The Principal Investigator's Guide to Sponsored Projects
The Office of Contracts and Grants’ “Principal Investigator’s Guide to Sponsored Projects” is designed to assist CU-Boulder faculty researchers and their support staff in handling the logistics of sponsored projects. The guide is divided into Pre-Award and Post-Award sections for your convenience. Select the links below for more information.
Please send all feedback regarding the guide to Randall Draper at Randall.Draper@Colorado.edu, director of OCG.
Table of Contents
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General Information
The Life of a Sponsored Project 
*Adapted from the Ohio State University Office of Research website.
Overview of OCG Organizational Structure & Responsibilities
Pre-Award Information
Mission
The Office of Contracts and Grants Pre-Award team includes proposal analysts and support staff dedicated to helping Principal Investigators understand proposal guidelines, prepare budgets, and review, package, and submit proposals.
Responsibilities
These are the responsibilities necessary to establish a good working relationship among principal investigators, department staff members, and OCG to ensure successful proposal submissions:
Funding Information
As a tier one research institution, UC-Boulder receives funding from external sources as well as awards and administers internal funds. For information on locating opportunities for both internal and external funding, see the links and contact information below.
Internal Funding
Council on Research and Creative Work
Center for Humanities and the Arts
Office of International Education (see information for faculty and graduate students)
United Government of Graduate Students
External Funding
The following sites and resources serve as databases of international, national, regional, and local external funding opportunities for fellowships and grants:
Grants.gov (database of all federal funding opportunities)
SPINPlus (database of a variety of agencies and foundations)
How to use SPINPlus
See the Annual Register of Grant Support, The Foundation 1000, and the Directory of Grants in the Humanities, as well as other book resources at Norlin Library
Proposal Information
Crafting the proposal is an important yet time-consuming process. The following information, as well “A Short Guide to Proposal Preparation ” is designed to help you learn more about and navigate proposal writing and submission.
Grant Proposals versus Contract Proposals
Grants: proposals submitted under general guidelines, e.g. Funding Opportunity Announcement, Request for Application (RFA), Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)
Contracts: proposals submitted under specific Requests for Proposals (RFP) or Purchase Orders
Types of Proposals
The following terms refer to particular types of proposals:
- Pre-Proposal/White Paper: Description of research plans and estimated budget submitted to determine sponsor interest and whether a formal proposal will be requested
- New: first submission or a revision to a first submission
- Continuation: non-competing continuation of an active project
- Renewal: competing continuation of an active project
- Supplement: addition to an active project (treated essentially as a new proposal)
Proposal Solicitations
Proposal solicitations may take many forms, below are a few common ways in which sponsors communicate funding opportunities.
- Program Announcement: describes a funding opportunity for a topic of general interest to the sponsor. It may identify a new program or serve as a reminder of a sponsor's continuing interest in a particular program.
- Request for Application (RFA): describes a funding opportunity for a topic of specific interest to the sponsor.
- Request for Proposal (RFP): specifies the Scope of Work, methods to be used, timelines for the research, and products to be delivered.
Limited Submissions
Sponsors may limit the number of proposals an institution may submit for consideration. In such instances, the office of the Vice Chancellor for Research coordinates the internal solicitation and review of these proposals: an ad hoc faculty committee reviews these proposals and the principal investigators of projects selected for submission are notified of their eligibility to prepare full proposals for submission to the sponsor.
The Proposal Process
To begin processing your proposal, provide a proposal analyst with specific information. Early provision of the following items will help ensure a smooth submission process:
- Name of the Principal Investigator(s) and Co-PI(s) and their departments
- Departmental administrative/Indirect cost recovery information
- Name of sponsoring agency
- Program announcement/Request for proposal
- Proposal deadline (date and time )
- Cost Share Addendum Sheet (if cost share is required)
- Submission instructions
- Budget information, including:
- Project title
- Project start and end dates
- Personnel and corresponding level of effort
- Equipment
- Travel
- Other direct costs
- Cost share expenses (if part of proposal)
Additional Proposal Information
Please see the links below for further information, including more specific and detailed information about the components of and how to write and submit a proposal in A Short Guide to Proposal Preparation.
Research and Proposal Policies and Procedures—Research Integrity and Regulatory Compliance
Pertinent Forms