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Pre-Preparation Tips

• Be sure there is sufficient time to prepare a truly competitive proposal, have it reviewed, and submit it to meet the agency's deadline. See Proposal Submission Timeline.

• Contact your funding agency and get directed to a program monitor to work with to identify fundable research within their agency. Follow up with the program monitor during the preparation process to insure your proposal content is accurately reflecting the mission of the agency.

• If you decide to send a draft proposal, white paper, or pre proposal, be sure to indicate clearly on the proposal, “This document is for review purposes only and does not obligate the university.”

• Review the solicitation or guidelines to make sure you have a good understanding of what information is required.

• Check to make sure the funding source allows for full indirect costs or if there is a published rate included in the funding agency’s guidelines or policies.

• If human subjects or animals are involved, be sure to contact the KSU Institutional Review board (IRB) or KSU Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) office well in advance of the deadline. See Proposal Submission Timeline.

• Contact the EES and/or PAS office using the Early Proposal Notification form when you anticipate submission to a funding agency.

• To allow certain appointments such as research associate, professor emeritus, and adjunct faculty to act as a PI, a letter requesting permission to be a PI should be sent to the Associate Vice Provost for Research. The letter should be signed by the Department Head and Dean of the College and should accompany the proposal when routed to PAS for review.

• Contact the EES/PAS contract specialist to review guidelines in greater depth to identify other limitations or requirements that may need to be reconciled with the KSU policies, which have been established to protect institutional eligibility for funding.

• If the sponsor has an electronic proposal development/submission requirement, you will need to review those requirements with EES/PAS in advance.

• Discuss your intent to submit this proposal with your department head or unit director and others involved in reviewing, routing, and/or approving the proposal.

• For proposals that require matching support, contact your department head and the EES Director well in advance to make sure they are not caught off guard at the last minute. See Matching Support for Research Proposals.

• Note: Proposals requiring the endorsement of senior university officials, e.g., the president, a provost or a vice provost, must be presented in a timely manner. PIs are advised to discuss the endorsement with the official at least 10 days before the signature is needed.

Proposal Preparation Tips

• Read and review proposal guidelines again before preparing the proposal and double check the submission deadline date and time (check specified time zone).

• As soon as you are aware there could be legal terms that may need to be negotiated, you should contact either PAS or EES. Minor negotiations may take up to 10 days while more involved negotiation can take months to come to an agreement between a prospective sponsor and the university. It is important for the PI to plan accordingly so once the negotiations are successful, ample time is allowed to prepare a competitive proposal.

• If a proposal includes a subaward to another source, KSU requires a letter of intent signed by an authorized individual, a statement of work, and a budget from the subaward agency.

• If you include consultants in your proposed budget, you need to be sure to include a letter of intent from the individual stating any fees or costs to be charged. The original document will be kept in the KSU proposal file. Make sure that your plans for and use of consultants comply with the appropriate university policies and the sponsoring agency’s requirements.

• Remember that proposals should be complete and in final format when sent to PAS for final review.

• PAS prefers to receive proposals in their final form 5 days prior to the published deadline or the due date indicated on the transmittal sheet (SP001). You are encouraged to set the due date one day prior to the deadline to make sure no last minute problems may cause your proposal not to be submitted by the deadline.

• Keep in contact with the EES or PAS contract specialist throughout the preparation process by promptly responding to e-mails or returning phone messages. If you do not receive any comments from PAS, you should contact them to check on the status (2-6804)