Proposal Development

CRC FYAP

April 28, 2011

By: Julie Wammack

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Steps for Proposal Development/Submission Look for funding that matches your research

interests/needs Identify the funding program Read the Request for Proposals guidelines Prepare proposal Obtain institutional approvals Submit the proposal to SRS

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Contact SRS – As Soon As Possible You establish a working relationship with the

administrator who will process your proposal The administrator will be able to provide tips

based upon the funding agency Any questions about the proposal process can

be answered 3 day submission policy Documents needed for SRS PI Responsibilities/SRS Responsibilities

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Review ALL Proposal Documents

Funding Announcement –

RFP, Solicitation, Bid, Application Package Application Instructions Agency Guidelines All these documents provide information pertinent to

your proposal These instructions must be followed or you risk the

proposal being rejected for non-compliance

Be sure to review carefully all documents related to your proposal!

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Request for Proposal (RFP)

Program Description Award Description Eligibility (Limited Submission?) Funding Limits Deadlines – Due Dates for Submissions Review/Evaluation Criteria Award Administration

Reporting requirements, etc.

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Natl Endowment of the HumanitiesChallenge Grants – Deadline 5/4/11

Institutions that support research, education, preservation, and public programming in humanities disciplines are eligible to apply for an NEH challenge grant; institutions may apply for only one NEH challenge grant in a calendar year.

The federal portions of NEH challenge grants have ranged in recent years from $30,000 to $1 million

Successful applicants will be offered a matching grant. Recipients must raise three times the amount of federal funds offered

Challenge grant funds, federal or nonfederal, may not be used for . . . recovery of indirect costs . . .

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Proposal Application

Prepare the application Download the application forms from the

agency website or upload the proposal documents for grants.gov, Fastlane or other sponsor-specific electronic submission programs

Check with the SRS to see if they handle any of the required forms

Fill-out forms in the application and attach items that must be included(Abstract, Project Narrative, Budget, Budget Narrative, Biosketch, Current/Pending Support, etc.) 7

Standard NSF Grant Application

Project Summary – 1 page Project Description (narrative) – 15 pages References Biosketches – 2 pages – specific format Current/Pending Support Facilities/Equipment Data Management Plan Postdoc mentoring plan if requesting support for

a postdoc8

SRS Internal Documents

Transmittal Form Scope of Work Budget Budget Justification

plus - All other agency-required documents

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Transmittal Form

Funding Announcement/Request for proposal (RFP) or solicitation number

Project Period Dates & DEADLINES Name of PI/Co-PIs and departments involved Distribution of the indirect costs between the

participating departments Special commitments Financial Conflict of Interest Items that may need further review or certifications

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Certifications

FSU must provide certain assurances, representations, and certifications when proposals are submitted or when accepting an award

Special Certification may include Animal subjects DNA/RNA use Human subjects Hazardous chemicals Use of the FSU Marine Lab facilities

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Institutional approvals

Attach the entire agency application along with the RFP to either OMNI or the Proposal Transmittal

Route to all PI’s for signature or OMNI approval

Route to all associated Chairs and Deans for signature or approval

Route to Sponsored Research Services for their approval

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Submitting via OMNI

OMNI proposal submissions include the same information as a hardcopy proposal submitted with the Proposal Transmittal Form Differences

You attach the items electronically in the OMNI system

You can route the proposal electronically Advantages

You can track approvals electronically No running around Electronic records are available 24/7

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Submission Policy

3 Day Rule - The Vice President for Research instituted a policy effective on February 1, 2006, that states that a proposal must be submitted to Sponsored Research Services (SRS) by 9am three working days prior to the Agency deadline You may work on the technical narrative until 9am

on the day of submission SRS needs ample time to review the proposal and

the commitments the University is making Subcontracts or collaborations are also subject to

this rule

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Sponsor SRS InternalDeadline Deadline

Monday the previous Wednesday at 9 A.M.Tuesday the previous Thursday at 9 A.M.Wednesday the previous Friday at 9 A.M.Thursday Monday of the same week at 9 A.M.Friday Tuesday of the same week at 9

A.M.

*Saturday and Sunday are not business days and do not count towards the 3-day rule. You should treat Friday as the deadline, so the internal proposal deadline is Tuesday of the same week at 9 am.

*Some agencies move weekend and Federal holiday due dates to the next business day – but it needs to be verified by the sponsor.

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What Happens at Sponsored Research Services We review the RFP We review the complete proposal for

conformity with the RFP and FSU policies and regulations

We review any special commitments that are being made

We make sure all parties have approved the proposal

We check the budget

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Budget Development

1. Direct Cost Categories

Salaries & Wages, Fringe Benefits

Equipment, travel, supplies, tuition, etc.

2. Facilities & Administrative/Indirect Costs or “overhead”

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Direct Costs

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 – Overhead – F&A

Indirect costs are those that are 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

Indirect Cost Rates are applied depending on the following:

Type of Agency Location of Project (on/off campus/Mag

Lab) Type of Project Solicitation

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Budget – Types of Projects

Research A systematic study directed toward fuller scientific

knowledge and understanding gained of the subject studied

Instruction The teaching and training activities of an institution

Other Sponsored Activity This includes programs and projects which involve

the performance of work other than instruction or organized research

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F&A Bases

F&A Base 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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Sample MTDC

Salaries $50,000

Equipment $10,000

Supplies $3,000

Publications $2,000

Tuition $7880

Total Direct $72,880

MTDC Base $55,000

Indirect Costs $25,850

Total Requested $98,73023

F&A Bases

F&A Bases Total Direct Costs (TDC) – consists of all

direct costs

FSU policy is to always exclude matriculation from F&A base

Typically applied to non-federally funded projects

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Personnel

Salaries & Wages

Include faculty, technicians, post-docs, graduate students, & other personnel who are assigned to the project

NOTE: for Federal 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

OPS Non-students Medicare Worker’s Comp & Unemployment

Terminal Leave Poolhttp://www.research.fsu.edu/contractsgrants/documents/factssheet.pdf

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Consultants

Outside individuals with expertise and skills that will add value to project

Normally, faculty & other FSU staff should not be paid as consultants

Costs are usually listed in terms of daily rate

Certain sponsors may limit the daily rate

NSF abolished limitation on daily rates in 2006

Consultants never listed in the salaries & wages section

Consultants are typically paid in the form of a subcontract

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Equipment

Items costing $1,000 or more with a useful life of 1 year or more

Equipment should be detailed and justified in the budget

Requests should include only those items of equipment needed to complete the project

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Supplies

Supplies and materials related to the project

Items of minor equipment costing < $1,000

Can be listed in budget as broad categories such as glassware, chemicals or art supplies

NOTE: For Federal projects, routine office supplies are normally treated as an indirect costs, such as paper, pencils, post-it notes, etc.

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Travel

Project-related travel is usually allowed and may include trips necessary to collect data, to present findings at a professional meeting, for meetings with program officers or collaborators, etc

Reimbursement of costs should be consistent with FSU’s travel policy

Most agencies want 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

Contractual agreements for services or goods with an outside party are not included in this category

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 subawardee’s negotiated F&A rate agreement

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Subawards / Subcontracts

If a collaboration is proposed we will need the following from each collaborator Letter of commitment from authorized person Scope of work for their activities Budget Budget Justification

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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 federal 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 10-11 is $291.86/hr

If matriculation costs are not included in budget, an alternate source for paying must be identified

FSU excludes matriculation from F&A calculations in all proposals

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Matriculation

Multiyear proposals should include a 10% 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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Submission to Sponsor

Who is responsible for submission to the agency or sponsor? Hardcopy proposals = PI Electronic proposals = Sponsored Research

Services

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Notice of Intent to Award

The proposal has been sent off, and the funding agency has now made a funding decision This can be in the form of:

Letter to PI and/or Sponsored Research Email Funding agency electronic funding mechanism A grant or contract arrives in the mail

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Agency Award Information

This intent to award typically states the following: That your application has been selected for funding Next step requirements of the funding agency

Revised budget Scope of work Animal subject protocols Human subjects approvals Revision of time period for project Certifications

Anticipated start date of the award NOTE: A grant or contract received in the mail also

requires some of the items listed above38

Additional Information

If new budget or scope of work is needed: This typically occurs when a funding agency

reduces the amount being funded from what you requested. If you are being funded a significant amount less than requested, typically your scope of work should be reduced

You will need to work with Sponsored Research Services and your department to obtain the required approvals for your new budget and time commitments to re-submit to the agency

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Advance Spending

What is Advance Spending? It is the internal set-up of a budget number from which you

may begin work and start spending NOTE: you may not begin working on a project without an

award or advance budget number in place Request for Advance form can be found on

www.research.fsu.edu SRS looks at many factors

Anticipated award date Agency pre-award spending regulations Agency assurance of award Department Guarantee of Advance Request

Implications of an advance Financial Research / Personnel

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Questions?

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