Proposal Preparation

The primary responsibility for the origination, development, and preparation of proposals rests with the Principal Investigator (PI). The development of the proposed project, its scope, methods and objects, personnel, equipment, facility, and other support requirements should be estimated by the PI and discussed, when appropriate, with the department chair in order to assure consistency with departmental and university objectives and availability of necessary resources. This may also require discussions with the dean of the school/college, and, if the project is interdisciplinary, with other department chairs and deans.

The Principal Investigator (PI) is responsible for: 

• Identifying funding sources. 
• Reading the Request for Proposal (RFP) and/or other applicable application guidelines. 
• Requesting a Grants and Contracts Specialist. 
• Engaging their department, college, and GCA as early in the process as possible and preparing the proposal in sufficient detail and sufficiently in advance to allow for adequate reviews. 
• Developing and preparing proposals in accordance with sponsor guidelines and University policies. 
• Ensuring the proposal is complete, accurate, and meets all programmatic, administrative, and compliance requirements. 
• Knowing the elements of proposals that could necessitate review and approval by other UNT offices and obtaining those approvals before the GCA deadline. 
• Receiving approval for cost share and matching, teaching buyouts or releases, new space or renovations, and any variance from standard F&A (IDC) distribution. 
• Completing, certifying, and routing an electronic GRAMS Funding Proposal for each proposal. 
• Routing a complete proposal package in GRAMS and obtain needed Department and College, approvals before the GCA internal deadline.  A complete proposal package includes all proposal materials or a PDF of the assembled application from a sponsor’s portal, as well as all internal forms, such as the budget justification, sub awardee documents, and other required documents as applicable. If applicable, all proposal materials must be uploaded in the GRAMS 424 application or into other agency electronic proposal systems (i.e.,Research.gov) and access to the assembled proposal should be granted to GCA for review.  
• Finalizing edits to the narrative by 8:00 am the day of submission.  GCA may modify this request based on the time the proposal is due. 
• If the proposal is required to be mailed, the PI is responsible for mailing (including appropriate number of copies) to the sponsor once the proposal has been reviewed and authorizing signatures secured. When a proposal is being mailed in hard copy rather than electronically, and will be mailed, express mailed, or shipped with an overnight delivery service, the PI is encouraged to secure the routing number and evidence of pick-up and delivery.

GCA does not guarantee the submission of proposals that do not allow for sufficient time to complete the necessary review and navigate an appropriate sponsor submission. If an award is made based on a late submission of a proposal, the PI and the department or other university unit will be responsible for covering costs incurred by UNT as a result of any proposal errors. Such costs might include cost sharing commitments, inaccurate rate calculations for indirect costs (F&A), or unallowable commitments of UNT resources.