Proposal Preparation Procedures

The Office of Sponsored Projects has compiled the following overview of the procedures for proposal preparation.

  1. Faculty member identifies the funding opportunity:
    • Faculty member downloads proposal requirements/application/RFP/RFA for the opportunity from the funding agency
    • Is it a Gift or a Grant?
      • Normally, if the funding opportunity requires an application it will be considered a grant.
      • Gift – in summary, it does not have any restrictions on spending the funds and if there are no deliverables to the Sponsor it would not require a Cayuse proposal, contact OCFR and do not continue with the steps listed below.
      • Grant – will require a Cayuse proposal, continue to step 2.
  2. Faculty meets with their Pre-Award administrator to start the Cayuse SP proposal and discussing the components of the proposal:
    • The PI/department contact may want to use the forms located on the Forms page for help with submitting their proposal.
    • All of the required Institutional Information is located on Institutional Information page.
    • If your proposal has any regulatory compliance such as Human Subjects or Animal subjects, please visit the Research Integrity Website.
    • If your proposal includes any subawards/subcontractors to other institutions please refer to the Subcontracts – Rice is the Lead Institution (please link to document) document for required documents.
    • If your proposal has any Participant Support Costs, please refer to how they need to be included in your budget
  3. Once the Cayuse SP proposal is created:
    • Complete all of the required sections.
    • At minimum, the following attachments are required for submission:
      • Copy of the Sponsor guidelines (if available)
      • An Abstract/scope of work of the proposed project
      • Calculating budget
      • Budget Justification
      • Subaward documents (if applicable)
    • If possible, upload a copy of the entire proposal for the Grant Specialist to review and give feedback if OSP does not have access on the Sponsor website.
  4. Route for Approvals – Remember OSP’s 5 day rule!
  5. Once a proposal has been completed in Cayuse SP, it must be submitted to the sponsoring agency. Agencies may differ in how they wish grant proposals to be submitted. Submission requirements will be listed in the Funding Announcement.
  6. Once the proposal is finalized in Cayuse SP, your OSP Grant Specialist will review and give you feedback on the proposal.
  7. The Grant Specialist will submit the proposal upon confirmation that is final and ready to submit.

You can contact your OSP Grant Specialist at any time with any question related to your grant proposal.