These are great recommendations!  Thanks for putting the ideas so succinctly.   F.

________________________________

From: Research Administration List on behalf of Stephens, Martha F.
Sent: Fri 5/9/2008 10:38
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Outsourcing Grants Manual Writing

Hi!

Just two cents from one of the small fish.....I wouldn't recommend going through the expense and time of outsourcing creation of an official grants manual-except for a few peculiar organizational policies it would just be a reference referring to other government publications and would be in constant need of update.  This would be my recommendation (and I am assuming you don't already have these items :-) ):

1.       Purchase/Subscribe to NACUBO and NCURA's: A Guide to Managing Federal Grants for Colleges and Universities and then make sure everyone in the office is aware of it (they can also refer PI/Administrators to it if needed and the advantage is that they send updates to you so you don't have to have someone watching for changes).  I'd also recommend getting the Sponsored Research Administration: A Guide to Effective Strategies and Recommended Practices too but it's not as important as the first book.

2.       A quick survey of some other institutions will provide you more examples of local policy manuals than you can use, pick a couple and draft one for your institution (To find other organization's policy manuals, the SRA book of knowledge has some useful links and so does NCURA's website in the regions and neighborhoods area).  An inquiry on grantsmanship and grants writing will also obtain numerous sources on writing manuals already created by other universities (along with commercial courses, etc).

3.       If you don't have a website then see if you can find someone do create one for you (or spend the funds you would for a grants manual for someone to create a website for you).  This will give ready access to your policy manual and the other information to make the grants process easier to both your PIs and those involved in grants administration.  (the website doesn't have to be from scratch either as you can easily find good sites to 'borrow' set up plans from).  Your welcome to visit our website (our policies and our local procedural guide are posted) at http://research.ou.edu <http://research.ou.edu/>   and there are many other great websites from other schools in the University Research Offices section of the NCURA website.

Fran Stephens, CRA

Proposal Development Specialist

The University of Oklahoma

Proposal Services

731 Elm Ave., Robertson Hall Rm.214

Norman, OK  73019

Tel:  (405)325-3904

Fax:  (405) 325-7750

E-Mail:  xxxxxx@ou.edu <mailto:xxxxxx@ou.edu>

Proposal Services Homepage:  http://research.ou.edu

________________________________

From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On Behalf Of Iris Mondri-Kish
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 10:56 AM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: [RESADM-L] Outsourcing Grants Manual Writing

Dear wise colleagues,

The need for an official grants manual has become eminent in our growing institute. We are thinking of outsourcing this task since the grant team is maxed with constant pressing responsibilities (sounds familiar?). I was hoping to hear from this group:

1.	Recommendations for companies that can help us achieve writing a full manual starting with only few non centralized policies currently at hand
2.	Your experience with this process - how good is the product, how much did you have to be involved etc.
3.	Does anyone have a written RFP for this task?
4.	Any other insight that can help.

Thanks so much,

Iris

Iris Mondri-Kish

Manager, Grants & Contracts

Benaroya Research Institute
1201 Ninth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
P: (206) 341-1581
F: (206) 223-7543

www.benaroyaresearch.org <http://www.benaroyaresearch.org/>

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 Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including
 subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
 via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
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