Strategic Proposals

 

  Significant Institutional Impact

Certain funding opportunities are distinguished by their scope, scale, or prestige, such that securing an award has a significant institutional-level impact. 

RIO has a unique interest in opportunities that:

  • Establish new programs or capabilities
  • Build capacity in strategic areas
  • Create platforms for interdisciplinary and/or cross-sector collaborations
  • Improve or establish infrastructure, facilities, equipment, etc
  • Enhance elements of the research & innovation ecosystem
  • Are nationally recognized as prestigious and indicators of status

The Research & Innovation Office (RIO) may designate certain funding opportunities as Strategic Proposals based on their potential for significant institutional impact.

Strategic proposals receive enhanced support and oversight from RIO, including guidance on navigating internal processes and securing approvals/commitments. This improves efficiency and minimizes confusion by providing a single point of contact for RIO support. 

Recommending Strategic Proposals

RIO's Research Strategy & Development team will evaluate all new limited submission opportunities based on the criteria below. 

  Note: Meeting one or more criteria does not guarantee that an opportunity will be a strategic proposal. Designation is at the discretion of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation. Opportunities that are not limited by the sponsor may also be designated strategic proposals, provided they are first designated as limited submission by RIO. 

Strategic Proposal Selection Criteria

Institutional Scale and Scope

  • Center, institute or comparably scaled external funding opportunity
  • Total proposed budget exceeding $10 million
  • Substantial involvement from multiple colleges/institutes/units
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Institutional Commitments and Leadership Involvement

  • Major institutional resource commitments (e.g. space, cost share, staffing)
  • Substantial engagement from university leadership
  • Supports university strategic priorities
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Cross-Sector and Cross-Institutional Collaboration

  • Multiple partners with formal roles (e.g. subawards, MOUs) or resource contributions
  • Serves as a platform for public/private partnership
  • Emphasizes translational research outcomes
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Programmatic Components

  • Significant non-research activities (e.g. academic, workforce, innovation, entrepreneurship, service delivery, etc)
  • New institutional capacity (e.g. shared infrastructure, faculty clusters, research centers)

Complex Proposal Requirements

  • Supporting documents (e.g. project management or evaluation plans, resource statements, institutional commitments, etc) requiring support from multiple RIO units
  • Unusual proposal formats or processes (e.g. multi-media materials, site visit, staged reviews, etc)
     
Person working at laptop overlaid with multiple documents

How RIO Supports Strategic Proposals

Principal Investigator (PI) Responsibilities

  • The PI is responsible for the intellectual leadership and vision of the proposed project/program
  • The PI is expected to collaborate closely with RIO, participate in key planning discussions, and respond to requests and deadlines as outlined in the proposal management plan
  • The PI must review and approve all final materials prior to submission

RIO Responsibilities

RIO's Research Strategy & Development team (RIO-RSD) leads execution of a proposal management plan and serves as project manager and strategic advisor to the PI. Depending on the needs of the project, RIO-RSD may also:

  • Support strategy and content development
  • Facilitate discussions regarding institutional commitments
  • Manage team dynamics
  • Provide additional enhanced proposal support

RIO-RSD will engage Office of Contracts and Grants Proposal Analysts as appropriate, including final institutional review and Authorized Organizational Representative submission.

Enhanced Proposal Support

Strategic proposal management may integrate a variety of services/activities into a proposal management plan: 

  • Strategic Intelligence 
  • Capture Planning 
  • Proposal Outline 
  • Timelines 
  • Kickoff Meeting
  • Team Management 
  • Content Development 
  • Document Management 
  • Graphics/Multimedia 
  • Budget Development 
  • Copy Editing 
  • Color Team Reviews 
    (Red/Pink/Gold/etc) 
  • Submission Portal Management

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