Proposal Submission Process

The University is interested in funding proposals from multiple sources: foundations, state, and federal agencies. 

If a Pre-Proposal or Letter of Intent (LOI) is required and has no binding financials or University commitments, the Principal Investigator (PI) should submit a copy of the Pre-Proposal or LOI to the Sponsored Programs office.  If the Pre-Proposal is binding, which means the submitted financials, narrative description of scope of work, and University commitments can not be changed when submitting the full proposal, then it will need to be processed through the SVSU Transmittal Process.  Please discuss with Sponsored Programs.

See Flowchart (131KB)  of Grant Proposal Development and Transmittal Process.

Sponsored Programs (SP) reviews all proposals prior to their submission to the funding agency. A completed copy of the proposal should be submitted to SP 10 days, but at least one week prior to submission to assure that the proposal adheres to Federal regulations, University policies and procedures, and the requirements/guidelines of the funding agency. The one week requested by SP ensures that the other five University approvals are secured and there is sufficient time to make any needed changes to the proposal. It is the responsibility of both the PI and SP to assure that all proposals are complete and accurate.

SP’s Transmittal specifies approval requirements and contains general proposal information; this is an internal document that ensures support from all responsible parties at SVSU.  Required signatures include:1) Principal Investigator/Project Director, 2) Sponsored Programs Personnel, 3) Dean/Director/or Vice President, 4) Controller, 5) Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and 6) President. Each signer has a responsibility to the project listed on the transmittal.  SP is responsible for acquiring the appropriate signatures in a timely, but not in a rushed or 'last minute' manner.

The number of copies necessary for the submission to sponsors is often noted in the sponsor’s guidelines and varies with each sponsor.  If it is not stated in the guidelines, SP will obtain that information and make the appropriate copies. SP retains a completed copy of the guidelines and the proposal electronically and in its files and provides a printed and electronic copy of the submitted proposal to the PI.

Deadline dates are strictly enforced by the sponsor and usually require that the proposal either be postmarked by the deadline date or received electronically by the deadline date.  SP will pay the fees for overnight delivery and verifies delivery by tracking the proposal. 

Sponsored Programs must submit all grant applications.  Nearly all sponsoring agencies require online submission of proposals/applications. Although online submission has a number of benefits, it also creates some unique challenges:

• There is a lack of a common set of principles and guidelines for these systems.
• Existing systems are changing and new systems are being implemented.
• Users must become familiar with new concepts, buzzwords, and acronyms.
• Many systems require that the PI have a username and password through a registration process.
• Some agency systems are not sophisticated and when submitting your information do not allow for log in and log out AND saving information.  Sometimes the application process must be done in one sitting. 
• Each funder has different requirements for formatting and file conversion.
• Often there is system “overload” as the application deadline approaches that slows file uploads and/or internet interruptions

As a result, SP recommends that electronic proposal submissions occur at least one day prior to sponsor deadlines, which means all approvals must be in place to submit your grant proposal.

Identical proposals may be submitted to more than one sponsor at a time provided each sponsor is advised that this has occurred.  Each sponsor will be given the name of the other recipients of the proposal and the amount of funds requested. In instances where all sponsors are given the same total project budget, it should be specified as to how much of the total budget is being requested of each individual sponsor and for what purpose those funds will be used.  Careful attention is paid to restrictions sponsors have on the submission of identical proposals to other sponsors, for example. National Institutes of Health prohibits multiple submissions.