Office of Sponsored Programs

The Office of Sponsored Programs provides guidance and resources to help principal investigators identify potential funding opportunities.  External funding is available from a variety of sources:

Examples:

Grants.gov
https://beta.sam.gov/
NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT)
SPIN
Non-federal sites: American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, etc.

Most federal agencies have listservs or bulletins for which you can sign up.  Similarly, state and local government agencies have funding solicitations usually found on their websites under “grants” or “funding.”  Most sponsors provide a written call for proposals that will serve as a guide for the proposal submission.  These calls for proposals are also known as:

Program Announcements (PA)
Broad Agency Announcements (BAA)
Request for Applications (RFA)
Request for Proposals (RFP)

When identifying potential funding opportunities, investigators should carefully read all of the sponsor and program guidelines for institutional and principal investigator (PI) eligibility, submission deadlines and method of submission, funding limitations, applications forms, formatting rules, and required proposal components.

Once a potential funding source and/or a request for proposal have been identified for a project and the investigator has determined that s/he and the institution are eligible, s/he must notify the Office of Sponsored Programs of his/her interest in submitting a proposal.

Information that the Sponsored Programs Office will need includes:

Sponsor (funding agency)
Specific request for proposal (RFP)
Submission deadline
Any outgoing subawards

Development of the content of the proposal and the overall technical preparation is the responsibility of the principal investigator. The Office of Sponsored Programs will be able to provide assistance with the administrative responsibilities of the application.

The Sponsored Programs staff will:

• Provide assistance in completing administrative information on proposals
• Prepare draft budgets
• Offer guidance on cost sharing requirements, if applicable
• Contact other sponsored programs offices at subrecipient’s institution to request necessary materials
• Ensure that principal investigators complete necessary financial disclosures and assurances
• Provide necessary Office of Sponsored Programs signatures for approval
• Review proposal for accuracy and compliance to sponsor and institution requirements
• Compile all components of application for submission and prepare a complete package for final approval before submission

Any award documentation sent directly to the principal investigator must be forwarded to the Office of Sponsored Programs. The award cannot be processed and recorded unless it is received and acknowledged by the Office of Sponsored Programs.

The Office of Sponsored Programs has the lead responsibility in the review, negotiation, and acceptance of awards. They will:

• Prepare and submit any additional information as required by the sponsor (provide Other Support, human subject training, revised budgets, protocol approvals, etc).
• Review the proposed award document in collaboration with the principal investigator and identify issues that need attention
• Consult with appropriate offices as needed to resolve issues in award document
• Review award documents and route for necessary signatures
• Transmit the award documents to the sponsor for official acceptance
• Forward award information to Post Award to be set up within Grants Module