Grant Management Office

The Grant Management Office (GMO) offers a suite of fee-for-service pre-award proposal development, post-award award management, and project description review services upon request in effort to promote, support and strengthen the research enterprise at UIC.

Range of Services

Proposal development and award management services offered range from initial consultation to award closeout and are customized on a case-by-case basis according to specific needs. Services are requested through iLab. You must log in to iLab (upper right corner) and select the OVCR Grants Management Core option in order to request services.

This capability is in a pilot testing phase. We are still learning what the demand for services will be, how to work with different units, and, importantly, how long various services will take. We understand the need to know how many hours to expect to be billed and we ask for your patience as we gain the experience to refine our quotes.

Guiding Principles

The Grant Management Office is committed to:

  • Communicating effectively, responding to communications within 2 business days
  • Being flexible and responsive to meet business needs consistent with agreed upon service levels
  • Proactively identifying issues and addressing them in a timely manner with escalation as needed
  • Keeping faculty and administrators informed through email and web communications on updates to policies and procedures
  • Encouraging collaboration and continuous improvement of services to UIC research community
  • Maintaining written standard documentation and encouraging training and professional development opportunities
  • Welcoming feedback that would help improve GMO processes.

Contact Information

If you have general questions about our proposal and award management services, please feel free to contact us at rds@uic.edu.

If you have an upcoming proposal and are interested in discussing ways our team can provide support, please submit a request via iLab to initiate the process.

iLab

Sign up or sign in to iLab here. To find step by step instructions on registration, payments, member management, and more, please visit our help site: https://rrc.uic.edu/get-started/. Grants management services can be found in the Administrative Support Core.

How to Request and Pay for Services Heading link

Service requests, quotes, and invoicing will be handed in iLab. If a unit (e.g. department or college) will be paying for the services, we recommend that the unit business/finance/operations manager create an account in iLab as a PI. They can then add a C-FOP that will be charged for the work. Submitting a request does not charge the C-FOP, but just puts it on file to be charged when the work is complete. That person can make requests on behalf of faculty or they can add individual faculty or other administrators to their iLab Lab Group who will then be able to make requests and charge work to the associated C-FOP(s).

If you believe your unit will support your GMO service, contact your department head or dean’s office to learn more.

Individual faculty investigators can also submit requests for services that they will bill to their own accounts. In that case, they can make the request from their own iLab Lab Group.

NOTE: You cannot use a funded project to pay for development of a new grant application, i.e., pre-award services. 

Allowable funds for proposal development could include state funds, gift accounts, royalty money, startup funds, or ICR accounts. More information about UIC’s cost principles policy are available from the UI System Business and Finance.

In most cases, general post-award support is considered indirect cost and cannot be charged to a sponsored project.

Post-award management, including administrative support, can be paid from the non-sponsored sources named above. In rare instances, these may be direct charged to a project if the costs are integral to the project, can be specifically identified with the project (i.e., provide a clear direct benefit), and are included in the budget or have other prior written approval from the sponsor. Contact the GMO to learn if your project might fall under this exception.

Funds entered in iLab starting with 4* or 5* in the C-FOP will not be allowed without additional review.

Services are requested through iLab. You must log in to iLab (upper right corner) and select the Administrative Support Core option in order to request services. Learn more about getting started with iLab.