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Proposal Submission

Proposal Submission Overview & Resources

The Proposal Submission and review stage of the grant lifecycle involves a thorough review of grant applications to ensure compliance with sponsor, university, and regulatory requirements. Once approved, ORSP submits the proposal to the sponsor on behalf of the university, ensuring all necessary documentation and institutional concurrence and endorsements are included.

All proposals, applications and scopes of work must be entered, reviewed and approved by ORSP via the Kuali Research Proposal Development module and are submitted to the sponsor by ORSP or permission to submit is delegated by an Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR). Investigators are not authorized to submit proposals to external funding agencies or sponsors without institutional concurrence from ORSP.

Submission Deadlines

It’s important for the proposal development team to determine, understand, and plan around grant application deadlines to ensure compliance with institutional and sponsor requirements. Proper planning allows for thorough reviews, necessary approvals, and a smooth submission process, reducing the risk of delays or missed funding opportunities.

Sponsor deadlines are articulated in a number of ways such as submission windows with opening and closing dates, cycle deadlines throughout the year, target dates, rolling deadlines and firm deadlines. A crucial step during the process of interpreting funding opportunity guidelines is determining the applicable deadline or preferred target date and developing a submission plan that meets both the university’s deadline policy and the sponsor’s deadline.

  • Kuali
  • NIH
  • Explore NSF’s

Sponsor eRA Systems

A Sponsor eRA (Electronic Research Administration) system is an online platform used by funding agencies to manage grant applications, reviews, and post-award administration. These systems, such as Grants.gov, NSF Research.gov, or NIH eRA Commons and ASSIST facilitate proposal submission, track application status, and support compliance with sponsor requirements.

Registration within a sponsor’s eRA system is almost always required in order to submit proposals, track applications, manage and close out awards. DRAs or GCA can advise on the specific requirements and process for establishing a user profile, registering within a sponsor eRA system or affiliating an existing account with UMB. Establishing the necessary sponsor accounts and profiles should be done well in advance of an opportunity deadline.

  • NIH eRA Commons
  • Grants.gov
  • NSF Research.gov for Registering an Account
  • NSF

Merit Review

The peer review process for grant applications generally involves independent subject matter experts evaluating proposals based on criteria such as significance, innovation, methodology, and feasibility. Reviewers provide scores and feedback, which funding agencies use to determine which applications are most meritorious and should be considered for funding.

The merit or peer review process for applications is generally sponsor specific and outlined in the sponsor’s policies and procedures and within specific notice of funding opportunities or application guidelines. Understanding the review process for a funding opportunity is critical in developing a compliant and responsive proposal which in turn increases the likelihood of positive reviews and funding decisions.

  • NIH Peer Review on YouTube
  • NSF's

Just-in-Time (JIT)

The Just-in-Time (JIT) process at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) allows applicants to submit certain required documents—such as current other support, certifications, and IRB or IACUC approvals—only if their application is under consideration for funding. This process helps streamline administrative requirements by requesting additional information closer to the award decision rather than at the time of initial submission.

Each institute and center at NIH maintains information on their funding allocation, funding priorities, current funding trends and paylines where you can interpret the likelihood of recommendations for funding based on the summary statement and impact score of the proposal review. JIT information can only be submitted by a UMB signing official so investigators should coordinate their responses to request for JIT information with their DRA and GCA.

  • NIH
  • NIH