Pre Award – Prepare and Submit Your Proposal

Proposal Processing Timeline & Deadlines: The Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) requires proposals to be submitted to our office 5 days prior to the deadline to ensure proper review and submission. Proposals that are submitted on time will be given first consideration over proposals that are submitted late. We will make a reasonable effort to review and approve proposals that are late. Researchers should check with their departments to ascertain if they have their own internal deadlines.

More information on Pre-Award Services and Proposal Submission Deadlines.

Getting Started: All proposals must be routed through InfoED and approved by OSP prior to submission. The Principal Investigator (PI) initiates the proposal process. The PI is responsible for the technical content, budget, addressing compliance issues, and the quality and preparations of the proposal (See: Roles & Responsibilities Matrix). It is important to understand and adhere to the funding agency’s priorities and evaluation procedures.

InfoED Proposal Submission Resources:

Requesting Agency Credentials: Before a proposal is submitted, certain sponsors require PIs to be registered in their agency portals (i.e. NIH, NSF, NASA, USDA, NOAA, etc). This requirement is typically stated in the agency guidelines and the registration should be completed well before the proposal deadline. Contact OSP to create a new user account or affiliate an existing user account with URI.

Proposal Content: Sponsors commonly publish guidelines on how to prepare a proposal. Instructions on format, content, budget and submission requirements should be carefully followed. A well-written and expertly prepared proposal is critical to the success of the application and the efficient set-up and management of the award.

The following is a list of common proposal elements. If there are no sponsor guidelines or URI will be a subcontract to another institution on a proposal, the following represents the minimum documents that must be uploaded to the InfoED proposal:

Proposal Narrative/Statement of Work: Describes the objectives, methodology and significance of the proposed project.

Budget: Provides details of projected expenses necessary to complete the proposed project. It must follow the Federal Uniform Guidance (2 CFR § 200) as well as the sponsor guidelines and the RFA instructions. If a formal budget is not required by the sponsor, OSP will still require a budget to be created in InfoED so the project’s costing plans can be reviewed. Please refer to the Budgeting Guidance website and the URI InfoED Budget Development Guide for additional instructions on creating a budget.

Budget Justification: Highlights the budget changes for each year of the project or clearly indicates that there are no substantive budget changes during the period of performance. Do NOT use the budget justification to expand the project narrative. Be sure to review the sponsor’s guidelines for additional instructions.

Financial Conflict of Interest: Disclosures must be completed in InfoEd by the PI(s), Co-Investigator(s) (CO-i), and any other person that is independently responsible for the DESIGN, CONDUCT or REPORTING (DCR) of the research. For more information see Complete a Disclosure page.

Proposal guidelines from sponsoring agency (if applicable): If the funding opportunity number is not identified in the InfoED proposal, attach a copy of the sponsor’s RFA to the proposal. This document assists with reviewing the proposal and ensuring that all sponsor requirements are met prior to submission.

Electronic application (if applicable): If URI’s proposal cannot be submitted through InfoED and must be submitted through a separate agency portal (i.e., Proposal Central), attach a copy of the complete application to the InfoED record.

Center Cover Sheet (if applicable): If the proposal is being routed through one of URI’s institutes or centers (i.e., Ryan Center, IIHI, Coastal Institute) upload the completed center cover sheet to the InfoED proposal.

Subcontract Documentation (if applicable): The following documents are required for each subrecipient:

When developing a budget, you must consider whether the funds from the sponsor will be delivered as an “award” or a “contract.” Additionally, a budget will be impacted based on whether a collaborating entity is classified as a subrecipient collaborator or vendor.
Please refer to the Subrecipient Vendor Consultant Guidance and Checklist to Determine Subrecipient or Contractor Involvement for additional information.

Optional Items: The following are standard items required by many sponsors and may be included in the proposal:

  • Bibliography
  • Biographic sketches for all senior personnel (See NIH and NSF for instructions)
  • Active and pending support for all senior personnel
  • Description of facilities and equipment pertinent to the project

Submission: Once Proposals are reviewed and have gone through the proper routing chain, they can be submitted by either our office or the PIs.

If the funding agency requires a Letter of Intent, please complete the attached Letter of Intent, and send it to your assigned grant specialist at the Office of Sponsored Projects for signature. 

Pending Award: If you have received notification that your project has been funded, but the notice of award will be delayed, you may set up an account prior to receiving your award notice with appropriate approvals.  Consult your department and submit a Dean’s Pledge (rev. 6-2024) and submit to Sponsored Projects using the Dean’s Pledge Intake Form.  This Form will ask for you to upload the Dean’s Pledge form and associated documentation for review/approval. The uploaded documents must be in PDF format. Following intake form submission, you will receive an email receipt.