The Office of Research and Sponsored Projects supports the proposal development process at each of the steps listed below. The Proposal Development Team (DevT) can provide help on the following steps: Identify Opportunity; Prepare Proposal; Send Proposal for Review; and Address Reviewers’ Comments. The Research Administrators (RA) can provide help with the steps regarding: Review RFA/RFP Guidelines and Restrictions, and Draft Preliminary Budget; Finalize Budget; and Submit Proposal.

The DevT and RA collaborate with you to submit a competitive proposal. To learn more about their services, please click on the appropriate link in the left pane.


STEPS IN THE PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITY
The proposal process starts when the faculty or staff identifies a Request for Application (RFA) or Request for Proposal (RFP). The following steps follows:

• Review RFP for eligibility and fit.
• Notify your Dean, if the RFA/RFP has limited submission requirements.

REVIEW RFA/RFP GUIDELINES AND RESTRICTIONS, AND DRAFT PRELIMINARY BUDGET
The Research Administrator should be notified of the program to which you will be applying as soon as you decide to prepare a proposal. This will allow the RA time to review the RFA/RFP guidelines and to complete the certification pages. Be sure to speak with your RA to:

• Review guidelines and restrictions.
• Discuss budget restrictions.
• Discuss cost share requirements.
• Draft initial budget.

PREPARE PROPOSAL
After reading the proposal, begin by defining your goals and objectives and outline the proposal based on the required sections outlined in the RFA/RFP. In addition, do the following:

• Identify team members (if appropriate).
• Prepare timeline for proposal development.
• Write/integrate proposal sections.
• Seek assistance from DevT if needed.

FINALIZE BUDGET
Once the proposal is being finalized, one should review the budget critically to determine if all proposed activities can be accomplished with the proposed budget allocations. In addition, it’s important to do the following:

• Check that the budget aligns with the goals and objectives.
• Write the budget justification.
• Begin the internal routing process using the transmittal form.

SEND PROPOSAL FOR REVIEW
It’s important that a proposal is reviewed by both internal and external reviewers. Some say that an investigator can increase the chances for funding by 30% when he or she submits the proposal for critical review. Make sure to schedule time to get this done.

• Seek internal review from the DevT and from peers.
• Send proposal to at least one external reviewer (request early).

ADDRESS REVIEWERS’ COMMENTS
Reflect on the review. If you don’t agree with a particular comment, then it’s important to try to determine why there was a misunderstanding. This may lead to a correction not identified by the reviewer. The steps that should be followed are:

• Reread guidelines.
• Reread proposal and check for consistency.
• Revise the proposal.

SUBMIT PROPOSAL
Begin the submission process early to allow time to address problems in the submission process. In addition, consider that the RA may have a heavy load, or that the funding agency’s website may be burdened by a large number of submissions. GOOD LUCK!