Getting started with your proposal

Submitting your proposal involves a series of procedural steps that you should begin preferably two months, but at least ONE MONTH before the proposal is due. The more time you allow for the process, the better.

The INFO process for submitting a proposal is:

• Read the funder’s program instructions carefully and send your Business Manager the:
  • PI and Co-PI names
  • Sponsor name and program opportunity name (if applicable), a link to the program announcement, and/or a copy of the program description in pdf form.
  • For proposals being submitted through other departments, colleges, or universities, please include their names and the contact information for their proposal Managers.
  • Due Date(s)
  • Letter of intent/Pre-proposal (Required? Optional?)

• If you have a sub-award or external collaborators on your project, please allow additional time. Your Business Manager will work with you to set these up. This can be a lengthy process.
  • For example, to receive NSF funding, an institution must have a D-U-N-S number registered in sams.gov, which can take 4-6 weeks. UMD already has one, but your sub-awardee’s organization may not.

• Next, make a complete bulleted list of desired budget items and send it as a Word document to your Business Manager, who will draft the budget (adding indirect costs, fringe benefits, any tuition costs, inflation estimates) and send it to you for approval.
  • Common budget items include:
    • Summer support for PIs and co-PIs;
    • Support for students (Doctoral, Masters, or UG) either hourly or as graduate assistantships (costs vary according to 9.5 mo. or 12 mo.; Masters or PhD; year of PhD program);
    • Equipment (laptops, monitors, AWS, etc.);
      • The INFO College Director of Facilities and IT will help with estimates for IT equipment, storage, and specialized software.
    • Materials and supplies;
    • Participant incentives (money for human subjects);
    • Participant costs (catering, venue rental, and travel for workshops, seminars, conferences)
      • Please contact infoadmin@umd.edu for help with estimates for large events
• • • Travel for data collection or research dissemination at conferences;
    • Publication or open access charges.
    • Projects that are unusually large or complex may be able to include funding for additional administrative support. This requires special approval from the college and at the campus level so be sure to allow extra time.
  • Here are some things to look out for:
    • Budget Amount – does this program have a maximum?
    • Number of budget years allowed
    • Cost Sharing – does this program require cost sharing? (Agencies vary. The NSF never allows cost sharing; many IMLS programs require it.) Cost sharing can only be included if required by the funder (i.e. no voluntary cost sharing).
    • Indirect Cost Rate – does this funder have a special Indirect Cost Rate? If not, your Business Manager will use the University’s Indirect Cost Rates.
• Once the budget is finalized, your Business Manager will send you the draft budget for review and confirmation. Then you can write the budget justification (your Business Manager can provide a Budget Justification Proposal template). Write the justification after the budget is finalized so that you won’t have to change the justification every time you change the budget. Be as detailed as possible. Some funders will require quotes for things like vendors, large equipment, and computers.
• You should start working on the other proposal documents as early as possible and be sure you know what documents are required (if you give them enough lead time, your Business Manager can help you here).
  • Depending on the funding source, this will likely include:
    • A narrative description;
    • A shorter summary;
    • References cited;
    • Short biographical sketches for all PIs, co-PIs, and senior personnel.
  •  It can also include:
    •  A summary of current and pending support;
    • A list of collaborators or conflicts of interest;
    • A post doc mentoring plan;
    • A data management plan;
    • A collaboration plan;
    • Sample curriculum;
    • Letters of commitment from partners;
    • A description of facilities and equipment (provided by your Business Manager);
    • Cost sharing agreements (provided by your Business Manager and approved by the College)
• Proposal submission systems vary, but many require that you have a user account, create a proposal (that you will share with your Business Manager and the Office of Research Administration), and upload the component pieces of your submission as you write them. Business Managers will upload some of these components like the budget.
• It is ultimately the responsibility of the PI(s) to make sure that all of the required proposal documents are included and adhere to the program guidelines (down to font size!). Time permitting, your Business Manager and our Contracts Administrator at UMD’s Office of Research Administration (ORA) will look over your proposal before submitting, but they are not responsible for any errors or omissions.
• Every proposal must be routed through UMD’s Office of Research Administration in Kuali Research (KR), a campus-wide research monitoring system. This process is done by your Business Manager at least 6 Business days prior to the deadline. It is critical that you complete the certification step as soon as you receive the link or it cannot be approved and ORA will not submit the proposal to the sponsor. A bare bones KR routing package must include:
  • Project Title
  • Short Project Summary (aka Statement of Work)
  • Budget
  • Budget Justification
  • 150 Word (or less) abstract/draft narrative for Routing Form
  • Completed PI Certifications (PI and co-PIs receive a link via email)
• Once routed, the proposal is reviewed and approved by the INFO Associate Dean of Research then by ORA. You may continue to work on other parts of your submission after the project has been routed.

If there are Human Subjects involved, IRB approval is required before recruiting participants. If the research is part of an already approved IRB Project, you should send your Business Manager the Approval Number and Project Title. If not, you can indicate that an IRB application has not been submitted for this project, but will be if this project is awarded. UMD’s Assurance Number (for the NSF Cover Sheet) is: 00005856.

ORA officially submits all proposals, even those e-mailed directly to funders. There are very few proposals that do not need to be routed (Internal Announcements from UMD or INFO-funded RIGs applications are good examples).