incurred for common or joint objectives and,
therefore, cannot be identified readily and specifically
with a particular sponsored project, an instructional
activity, or any other institutional activity.
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FSU’s Indirect Cost Rates
• FSU has a negotiated indirect cost rate with the
Dept of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
• Indirect Cost Rates are applied depending on the
following:
• Type of Agency
• Location of Project (on/off campus/Mag Lab)
• Type of Project
• Solicitation
Recovery of Indirect Costs
• FSU’s policy is to recover the full indirect costs based
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on our negotiated rate agreement
Most Federal agencies allow our full indirect cost rate
and consider a reduced rate as cost-sharing
NSF prohibits cost-sharing and other Federal agencies
are following their lead
There is no need for a waiver/reduction of indirect costs
if the agency has a limit/restriction on indirect cost
recovery
A request for reduction of the indirect cost rate must be
approved by the VPR before the proposal is submitted
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Indirect Cost Base - MTDC
• Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) consists of all
salaries and wages, fringe benefits, materials,
supplies, services, travel, and subgrants/subcontracts
up to the first $25,000 of each subgrant/subcontract
• MTDC excludes equipment, capital expenditures,
charges for patient care, tuition remission, rental costs
of off-site facilities, scholarships, fellowships, and the
portion of each subgrant/subcontract in excess of
$25,000
• Typically applied to Federally-funded projects
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Indirect Cost Base - TDC
• Total Direct Costs (TDC) – consists of all direct costs
• FSU policy - exclude matriculation from indirect cost
base
• Typically applied to non-federally funded projects
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Sample Budget
Salaries/Fringe
Equipment
Supplies
Publications
Tuition
Total Direct
MTDC/TD Base
Indirect Costs
Total Requested
MTD
$50,000
$10,000
$ 3,000
$ 2,000
$11,712
$76,712
$55,000
$28,600
$105,312
TD
$50,000
$10,000
$ 3,000
$ 2,000
$11,712
$76,712
$65,000
$ 6,500
$83,212
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Personnel – Salaries/Wages
• Include faculty, technicians, post-docs, graduate
students, & other personnel needed to accomplish the
project objectives
NOTE: for Federally-funded projects, administrative &
clerical personnel normally fall within the indirect costs
category and cannot be charged as “direct costs”
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Fringe Benefits
• Faculty/A&P/USPS
• Retirement; Health Insurance; Social Security & Medicare
• Worker’s Comp & Unemployment
• OPS Students*
• Worker’s Comp & Unemployment
• Grad students supplement for health insurance
• OPS Non-students
• Medicare; Worker’s Comp & Unemployment
• Health Insurance for all OPS employees working 30+ hours/week
• Terminal Leave Pool
Health Insurance –
• 12 month employees – proportionate to salary request
• For all OPS employees working 30+ hours/week
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Consultants
• Outside individuals with expertise and skills that will
add value to project
• Costs are usually listed in terms of daily rate
• Consultants are typically paid in the form of a
subcontract
• Consultants are never listed in the salaries & wages
section and faculty & other FSU staff should not be
listed as consultants
Equipment
• Items costing $5,000 or more with a useful life of 1 year or
more
• Items costing below $5,000 are considered
materials/supplies and should be identified on that line
• Equipment should be detailed in the budget justification
• Equipment requests should only include those items
needed to complete the project
• FSU has a policy for purchasing IT Devices on Federally-
funded projects
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Supplies
Supplies and materials related to the project
• Can be listed in budget as broad categories such as
glassware, chemicals or art supplies
• Minor equipment costing < $5,000
NOTE: For Federally-funded projects, routine office
supplies are normally treated as an indirect costs
(paper, pencils, post-it notes, etc.)
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C.A.S. Exemptions
• In exceptional circumstances, indirect costs may be
charged ‘directly’ to a sponsored project.
• Exceptional circumstances means that the project
requires an extensive amount of administrative and/or
clerical support or goods/services significantly greater
than the routine level provided by an academic
department
• A C.A.S. exemption is REQUIRED to direct charge
administrative and clerical salaries and other
administrative-type expenses
• In addition to meeting definition of exceptional
circumstances, costs must be specifically identifiable to a
particular sponsored project, be reasonable, allowable
and allocable.
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Travel
• Project-related travel is usually allowed and may include
trips to collect data, present findings at a professional
meeting, meetings with program officers or collaborators,
etc.
• Reimbursement of costs should be consistent with FSU’s
travel policy
• Most agencies (and SRA) require a break-down of funds
requested, such as airfare, hotels, car rental, etc.
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Subawards/Subcontracts
• Represents a collaboration of work by one or more
other institutions
• Costs for subawardee is presented in a separate line
item and should include both the subawardee’s direct
and F&A costs
• A subaward detailed budget should be included as
part of budget justification
• Subawardee’s F&A costs are calculated in accordance
with the subawardee’s negotiated F&A rate agreement
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Subawards / Subcontracts
If a collaboration is proposed, each collaborator needs to
provide:
• Letter of commitment from the Sponsored Program
Office (not PI)
• Scope of work for the PI’s activities
• Budget
• Budget Justification
• Other agency required documents
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Other Direct Costs
• This category contains all other proposal costs, i.e.,
animal per diems, publication charges, graphic fees,
matriculation, communications, shipping, etc.
NOTE: Postage, local telephone, and memberships are
normally treated as F&A costs on Federally-funded
projects.
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Matriculation
• Matriculation costs (minimum of 9 hrs) should be included
for graduate assistants supported by the project
• Graduate Matriculation Rate for 14-15 is $433.77/hr or
$11,712 for 27 hours (in-state)
• If matriculation costs are not included in budget, an
alternate source for paying must be identified (waiver 2 or
3 on transmittal form)
• FSU excludes matriculation from F&A calculations in all
proposals
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Matriculation
• Multiyear proposals should include a 7.5% increase in
matriculation costs annually
• Out of state matriculation is not an allowable cost in
most circumstances
• College of Engineering may apply out of state rates
to their proposals
• Certain training grants allow out of state
matriculation. Check the sponsor guidelines
• Fees are not an allowable cost unless applying for a
training grant
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Cost Sharing
• Costing sharing or matching is that portion of project
costs not borne by the sponsor.
• A cost sharing commitment means any cost sharing
included and quantified (e.g., % of effort and/or dollar
amount) in the proposal budget, proposal narrative or
award document. The award document may incorporate
the commitment directly or by reference to the proposal.
• Project enhancement means describing "resources that
are available" for the project but are not quantified in the
proposal budget, narrative or other documents. This is
not considered a cost sharing commitment.
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FSU Cost Sharing Policy
• FSU’s policy is to make a cost sharing commitment
only when required by the sponsor or by the
competitive nature of the award and then only to the
extent necessary to meet the specific requirements of
the sponsored project.
• If a PI requests an exception to this policy, the
department Chair and Dean must approve.
• The VPR approval is required, also.
• Cost sharing should be approved well before the
proposal deadline
SRA Review - Provide Feedback
• Review of Program Solicitation; Agency Guidelines
• Review of Transmittal Form - hardcopy or in OMNI
• Review Budget/Justification
• Salaries – actual salary; escalation if included should be
reasonable and disclosed
• Indirect Cost Rate/Calculation
• Allowable Costs
• Scope of Work
• Other Documents
• Agency required documents – biosketch/currentpending support, etc.
• Internal Approvals:
• Cost Sharing Commitment/CAS Exemption Request
Types of Submission
• Electronic – Federal Agencies
• (Grants.gov, FastLane, NSPIRES, etc.)
• PI/Dept is responsible for completing application
• SRA submits
• Email – State Agencies, Institutions of Higher Education
• PI can email directly after SRA approves proposal
• Hardcopy
• PI/Department is responsible for making copies and
delivery after SRA approves proposal
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Questions?
Sponsored Research Administration
850-644-5260
srs@mailer.fsu.edu