Reference Book

UI Procedures and Criteria
for
Requesting Proposal Preparation Costs for Federal Contracts

Procedures:

Requests for proposal preparation costs must be made in writing to the Vice President for Research and accompanied with written endorsement of the Departmental Executive Office and Collegiate Dean of the faculty member making the request. The request should contain the following information:

1. Why central support for proposal development is necessary, especially why support for Professional and Scientific personnel is required and why sufficient faculty effort is not available.
   
   
2. The request should include a clearly explained and well-justified budget for proposal preparation.
   
   
3. The request should include an assessment of likelihood of funding.
   
   
4. The request should address the following criteria that will be used to determine the amount, if any, of funding to be provided to support the preparation of the proposal.
   
   
   

Criteria:

1. The request must be for the preparation of a competitive proposal that would result in a federal contract.
   
   
2. A clearly explained and well-justified budget for Professional and Scientific personnel and any travel costs related to the proposal development activities must be present. Faculty time and general expense will not be allowed.
   
   Salary support should be limited to senior non-faculty research staff engaged in the writing or other technical preparation of the application. Faculty should normally be expected to prepare proposals as part of their regular appointment.
   
   Travel costs to government meetings for technical assistance or briefings for prospective applicants should be limited to just one University representative and the time for the faculty member to attend should not be supported.
   
   
3. The endorsement of the department and college that contains a significant level of contribution towards the cost of proposal development must be included before the request is considered.
   
   
4. The availability of other funds within the department to support proposal development should contribute to a decision to provide assistance from central funds depending on the circumstances. Other funds that the department or investigator could have available to support proposal development may include "indirect cost returns," private practice or other income, gifts, etc. The relative amount of sharing of proposal development costs by the department and college may be important to demonstrate that the proposal is central to the mission of the department or college.
   
   
5. The proposal must have very specific and unusual characteristics that require additional proposal preparation costs. These characteristics could include the size and complexity of the project and the lack of faculty resources available for the development of the proposal.
   
   
6. The likelihood of funding should be considered. Factors contributing to the success of the proposal may include the investigator's success with the funding agency and other sponsors, who other potential competitors are, the investigator's scientific accomplishments, the total amount of available funds from the sponsor, and the potential technical merit of the proposal.
   
   
7. The department's record for good fiscal management, especially for complex projects, is also an important factor.
   
   
   

UI VPR    9/9/1997

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