Application Submission Policy
Effective Date: September 24, 2001
Summary: Historically, institutional policy required that applications submitted to external sponsors be mailed by SPAdmin. In the recent past, SPAdmin has occasionally allowed investigators to mail proposals to the sponsor. To formalize this practice, SPAdmin established this policy giving investigators the option to mail proposals. If this option is chosen, SPAdmin will be reviewing only key components of the application, allowing the investigator additional time to complete the narrative portions of the grant. As in the past, SPAdmin review and approval is required before mailing any application to an external sponsor.
Purpose: To streamline the institutional review process with the goal of maximizing faculty effort in the conduct of research.
Key Components for SPAdmin Review: PIs must submit the following information to receive SPAdmin approval to submit their application:
- UNMC’s internal forms
- SPAdmin Routing Form
- SPAdmin Budget Form
- Disclosure
- PI Assurance Form (if applicable)
- Sponsor’s program and application guidelines
- Sponsor’s form pages, including
- All pages requiring signature (e.g., PHS 398 face page, Intent to Form a Subcontract)
- Budget and budget justification
- NIH checklist page
- Specific aims or abstract
- Resources page
Although the complete application is not required for receiving institutional approval, SPAdmin must have a complete and final copy of your application (as submitted minus appendices) for their files. When preparing copies for the sponsor, also make a copy for SPAdmin. SPAdmin’s copy may be sent through campus mail (zip 7835).
Timeframe: Because applications no longer need to be in final form before being routed to SPAdmin, SPAdmin requests that investigators submit their key components for institutional review at least 5 days before the grant deadline. Modifying the review process to incorporate an earlier approval is designed to give principal investigators additional flexibility in completing their applications.
Role of Principal Investigator:
- Obtain departmental and dean/director approval
- Inform your chair of your work plan, space requirements and project budget.
- Clarify the need for university or department cost-sharing or matching funds, release time and equipment costs.
- NOTE: If multiple departments are involved, investigators must obtain the endorsement of all departmental chairs.
- Confirm that the entire proposal meets requirements outlined in the Request for Applications, Request for Proposals or other application instructions.
- Requirement examples include: dollar limits, page limitations, font type and size, deadlines, and mailing addresses.
Institutional Review: To meet institutional requirements for review and approval of applications, applications must be routed through the office of the departmental chair, dean/director and Sponsored Programs Administration.
Role of Departmental Chair: The departmental chair or the chair’s designee will:
- Confirm that faculty and staff time commitments are reasonable and compatible with workloads,
- Determine that the percentage of time and salaries are accurate,
- Agree that the department can provide the time, salary, equipment, space and service required for the project,
- Evaluate the technical content of the proposal, and
- Assure that the project budget, salary rates, job titles and classifications are appropriate.
Role of Dean/Director: The dean/director or their designee will:
- Review the proposal for consistency with space (office and laboratory), faculty requirements, and commitment of the administrative unit in terms of finance and goals, and
- Endorse the administrative unit's degree of commitment to this project in time and money.
Role of Sponsored Programs Administration: SPAdmin will be reviewing applications to ensure they comply with the sponsor’s guidelines, institutional and federal policies, Sponsored Programs Administration will:
- Review and approve key components of the application,
- Sign the application as the official representative of UNMC, and
- Maintain an inventory of overnight mailing supplies for investigators.
SPAdmin will continue to support application development and preparation, such as interpreting program guidelines and regulations, advising on budget development and helping to complete standard forms.
Cautions:
- Some sponsors require applications to be sent to more than one address. Investigators are encouraged to carefully study the sponsor’s guidelines regarding mailing instructions.
- If submitting a modular grant, note that the biographical sketch has been modified to include all active grants in the last three years. The page length for each biographical sketch has been increased to four pages.
- If a proposal is submitted to an external sponsor before receiving institutional approval, the institutions may withdraw it from the competition. Proposals must meet institutional and agency policies.
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