Pre-Award Proposal Development Services

An overview of proposal services offered by the Grants Management Office (GMO) can be found below.  If you intend to submit a proposal and would like to request pre-award support services, please submit a request in iLab. Our service request form is located in the OVCR Grants Management Core.

Timing Considerations

It is recommended that principal investigators (PIs) or their business managers submit the Proposal Intake Form 8-10 weeks in advance of the sponsor deadline for standard proposals and 4-6 months prior for large, multi-component proposals, such as Center grants.  Complex research project/center grants require additional planning and development time. We recommend a minimum 4-month preparation period for these types of applications, although we understand that sponsors may not provide an application window that allows for the specified notice period. Please notify us as soon as possible, even if you aren't sure you plan to pursue the opportunity.

NOTE: Along with ensuring that you have adequate time to prepare a competitive proposal, when considering timing it is important to keep in mind that all final proposals must be reviewed and approved by the UIC’s Office of Sponsored Programs prior to submission to the sponsor.  Click here for information on how to submit a proposal for review.

The service rate for pre-award support is $134 per hour billed through iLab.

Pre-Award Proposal Development Services Heading link

Consultation

  • Advise on administrative requirements of funding opportunity announcements (FOA), sponsor(s) and UIC procedures for grants submission.
  • Share templates for proposal documents (e.g., biosketch, budget, facilities & other resources, etc.).
  • Advise on proposal strategy, suggest and introduce potential collaborators and connect to other UIC resources for the project. This support will be provided gratis by staff in the Office of Research Development.

Proposal Preparation, Timeline Management and Coordination

  • Assemble a checklist of required application elements for the PI.
  • Develop timeline for document completion and submission.
  • Host a kick-off meeting/call to review checklist, responsibilities and timelines.
  • Schedule periodic check-ins to monitor progress and address any issues/concerns.

Budget Development

  • Collect required administrative information to budget development (e.g., appointment type, salary rate, fringe rate, etc.).
  • Work with the PI to develop accurate budget (effort level and other project costs).
  • Complete sponsor budget forms.

Budget Justification

  • Work with the PI to develop a budget justification that accurately supports funding request.

Biosketches

  • Work with the PI to collect Biosketches from key personnel.
  • Review for compliance with sponsor specifications (e.g., font, margin, page limits, active eRA commons ID public access compliance/PMCIDs).
  • Propose edits as needed and inform the key personnel of the changes.

Current and Pending Support

  • Required for mentors for career development proposals, Just-In-Time (JIT) and Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPR).
  • Collect Other Support documentation from key personnel, including external partners.
  • Review for compliance with sponsor specifications.

Subrecipient Correspondence and Documentation

  • Coordinate with partner institutions to obtain proposal requirements, e.g., subrecipient commitment form, biosketch, scope of work, budget, budget justification, facilities and other resources, equipment, letter of support and miscellaneous forms.

Application Submission Assembly and Institutional Approvals

Application Assembly

  • Initiate and complete application forms and upload proposal requirements, including subrecipient documentation as applicable.
  • Validate application, download a final draft for PI and Office of Sponsored Programs review (final check prior to submission).

Institutional Routing

  • Complete the internal UIC myProposals transmittal, including securing signatures and acquiring approvals.
  • Work with Office of Sponsored Programs to submit the endorsed proposal to the sponsor by the deadline and confirm submission.

Just-In-Time

  • Work with PI to collect Just-In-Time (JIT) documents from UIC key personnel and any subrecipient/partner key personnel.
  • Coordinate final JIT documents submission with Office of Sponsored Programs.

Full-service Support

  • Includes all the above as relevant to the specific opportunity, plus management of the proposal development process including attending team meetings and managing workflows of collaboratively developed documents. This does not include proposal review or revision provided by Hanover Research.