Proposal Training
Proposal Basics, Tips & Tricks
June 29, 2009
Proposal Basics
Proposal Types
New
 Renewal
 Continuation
 Revision
 Resubmission
 Preliminary
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Common Pre-Award Terms
Facilities & Administrative Costs (F&A)
 Indirect Costs (IDC)
 Direct Costs
 Request for Proposal (RFP)
 Program Announcement (PA)
 Solicitation
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Required Internal Documents
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Proposal Submission Form (PSF)
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Sponsor vs. Prime Sponsor
Notice of Opportunity
Funding Opportunity Number
Credit Split
Yes/No Questions
Special Review
Others Tab
Required Internal Documents
PSF
 Academic Approvals
 Coeus budget pages
 Form 32 (if applicable)
 Authorization from subcontractors (if
applicable)
 Final technical documents submitted to
sponsor
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Special Items of Interest
Non-faculty PI
 Cost Share Commitments
 Subcontractors and/or Consultants
 International Sponsors
 Foreign Travel
 Conflict of Interest
 Subcontracting Plans
 F&A waivers
 Proposal Notifications
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Person Months
How do you calculate person months?
Conversion of percentage of effort to person months is straight-forward. To
calculate person months, multiply the percentage of your effort associated
with the project times the number of months of your appointment. For
example:
25% of a 9 month academic year appointment equals 2.25 (AY) person
months (9 x .25= 2.25)
10% of a 12 month calendar appointment equals 1.2 (CY) person months (12
x .10 = 1.2)
35% of a 3 month summer term appointment equals 1.05 (SM) person
months (3 x .35= 1.05)
Another example:
 If the regular pay schedule of an institution is a 9 month academic year and
the PI will devote 9 months at 30% time/effort and 3 months summer term
at 30% time/effort to the project, then 2.7 academic months and .9
summer months should be listed in the academic and summer term blocks
of the application (9 x 30% = 2.7 person months; 3 x 30%= .9)
Grad Fee Remits & Insurance
Where to place costs within sponsor
budget
 Fee remissions are NOT the equivalent
of tuition
 Remits & Insurance for partial grad
effort
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Questions on the basics?
FASTLANE
FastLane Tips & Tricks
Proposal ID & PIN
 Releasing to SRO
 Budgeting correctly within Fastlane
 Adding Co-PIs
 Adding Senior Personnel
 Biosketch
 Current & Pending
 NSF person month rule
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Grants.gov
Getting Started
www.grants.gov
 Finding the Adobe package
 Version Control
 Downloading an expired package
 Completing the Adobe package
 University Information:
http://www.purdue.edu/sps/proposals
/universityinfo.html

Grants.gov Tips & Tricks
Correct version of Adobe
 Attachments – pdf unless otherwise
stated in the guidelines
 Naming convention of attachments
 Save often
 Deciding which budget to use (NIH
only)
 Emailing to Pre-Award
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Top 5 Errors – Grants.gov
Missing Attachments/Attachments not
in correct format.
 Invalid/Inconsistent/Missing Data
 Application business requirements not
met
 Budget miscalculations
 e-RA Commons user profile errors
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Additional Tips & Tricks
Coeus Tips & Tricks:
http://www.purdue.edu/coeus/guide/
modules/propdev/tips/
 coeushelp@purdue.edu
 Proposal Types:
http://www.purdue.edu/coeus/guide/
modules/propdev/coredata/main/prop
osaltypes.html
 Utilize your Pre-Award staff. We are
here to support YOU!
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Questions?