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Short Guide to Proposal Preparation
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THE POST-SUBMISSION PERIOD It is helpful to know that proposal review takes time. Some agencies will acknowledge receipt of your proposal with a card or letter, while others will not. A telephone call to the agency may be appropriate if you do not receive an acknowledgment. Some agencies publish a specific date for announcement of awards. If not, you should allow at least six months for review of your proposal. Sometime toward the end of the six month period, a written inquiry can be sent, asking about the progress made in evaluating your proposal and closing with some such statement as "If you need any further information or clarification, please feel free to call me." Frequently, they will call you. Negotiations of some sort are often part of grant and contract award process. Very often the proposed budget must be trimmed and/or reapportioned, and the Principal Investigator, the department, and OCG must all be involved. Additional materials may be required: for example, DOD agencies often request actual quotes from vendors in order to approve large equipment purchases. In some cases, the proposal itself must be revised or even resubmitted in a different form. Once the revised budget and other requested information is submitted, the agency will begin processing the formal paperwork to initiate the award. In general, the University cannot authorize expenditures until the contract or grant documentation is reviewed, approved,and endorsed by both the University and the sponsoring agency. This process may take months or it may take only days, and depends on the situation and the agency involved. (NSF awards are generally transmitted 30-60 days after the Program Director receives the revised budget.) Because there will never be enough money to fund every worthwhile project, many proposals (even those that have been approved by the reviewers) will go unfunded. Yet even a grant proposal that is not funded, yields positive results. First, the reviewers comments usually give you an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal. If these comments are not provided, you should request them. Second, you may submit a revised proposal that is stronger and more likely to be funded than the original proposal. Revised proposals typically enjoy a higher rate of success than first-time submissions. For tips on resubmission of a proposal click here.
Forward to: Writing a Better Proposal
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