Pre-Award Proposal Support

We are a grant facilitation team that acts as a liaison between the PI and Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). Our main objectives are to:

1. Assist with the business section of the proposal (budget, budget justification, and scope of work);
2. Help navigate CSU systems and administrative requirements;
3. Help fill out the proposal packages to comply with the RFP guidelines; and
4. Adhere to Federal grant administrative guidelines.

Our hope is that if we can take on some of the administrative burden, this will free up time for the PI to focus on the narrative, which will culminate in high- quality proposals. In order to do this effectively, we need to be aware of potential proposals early on in the process. So, please let us know what you have coming up as soon as you start planning.

Post-Award Resource

We utilize our experience, education, training and contacts to provide interpretations of OMB guidance for grants administered by the College of Agricultural Sciences. In this capacity, our main focus is getting accurate and consistent information to the Fiscal Officers who request it.

Basic Proposal Preparation Steps

1. Contact Pre-Award Support as soon as funding opportunity presents itself (this may be formal – published; informal – email or verbal).
2. Complete a CAS ABC Proposal Request Form and return the completed form to the pre-award team: ProposalRequestForm. Please include the sponsor Request for Proposal (or links to the RFP) if available.
3. Read RFP and discuss questions/concerns.
4. Prepare initial budget and justification.
5. Work with Pre-Award team to finalize budget in Kuali Research (KR).
6. Send Business Section of proposal to OSP for final review. This generally refers to a budget, budget justification and draft Summary, scope of work or Proposal Narrative. Ideally this should be completed a week before the submission deadline.
7. Work with the Grant Facilitation Team to complete any required supplemental documentation.
8. Route KR record for certification and approval. This means that the budget and budget justification are approved by OSP and final. Routing should be started at least 3 business days (24 working hours) before the proposal is due to the sponsor.
9. Submit to OSP for final review. It is highly recommended to have the final application package to OSP at least 1 day business day (8 working hours) prior to the deadline. Remember that systems do go down and as that deadline gets closer, alternative options disappear.
10. Proposal submitted.

We understand that the above steps are not always completed in this order. While we hope each proposal process starts with early contact from the PI and ends with the proposal submitted, we know from experience that this is not always the case. So, whatever steps (side steps, back steps, no steps) that your proposal takes, we are here to guide you.