Developing and Submitting Your Proposal Sponsored Programs Administration 2012 Research Seminar Series

1. Developing and Submitting Your ProposalSponsored Programs Administration2012 Research Seminar Series

2. Roadmap for Today’s Session • Sponsored Programs Overview • Definitions and Role • Developing your Proposal • Suggested Guidance • Proposal Components • Roles and Responsibilities • Submitting your Proposal • Types of Proposal Submissions • Sponsor-Specific Proposal Systems • Grants.gov • FastLane • Internal Submission Process • Policies • Timeline • Documentation • New Internal Approval Sheet

3. Life Cycle of a Sponsored Project

4. What is a Sponsored Project? • Sponsored projects are research, training, instructional, or outreach/public service projects involving funds, materials, other forms of compensation, or exchanges of in-kind efforts from sources external to MSU under awards or agreements.

5. What is a Sponsored Project!? • Anytime a project is funded by an outside entity with conditions and/or deliverables

6. Institutional Eligibility to Receive Funding • Requires compliance with a multitude of laws, regulations, etc • OMB • Federal laws and regulations • State laws and regulations • University policies • Sponsor policies and guidelines

7. SPA’s Role in the Proposal Process • Compliance • Regulatory hurdles • Both institutional and project specific • Appropriate checks and balances • Consistency • Customer Service • Information • Review • Submission

8. Developing Your Proposal –What constitutes a proposal? • Any communication with a potential funder including both a scope of work and a budget. • A scope of work alone is deemed a ‘pre-proposal’ and is simply communication that will potentially lead to a proposal and sponsored project. • A ‘budget’ alone, with no scope of work, would be deemed a gift and should be coordinated with your development officer.

9. Developing Your Proposal – Reviewing the Request for Proposal (RFP) • Initial Cursory Review • Check eligibility, both institutional and individual • Check the deadline • Check if it is a Limited Submission • For more information on Limited Submissions see: http://www.research.msstate.edu/limitedsubmissions/ • Check if there are cost-share requirements

10. Developing Your Proposal – Communication • Communicate with all interested parties (potential collaborators, departmental administrators, sponsored programs) of your intent to submit the proposal at this point • Provide as much information as possible • RFP • Projected timeline • Expectations

11. Developing Your Proposal –In-depth review of the RFP • Review closely to make certain the research goals are aligned • Is this an investigator-driven project (grant) or a sponsor-driven project (contract)? • Are the necessary resources available for the project? • Can the necessary expertise be assembled for the project?

12. Developing Your Proposal - Typical Components • Table of Contents • Abstract • Background/Literature Review • Personnel • Resources/Facilities • Research Plan • Methodology/Timeline • Budget • Budget Justification • Regulatory Requirements • Appendices • Forms/Certifications

13. Developing Your Proposal –Typical Components • These pieces should be built in concert • Oftentimes, the budget should be one of the first pieces built • These components need to be built paying very close attention to the RFP • Development of components should occur well in advance of the actual deadline

14. Developing Your Proposal - Typical Components • Table of Contents • Abstract • Background/Literature Review • Personnel • Resources/Facilities • Research Plan • Methodology/Timeline • Budget • Budget Justification • Regulatory Requirements • Appendices • Forms/Certifications

15. Developing Your Proposal – Budget Development • Should be built in line with the scope of work • Communicate with department to ensure that neccesary resources are available. • Space • Equipment • Personnel • Funds (Cost-share)

16. Developing Your Proposal – Budget Development • Information for budgeting • http://spa.msstate.edu/budgeting/ • Fringe Benefits • http://spa.msstate.edu/budgeting/benefits.html • Facilities and Administrative Costs • http://www.controller.msstate.edu/docs/FArate_fy2008.pdf

17. Developing Your Proposal – Current Rates for Proposals Fringe Benefits 33.18% Faculty/Staff * 0.76% Student (Enrolled) 21.09% Retirees 9.09% All other Intermittent Employees /Student (not Enrolled) *Assumes $40,000 average salary • Facilities & Administrative Costs • On-campus • 44.5% MTDC – Research • 50.9% MTDC – Instruction • 31.1% MTDC – Public Service/Other • Off campus • 26% MTDC – Research and Instruction • 24% MTDC – Public Service)

18. Developing Your Proposal – Budget Justification • Detailed explanation of budgetary line items • All line items should be justified • They should be justified in the same order that the budget is presented • Different sponsors require different levels of justification and there are often page limits

19. Developing Your Proposal – Budget Justification • Should be used to reinforce the programmatic scope of work (without trying to circumvent page limits in the project description) • Goal is to assist the reviewer • Provide enough information so that the reviewer can understand the budget and how it relates to the work proposed

20. Developing Your Proposal – Forms and Certifications • These are as wide and varied as the sponsor types • They can be very time-consuming and should be done early in the process • May require coordination with a number of different offices (Legal Counsel, Office of Diversity, Procurement, etc.) • Common information for forms can be found here: http://spa.msstate.edu/quicklinks/data.php

21. Developing Your Proposal – Roles and Responsibilities Principal Investigator/ Department Sponsored Programs Admin Reviews RFP and other documentation Provides advice concerning budgetary items Provides advice concerning unusual proposal requirements Provides assistance with forms and certifications • Reads RFP and other documentation • Notifies SPA of upcoming proposal • Secures all departmental resources • Prepares proposal components

22. Submitting your Proposal - Types of Proposal Submission • Hand Delivered • Paper • Electronic • Email • Through a sponsor’s website • Through an online system • i.e. Grants.gov. Fastlane

23. Submitting your Proposal -Paper Submissions • When is it due - postmark or receipt date, is there a time deadline? • Correct mailing address • How many originals/copies? • Any other restrictions – no binders, bound, rubber band, staple, etc.

24. Submitting your Proposal -Electronic Submissions: Email • Can be just an email or email followed by paper copies. • When is it due – date and TIME. • Who needs to be copied? • What format should the attachments be in? (Word, PDF)

25. Submitting your Proposal - Electronic Submissions: Sponsor Websites • Usually Industry and Foundations use this type of submission where a PI is directed to download a fillable proposal package and then SPA will upload the proposal into the sponsor's online system.

26. Submitting your Proposal - Electronic Submission: Online Systems • Commonly used online systems: • Grants.Gov(federal government wide submission portal) • Fastlane (National Science Foundation) • NSPIRES (NASA) • FedConnect • eGrants(US Department of Education) • EERE (DOE) • Is use of an online system mandatory? • Is there more than one system to consider? • NIH proposals are submitted through Grants.gov but the PI must also be registered in NIH eRACommons.

27. Submitting your Proposal - Electronic Submission: Online Systems • Registration requirements fulfilled? • PIs do not need to register with Grants.gov, however if you are submitting an NIH proposal through Grants.gov, you will need to be registered in NIH Commons. • There are some systems that do require the PIs to be registered, such as Fastlane, fedconnect, and NSPIRES. Since the required information is different for each system, check with your SPA administrator to see what information SPA will need to register you with that particular system. • When is it due – date and TIME. Your guidelines may say it is due at 5:00, but is that 5:00 local time or sponsor time?

28. Submitting your Proposal - Grants.gov • Public Law 106-107 (Grants.gov) Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999 • Grants.gov was created to provide a single website for all federal grant opportunities. It was called for from the President's Management Agenda and also as part of the Public Law 106-107, which is to streamline and simplify the way the federal government does grants. It simplifies the grants management process by providing a central online system to find and apply for grants across the federal government.

29. Submitting your Proposal - Grants.govDownloading the Proposal Application & Instructions • Go to http://www.grants.gov/search/basic.do to search for funding opportunities. • Click on the opportunity you are interested in to open the synopsis. • Click on the application button on the right.

30. Submitting your Proposal - Grants.govDownloading the Proposal Application & Instructions • Under Instructions and Application, click download.

31. Submitting your Proposal - Grants.govDownloadingthe Proposal Application & Instructions • Download BOTH the Application Instructions (RFP/Guidelines) and the Application Package • Sign up to receive any updates or revisions.

32. Submitting your Proposal - Grants.govDownloading the Proposal Application & Instructions • Adobe Reader is required to download the Application Package, and is available from the Grants.gov website. • Check the Grants.gov website for Operating System and Adobe Reader Compatibility Charts at http://www07.grants.gov/help/download_software.jsp.

33. Grants.gov Grant Application Process Do you have Adobe Reader? Investigator identifies Grant Opportunity in Grants.gov. Investigator downloads grant application package. Yes Investigator completes Grant application package. No E-mail Grant Application package to departmental budget manager and SPA. Download Adobe Reader SPA AOR submits and tracks Grant Application at Grants.gov until Agency retrieves package. SPA reviews proposal and communicates with Dept., PI as needed. At this point the PI can track the status of their proposal. Agency assigns tracking # in some cases. Wait for Award

34. Grants.gov NIH Grant Application Process SPA AOR submits and tracks Grant Application at Grants.gov until Agency retrieves package. Do you have Adobe Reader? E-mail Grant Application package to departmental budget manager & SPA. Investigator identifies Grant Opportunity in Grants.gov. Investigator downloads grant application package. Yes Investigator completes Grant application package. No Download Adobe Reader PI makes Changes and resubmits entire application package to SPA for resubmission. eRA Commons audits application against NIH Business rules. Errors and warnings listed SPA rejects application in Commons No Does application pass NIH Business rules? NIH notifies PI and AOR by email to check eRA Commons for results of validations check. Wait for Award PI must contact SPA by noon on 2nd day after image is available in Commons or before deadline which ever is sooner. Yes No Is the application acceptable? PI and SPA can follow progress of application in the Commons. PI may view the image in the Commons. Grant image available to reviewers Yes

35. Submitting your Proposal- Grants.gov: Common Errors • Attachments not saved as a PDF. • File names – some sponsors do not allow any special characters or spaces between words. • Some RFP’s require information that isn’t highlighted in Yellow. • Pay special attention to subcontract attachments - they have their own “check for errors” button, and also check that their file names and attachments are correct.

36. Submitting your Proposal - Grants.gov: Common Errors • The number one error is not allowing enough time for submission. • Submission of your proposal by SPA is not an instant thing. There are multiple steps in submission – not just hitting the button. • save • save & submit • log in • submit • ….and wait.

37. Submitting your Proposal -Grants.gov: Common Errors • The time required to submit a proposal can vary depending on traffic/heavy submission deadline dates and the time stamp for your proposal is not generated until the end of the submission process.

38. Submitting your Proposal - Grants.gov: Common Errors • Cannot stress enough the importance of having your proposal finalized 3 working days prior to the deadline. Other than delays with the online system itself, there is the risk of server problems, power outages, and weather related university closings. • Federal sponsors are not lenient with late submission due to local server or power issues. Many times their response would be than you shouldn’t have waited until an hour before the deadline to try to submit.

39. Submitting your Proposal - NSF Fastlane • PI finds a solicitation/funding opportunity by searching either Grants.gov or NSF. • NSF gives the PI the option of either submitting through Grants.gov or Fastlane. • SPA will need to register the PI in Fastlane. • PI will log into Fastlane and create their proposal, completing all required sections/attachments.

40. Submitting your Proposal - NSF Fastlane • PI will grant SPA AOR Review/Submit access to their proposal in Fastlane. • SPA admin will review the entire proposal and work with the PI and dept. budget manager if revisions are needed. • When the final proposal is complete, SPA admin will check with the PI that they are ready to submit. • SPA admin will forward the confirmation notice with the fastlane proposal number to the PI.

41. Submitting your Proposal -NSF Fastlane • Fastlane Helpdesk - 1-800-673-6188 available from 8:00am - 10:00pm Monday through Friday. • FastlaneHelp System https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/index.jsp

42. Submitting your Proposal -Roles and Responsibilities Principal Investigator/ Department Sponsored Programs Administration • Prepare the proposal in compliance • with the RFP/guidelines. • Submit the final proposal to SPA 3 • working days prior to the submission • due date. • Review the non-technical portions of the proposal for compliance with applicable guidelines. • Submit the proposal as directed by RFP and/or PI.

43. Timeline & Documentation • University Policy • Suggested Timeline • Signature Authority for the University • Required Documentation • New Internal Approval Sheet

44. MSU Policy 70.01 The originator of the proposal shall prepare an Internal Approval Sheet (IAS) and obtain the approval signatures of the Department Head and the Dean/Director of the appropriate unit. A final copy of the proposal, a completed IAS…should be forwarded to Sponsored Programs Administration a minimum of 3 working days prior to the deadline receipt date for the proposal.

45. What is your FINAL Proposal? • All Components of your proposal in the final format that will be submitted to the sponsor • All internal paperwork with all necessary signatures • Internal Approval Sheet • Cost Share Form • OMB Form

46. Suggested Timeline • 10 Days Prior to Submission Deadline • Send RFP to SPA for review • 5 Days Prior to Submission Deadline • Send Budget & Budget Justification to SPA for review • Start routing your IAS • 3 days Prior to Submission Deadline • Send FINAL Proposal to SPA for review and submission

47. What is Signature Authority? If a document commits the university resources (people, building space, funds), then proper signatures are required • Sponsored Programs has authority for • Proposal submission • Negotiation and acceptance of grants and contracts

48. Signature Authority Policy IHL Board Policy #707 (see excerpt below) makes clear that no one other than the IHL Board, the Institutional Executive Officers, and those MSU officials to whom contract signature authority has been specifically granted in writing by the MSU President, are authorized to sign any contract, of any type, on behalf of MSU. 707.02 OTHER OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS The Institutional Executive Officer of each institution, or a designee as evidenced in writing, is authorized to sign all other official documents for and on behalf of the institution for which he or she is responsible. Anyone who signs a contract without authorization is subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

49. If Authorized Signature Required • Mark “signature required” clearly on proposal • If Letter of Intent/Letter of Collaboration –notify prior to the 3 Day Deadline

50. Signed Documentation • Internal Approval Sheet • Cost Share Form • OMB Form These are now ONE FORM! http://spa.msstate.edu/forms/docs/IAS_v1.0.7.3.4.pdf