Proposal Development

Ready to pursue funding for your project? Start by identifying a grant opportunity and outlining your proposed work. Before submitting, be sure to get institutional approval through Cayuse SP — this routes your proposal to your chair and dean for review. It’s essential to talk with your chair early, especially if your project involves reassigned time, university resources or matching funds. Always review the agency’s guidelines and consider contacting the program officer to ensure your project aligns with the sponsor’s priorities. A quick conversation can go a long way.

Proposal Submission

The Proposal Submission stage covers the period of proposal review and university approval (Cayuse SP), creation of sponsor-required documents, submission of the application package and any (pre-award) activities required before the notice of funding.

The initial stage when a principal investigator (PI)/project director (PD) identifies a funding opportunity and develops an outline of the scope of work and their approach on how to execute the work.

Prior to submission to the funding agency, obtain UNCP institutional approval for the proposal using the Cayuse SP system (electronically routes the proposal to the investigator's chair and dean).

It’s especially important to talk to your chair early in the proposal writing process if your proposed project involves reassigned time or a commitment of university resources (e.g., conference space) or if the sponsor requires matching funds or cost sharing.

Read the agency guidelines – tells you everything you need to know about the preparation of the proposal, and you can also contact the sponsor by reaching out to the program officer to discuss your project. A telephone call or a brief letter can help you and the sponsor determine if your research idea is a good fit for the sponsor’s needs.

Interested in submitting a proposal? Contact OSRP: osrp@uncp.edu.

  • Please inform our office of your intention to apply as soon as possible. 

  • Please review your funding announcement/RFA/RFP for required elements. These documents may include biosketches, COA tables, references cited, equipment, etc. You are welcome - and encouraged - to send sponsor-required documents to us at any time at osrp@uncp.edu.

Details about proposal preparation are included below and a budget template is available online on the Budget Development page.  

If you have external collaborators, you’ll need additional time to coordinate and collect documents and you should contact OSRP for support and review the list of required documents (i.e., subrecipient commitment form).

The legal applicant is UNC Pembroke, and if a signature is required for your grant proposal, preliminary proposal or contract, only an authorized representative may provide this.

Proposals must be approved in Cayuse SP prior to submission to the sponsor.

Sometimes sponsors require applicants to submit a preliminary proposal or pre-proposal letter in order to be eligible to apply for a program. Pre-proposals which commit specific university resources such as personnel or space, or which request funding for specific project costs, are official requests for external funding. As such they must receive all required internal approvals — just like a full grant proposal.

Each proposal is different, but the earlier we receive your documents, the more thoroughly we can review your file and help you!

Sponsored programs are awarded through various mechanisms — grants, contracts, non-teaching consulting services and cooperative agreements and/or other legally binding means of transfer.  

Faculty, staff and/or students may be the authors of proposals requesting funding. However, the university is the applicant and recipient of support. So, all funding requests for sponsored programs are submitted in the name of the university — not individual faculty and staff members.

UNC Pembroke's principal investigators must obtain institutional approval for proposals. This is done using the Cayuse SP system, which electronically routes the proposal to the investigator's chair and dean. 

Deadlines

Submit draft documents no later than seven calendar days prior to sponsor deadline.

Submit final documents no later than three business days prior to sponsor deadline.

7-Day Deadline — Complete program package

  • proposal summary or abstract,
  • project budget,
  • budget justification,
  • project narrative, statement of work,
  • forms required by the sponsor,
  • subcontract forms and budgets, if applicable, and
  • commitment letters from external parties

*If you have external collaborators, please contact OSRP for list of required documents.

3-Business Day FINAL deadline (entire proposal must be complete; no further changes to the proposal package including the technical narrative unless required to correct errors per sponsor guidelines)
OSRP supports all proposals. However, OSRP cannot guarantee a successful submission if you do not meet the deadlines above. If OSRP does not follow the deadlines above, there will not be time for an adequate review to ensure that your proposal is responsive to the solicitation and that there are no problems/inconsistencies in the proposal. 
  • Because the university accepts responsibility for oversight, compliance management and appropriate conduct of sponsored activities on behalf of the principal investigator or project director we need a process in place.
  • To enable this process, the university has implemented controls for compliance and sound management of all sponsored activity, including but not limited to, a centralized, coordinated approach to the review, approval, submission and management of all sponsored programs. 

Note: If you submit a proposal before receiving all required internal approvals, the university reserves the right to withdraw the proposal or not accept an award if, upon review, the proposal is found to contain terms with which the university cannot comply.

You are welcome — and encouraged — to send sponsor-required documents to us at any time to include with your file. At a minimum, your proposal must include these documents in order to receive internal approvals:

  • funding announcement/guidelines
  • budget
  • budget justification, and 
  • narrative/scope of work 

These are the required documents that must be uploaded to Cayuse SP in order to initiate the routing of your proposal file. You can find information about using the system in the  Cayuse SP tab. 

PI Toolbox

SciENcv

Principal investigators should create an account with SciENcv (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/) to create and maintain biosketches, which are completed in the required format for NIH and NSF submissions.

Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) is an electronic system that researchers can use to create and maintain biosketches that must be submitted with NIH and NSF grant applications and annual reports. SciENcv pulls information from other systems, including MyNCBI, ORCID and eRA commons in order to ease administrative burden and allow researchers to quickly create and recreate a biosketch for each grant application or annual report.

You can find more information on using SciENcv at the following links: 

ORCID
Principal investigators must register themselves in ORCID (orcid.org/), which is an unique identifier to track research and publications.

You can access institutional data using the university dashboards, which include enrollment and degree information. For specific institutional data, contact Institutional Research. 

Data management and preservation plans are often required by funding agencies as a part of the research process. A data management plan (DMP) describes data that will be acquired or produced during research; how the data will be managed, described and stored; what standards you will use; and how data will be handled and protected during and after the completion of the project. Whether or not you are required to share data online, consideration of the questions that underlie a data management plan can assist with project management and annotation, reduce errors, assist with data collection and reduce the work required to prepare data should it be requested by researchers.

Even if you are not seeking funding for your research, documenting a plan for your data is a best practice and will help your data comply with policies and procedures for responsible data management.

For information on how to develop a DMP, go to: libguides.uncp.edu/datamanagement.

See the information about the federal research data repository: whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/05-2022-Desirable-Characteristics-of-Data-Repositories.pdf.

At data.gov/, you will find data, tools and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations and more.

Water Feature UNCP

Budget Development

A budget is a project “blueprint,” and it helps your sponsor determine whether the proposed project is feasible, realistic and justified. 

  • It justifies your request and shows how you calculated costs.
  • It provides a financial "blueprint" for your project if you are funded.
  • It shows that you and the university will responsibly manage the sponsor's funds, which are usually public money.

Three key words to keep in mind when preparing your budget: Allowable, Allocable & Reasonable.

  • “Allowable Costs” refer to items of cost that can be funded with federal grant dollars as long as the cost fits within a framework of responsible stewardship of public funds. To be an allowable cost, the cost must not be expressly prohibited by the sponsored program regulations, the sponsored agreement, the university's own policies or the Federal Cost Principles (found in the Uniform Guidance). Costs must be treated consistently by applying the generally accepted accounting principles appropriate to the circumstances (such as the Federal Cost Principles).
  • Allocable: Costs are incurred solely to support or advance the work of a specific sponsored research award (and only during the sponsor-approved project period).
  • Reasonable: Costs must be able to withstand public scrutiny, i.e., objective individuals not affiliated with the institution would agree that a cost is reasonable and appropriate.
  • You should include full salary and benefits for all UNCP faculty, staff and students participating on a sponsored project. Personnel costs may be charged as direct costs or cost-share commitments in the proposal budget.
  • Salaries and wages are determined by the amount of time spent by each person on the project
  • For faculty, calculate a dollar value for each person's time and effort using his/her current institutional base salary (IBS), or 9-month base salary (which does not include compensation for administrative duties, summer teaching, etc.). OSRP will help you calculate this appropriately and accurately.
    • Example: If the project requires 25% effort of a faculty member during the academic year, you should include 2.25PM of his/her current base salary in the budget.

A “person month” is the metric for expressing the effort (amount of time) principal investigators (PIs), faculty and other senior personnel devote to a specific project. The effort is based on the type of appointment of the individual with the organization; e.g., calendar year (CY), academic year (AY) and/or summer term (SM); and the organization’s definition of such. For instance, some institutions define the academic year as a 9-month appointment while others define it as a 10-month appointment.

"For a full-time member of the faculty or EPA staff, the salary approved by the Chancellor, Board of Trustees, or Board of Governors is the base salary to be paid during the contract period. No additional compensation may be paid for University duties that are generally related to the position to which the individual is appointed during the Contract Period."

  • To help you calculate the amount of supplemental compensation faculty are eligible to earn outside the contract period (i.e., the summer) or, in rare exceptions, during the academic year, you may request OSRP for a Supplemental Pay Tracking table.

Keep in mind, sponsors must provide written approval of any supplemental compensation to be paid during the academic year before it occurs. Once the project is awarded, you’ll need to provide periodic effort certification (time and effort).

  • Read the sponsor's guidelines!
  • Keep in mind that you need to have a reasonable estimate of the project’s cost. A good rule of thumb when working on your budget is to be realistic; do not "pad" costs - but don't short-change yourself in an effort to be more "competitive" either (though you will want to check whether or not the sponsor has a maximum request amount).
  • Be sure everything in your budget is referenced in the project description/project narrative — and be sure everything mentioned in your project description that would incur cost is shown in the budget.
  • Check to see if the sponsor REQUIRES certain items (i.e., travel to a conference or planning session).  
  • Check to see if the sponsor DOES NOT ALLOW certain items (example: salaries & wages, foreign travel, F&A/indirect costs, etc.).
  • Discuss your project and its costs with your chair/dean.
  • Start early and contact OSRP for assistance!!

A budget is a project “blueprint,” and it helps your sponsor determine whether the proposed project is feasible, realistic and justified. 

  • It justifies your request and shows how you calculated costs.
  • It provides a financial "blueprint" for your project if you are funded.
  • It shows that you and the university will responsibly manage the sponsor's funds, which are usually public money.

Three key words to keep in mind when preparing your budget: Allowable, Allocable & Reasonable.

  • “Allowable Costs” refer to items of cost that can be funded with federal grant dollars as long as the cost fits within a framework of responsible stewardship of public funds. To be an allowable cost, the cost must not be expressly prohibited by the sponsored program regulations, the sponsored agreement, the university's own policies or the Federal Cost Principles (found in the Uniform Guidance). Costs must be treated consistently by applying the generally accepted accounting principles appropriate to the circumstances (such as the Federal Cost Principles).
  • Allocable: Costs are incurred solely to support or advance the work of a specific sponsored research award (and only during the sponsor-approved project period).
  • Reasonable: Costs must be able to withstand public scrutiny, i.e., objective individuals not affiliated with the institution would agree that a cost is reasonable and appropriate.
  • You should include full salary and benefits for all UNCP faculty, staff and students participating on a sponsored project. Personnel costs may be charged as direct costs or cost-share commitments in the proposal budget.
  • Salaries and wages are determined by the amount of time spent by each person on the project
  • For faculty, calculate a dollar value for each person's time and effort using his/her current institutional base salary (IBS), or 9-month base salary (which does not include compensation for administrative duties, summer teaching, etc.). OSRP will help you calculate this appropriately and accurately.
    • Example: If the project requires 25% effort of a faculty member during the academic year, you should include 2.25PM of his/her current base salary in the budget.

A “person month” is the metric for expressing the effort (amount of time) principal investigators (PIs), faculty and other senior personnel devote to a specific project. The effort is based on the type of appointment of the individual with the organization; e.g., calendar year (CY), academic year (AY) and/or summer term (SM); and the organization’s definition of such. For instance, some institutions define the academic year as a 9-month appointment while others define it as a 10-month appointment.

"For a full-time member of the faculty or EPA staff, the salary approved by the Chancellor, Board of Trustees, or Board of Governors is the base salary to be paid during the contract period. No additional compensation may be paid for University duties that are generally related to the position to which the individual is appointed during the Contract Period."

  • To help you calculate the amount of supplemental compensation faculty are eligible to earn outside the contract period (i.e., the summer) or, in rare exceptions, during the academic year, you may request OSRP for a Supplemental Pay Tracking table.

Keep in mind, sponsors must provide written approval of any supplemental compensation to be paid during the academic year before it occurs. Once the project is awarded, you’ll need to provide periodic effort certification (time and effort).

  • Read the sponsor's guidelines!
  • Keep in mind that you need to have a reasonable estimate of the project’s cost. A good rule of thumb when working on your budget is to be realistic; do not "pad" costs - but don't short-change yourself in an effort to be more "competitive" either (though you will want to check whether or not the sponsor has a maximum request amount).
  • Be sure everything in your budget is referenced in the project description/project narrative — and be sure everything mentioned in your project description that would incur cost is shown in the budget.
  • Check to see if the sponsor REQUIRES certain items (i.e., travel to a conference or planning session).  
  • Check to see if the sponsor DOES NOT ALLOW certain items (example: salaries & wages, foreign travel, F&A/indirect costs, etc.).
  • Discuss your project and its costs with your chair/dean.
  • Start early and contact OSRP for assistance!!