Guidelines for Proposal Development Presented by Office for Sponsored Programs Pre-Award Services

Guidelines for Proposal DevelopmentGuidelines for Proposal Development

Presented byPresented by

Office for Sponsored ProgramsOffice for Sponsored Programs

Pre-Award ServicesPre-Award Services

Proposal Preparation

Funding Source Identification

Idea Development

Award

Decline

Routing

Submission to OSP

Review/Approval

Return to PISubmission

OSP

OSP/Pre-Award—Funding Source OSP/Pre-Award—Funding Source IdentificationIdentification

OSP/Pre-Award—Funding Source OSP/Pre-Award—Funding Source IdentificationIdentification

• UConn website: http://www.osp.uconn.edu/extfunding.php

– Sponsored Programs Information Network (SPIN)

Instructional video available at: http://osp.uconn.edu/infoed.php#

– SMARTS

– Grant Advisor Plus

• On-line searching (e.g., Grants.gov)

• Agency announcements

• Internal competitions



Idea Development

Award

Decline

Routing

Submission to OSP

Review/Approval


OSP

OSP/Pre-Award—Proposal PreparationOSP/Pre-Award—Proposal Preparation

OSP / Pre-Award—Proposal PreparationOSP / Pre-Award—Proposal Preparation

PI/Department Responsibilities:

Read and understand the sponsor policies and procedures

Prepare technical proposal

Prepare budget and justification

Prepare other required documentation

Obtain internal approvals

OSP/OSP/ Pre-Award – Proposal PreparationPre-Award – Proposal Preparation

Pre-Award Assistance:

• Provide technical assistance on policies, procedures, laws and guidelines

• Approve draft budget and justification• Assist with responding to sponsor requests for additional

information: JIT Information, revised budgets, etc.• Update proposal preparation information on OSP’s

website regularly: salaries, fringe rates, F&A rates, etc.• Set up NSF Fastlane and NIH eCommons accounts and

assign temporary passwords

OSP/OSP/ Pre-Award – Proposal PreparationPre-Award – Proposal Preparation

Account Registration:

NSF Fastlane – sample form #1

http://osp.uconn.edu/fastlane_password.php

NIH eCommons – sample form #2

https://www.grad.uconn.edu/osp/forms/

ecommons_password.php

OSP Checklists:

Proposal Checklist – sample form #3

NSF Checklist – sample form #4

OSP/OSP/ Pre-Award – Proposal Pre-Award – Proposal Preparation Preparation

Required Forms:

Internal Proposal Review Form – sample form #5

Compliance Approvals Cost Share Signatures of PI/Co-PI/Department Head/Dean

Significant Financial Disclosure Form – sample form #6

NIH Certification Form – sample form #7

Subrecipient Checklist/Consortium Statement – sample form #8

OSP/OSP/ Pre-Award – Proposal Preparation Pre-Award – Proposal Preparation

Required Items:

– Guidelines

– Internal Proposal Review Form

– Significant Financial Disclosure Form

– NIH Certification Form (if applicable)

– ARO Signature Page

– Proposal Summary/Narrative

– Budget & Justification

– Additional Items Required by Sponsor

– Subcontract Information (if applicable)

– Compliance information (if applicable)

Direct Costs

F & A Costs

Cost Sharing

Total ProjectBudget

++ =

OSP/Pre-Award—Budget PreparationOSP/Pre-Award—Budget Preparation

A categorical list of anticipated project costs that represent the Principal Investigator's best estimate of the funds needed to support

the work described in a proposal.

Project Budget

OSP / Pre-Award – OMB Circular A-21OSP / Pre-Award – OMB Circular A-21

Reasonable

Allocable to the proposed project

Treated consistently in like circumstances

Conforms to sponsor policies and guidelines, the cost principles contained in A-21 and institutional policy

What makes a proposed cost allowable?

OSP/Pre-Award - OMB Circular A-21OSP/Pre-Award - OMB Circular A-21

An unallowable cost is any cost or expense charged to a grant or contract that is prohibited by Federal or State Law, University Policy, and/or sponsor guidelines

• alcoholic beverages

• entertainment

• fund raising

• Alumni events

What makes a proposed cost unallowable?


What are direct costs?

• Identified specifically with a particular sponsored agreement

• Incurred to advance the work under that sponsored agreement

• Assigned to that sponsored agreement with relative ease and a high degree of accuracy

What are F&A (Facilities & Administrative) costs?

• Benefit common or joint activities

• Benefit numerous projects – cannot readily be identified with a particular sponsored agreement

• Cannot be proportioned to benefit a group of sponsored agreements with relative ease or a high degree of accuracy


OSP/Pre-Award—Components of the OSP/Pre-Award—Components of the BudgetBudget

• Salary projections and time commitment

• Fringe benefits and rates

• Equipment

• Travel

• Participant support costs

• Other direct costs

• F&A

• Cost share or match

OSP/Pre-Award—PersonnelOSP/Pre-Award—Personnel

Senior Personnel / Other Personnel

• Salary and Fringe Benefits

Current salary plus 5% projected increase

FB rates from federal cost/indirect rate agreement

• Effort detail – person months

Academic/Calendar/Summer

Person/months calculator – Sample form #9: http://www.osp.uconn.edu/calc_pm.php

NOTE: NIH has a salary cap limit of $191,300/year through 12/31/08

OSP/Pre-Award—Equipment & SuppliesOSP/Pre-Award—Equipment & Supplies

• Equipment

Federal definition (A-110): Tangible nonexpendable personal property including exempt property charged directly to the award having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5000 or more per unit. However, consistent with recipient policy, lower limits may be established.

$1,000 unit cost by State policy

• Supplies and Materials

consumable items having an acquisition unit cost

of less than $1,000

costs should be project-specific, reasonable

and based on actual or historical use

OSP/Pre-Award—TravelOSP/Pre-Award—Travel

Institutional (State) policy and sponsor guidelines have to be followed

Domestic and foreign travel need to be separated

Travel justification should include who is traveling, where, the purpose of the trip, the number of trips, the costs for the air fare, per diem, lodging, car rental and other costs associated with the travel

Fly America!

OSP/Pre-Award—ConsultantsOSP/Pre-Award—Consultants

• Consultants Defined as independent contractors, not employees, who

provide a service that cannot be performed satisfactorily by existing University personnel during the performance of the project

Consultant costs should include the period of service or the number of days on the project, the professional fee, travel expenses and other related expenses

Consultants must provide a letter of intent to the Office for Sponsored Programs

OSP/Pre-Award—SubawardsOSP/Pre-Award—Subawards

• Subawards

A Subrecipient Checklist/ Consortium Statement signed by an authorized representative of the subawardee's institution, is required.

Subawards must also provide a statement of work, a budget and budget justification

OSP/Pre-Award—OtherOSP/Pre-Award—Other DirectDirect CostsCosts

• Participant Support Costs Usually conference or workshop related

• Stipends• Travel• Subsistence• Other

• Publication Costs

• Animal Per Diem Should reflect the type of animal, the number of animals and the unit

cost per animal Per diem rates available at:

http://www.oars.uconn.edu/perdiem.html

OSP/Pre-Award—Facilities and OSP/Pre-Award—Facilities and AdministrativeAdministrative

• UConn’s Federally Negotiated Rates:

Research: Currently 52%; Rate increases to 53% as of July 1, 2009

Other Sponsored Activities (OSA): Currently 30.6%; Applies to projects which provide public service

(not research)

Off-Campus: Currently 26%; Budget must include rent and more than 50% of the

project must be conducted in the rented facility

F&A Rate Agreement (dated 05/23/07) - Sample Form #10

OSP/Pre-Award—Facilities and OSP/Pre-Award—Facilities and AdministrativeAdministrative

• F&A Rate Bases:

Total Direct Costs (TDC)

Any F&A rate less than the University's federally negotiated rate will be assumed on Total Direct Costs (ex., USDA – 25%, state projects – 20%, or sponsor-limited rate)

Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) The University's federally negotiated F&A rate(s) will be

assumed on Modified Total Direct Costs (i.e., direct costs less equipment, subcontracts > $25k, tuition remission, patient care, capital expenditures, rental costs, scholarships & fellowships)

OSP/Pre-Award—Cost ShareOSP/Pre-Award—Cost Share

Any portion of the total costs of a project or program not borne by the sponsor (A-110).

Cost Share - What is it?


Mandatory

• Required by the sponsor as condition of the award

Voluntary Committed

• Not required by sponsor

• Explicit, quantifiable commitment of time in proposal budget and/or justification

• Tracking required for F&A rate calculations

Voluntary Uncommitted• Effort above and beyond commitment in proposal does not need to be tracked


Costs proposed as COST SHARING

cannot be committed as cost sharing on any other project or program

cannot be committed from another federal award

must be directly related to the project objectives

must be incurred during the award period

must be allowable and allocable under the federal cost principles

are LEGALLY binding commitments that must be fulfilled, are subject to AUDIT and must be tracked during award period, and must be verifiable from institutional documents

OSP/Pre-Award—Budget JustificationOSP/Pre-Award—Budget Justification

OSP requires a full budget and budget justification for all applications including NIH modular budgets. All items listed in the budget must be included in the

budget justification and explained in detail.

Explains why each cost is essential to performing project

Explains how project costs were estimated Explains any special circumstances applicable to the project

Why is a budget justification important?

• OSP Website - www.osp.uconn.edu:

Quickfacts Sheet – Sample Form #11

Budget Templates

Budgeting and Costing Guide

Forms (UConn and Agency)

Electronic Submission Instructions

Account Registration NSF Fastlane NIH eCommons

OSP/Pre-Award—ResourcesOSP/Pre-Award—Resources



Idea Development

Award

Decline

Routing

Submission to OSP

Review/Approval


OSP

OSP/Pre-Award—RoutingOSP/Pre-Award—Routing


OSP requests that every effort is made to submit your

proposal to our office no less than 5 business days

prior to the agency deadline.

This allows OSP to review the proposal thoroughly and

identify problems that need to be addressed,

as well as allow you ample time to finalize the proposal.


PIs are responsible for providing the following information to

OSP in order for proposals to be processed and approved:

• Internal forms

• Proposal documents Scope of work

Budget and budget justification Electronic application (if applicable)

• Consultant documents (if applicable)

• Subaward documents (if applicable)

OSP/Pre-Award—Submission to OSPOSP/Pre-Award—Submission to OSP



Idea Development

Award

Decline

Routing

Submission to OSP

Review/Approval


OSP


Proposal documents can be forwarded to our office in the

following ways:

• Email: [email protected]

• Fax: 860-486-3726

• OSP Dropbox:

https://www.grad.uconn.edu/osp/drop/

• Drop off: Whetten Graduate Center, Room 105-B


Electronic Submissions:

NSF Fastlane

Upload required proposal documents

Allow SRO access to view, edit and submit

Grants.Gov

Download and complete application package

Email application or upload to OSP drop box



Idea Development

Award

Decline

Routing

Submission to OSP

Review/Approval


OSP

OSP/Pre-Award—OSP Review and ApprovalOSP/Pre-Award—OSP Review and Approval

• Review sponsor policies, laws, regulations• Budget accuracy and justification• Conflict of Interest• Compliance• Subawards/Consultants• Intellectual Property• Limited Submissions• Principal Investigator Status

OSP/Pre-Award—OSP ReviewOSP/Pre-Award—OSP Review



Idea Development

Award

Decline

Routing

Submission to OSP

Review/Approval


OSP

OSP/Pre-Award—Proposal SubmissionOSP/Pre-Award—Proposal Submission

OSP/Pre-Award—Proposal SubmissionOSP/Pre-Award—Proposal Submission

It is the PI's responsibility to mail all hard copies of approved proposals. OSP will submit all electronic applications

requiring submission by an AOR and/or sponsored program representative.

Submission of electronic applications not requiring AOR and/or sponsored program submission will be the responsibility of the PI.

– Timeliness is critical.– Avoid excess or voluntary cost share.


Funding Source

Identification

Idea Development

Award

Decline

Routing

Submission to OSP

Review

Approval

Return to Faculty

OSP

Proposal Development and SubmissionProposal Development and Submission

How to get your proposal signed, sealed, delivered. . .

Provide all required information in

a timely manner

Read and become familiar with the

sponsor guidelines and policies

Rules, Regulations and Sponsor

Requirements are legal

commitments and must be

followed

Use the OSP Website for guidance

Call our office for technical

assistance

Submission

Documents

Guidelines for Proposal Development Presented by Office for Sponsored Programs Pre-Award Services