At LLU, we request that the PIs submit the final proposal (that has already received department and school approval) to the central office 5 working days before the deadline. (As long as the PI gives us all pieces of the proposal package and a near final draft of the narrative, we allow them to continue to refine/edit the proposal until the day of the submission.) The 5 days allows final review of the application package in the central office and time for the PI to make any modifications needed before submission. However, as is the case at other institutions, very few PIs meet our internal deadline and we do our best to make sure all of the grants are submitted on time. Our institution's way of enforcing this deadline is to tell the PIs that if they meet our internal deadline, we will guarantee that their grant will be submitted. However, if they do not meet our internal deadline, grants are taken on a first come, first served basis and may or may not be processed in time. (It also helps to tell a few horror stories of near electronic submission misses of those that chose to bring their proposal to us at the last minute.) For anyone interested, I posted below part of a generic email I send out to PIs who are planning to submit a grant, listing the approval process and deadlines. "The following are the deadlines to facilitate a timely review: 1. Submit the budget and justification section to Sponsored Projects Management for review as soon as it is completed, but no later than two weeks before the submission deadline. 2. When the application is complete, obtain sign-off by the department chair/center director, dean and any other approval required by the employing entity or entities. For example, budget review by the school business manager may be required before sign-off by a dean. 3. Submit the application and completed transmittal form to the Office of Sponsored Research, no later than 5 working days before the application deadline. 4. We will try to accommodate true emergencies, but cannot guarantee that late submissions will be approved before the deadline." Sherie Donahue Loma Linda University ________________________________ From: Research Administration List on behalf of Schier-Happell, Suzanne E Sent: Tue 8/5/2008 11:46 AM To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Internal deadlines and processing times What a timely discussion! Our office just narrowly avoided a true fiasco last week with a couple of ACS proposals that we didn't have final drafts of until the day before they were due, and by that time it was nearly impossible to get the needed signatures (especially during the summer when people are on vacation). That has prompted our office to begin a discussion about enacting an internal deadline like the ones being discussed here. We currently have no stated policy regarding how far in advance PI's need to get their proposals to us, which means that we often (usually?) receive them at the eleventh hour. We realize that such a deadline is fully unenforceable, and of course we would never refuse to assist anyone who has something to submit, no matter how late it arrives in our office. However, putting an official deadline out there would clearly show PI's that submitting at the last minute is at their own risk, and that our ability to get the required signatures is not guaranteed if they come in after the internal deadline. Right now there is no such understanding, and it puts a lot of pressure on us from multiple directions--from the PI, who expects us to get his or her proposal submitted successfully, and from the school officials whose signatures are needed, who have busy schedules and don't always appreciate our asking them to drop everything to review and sign a proposal at the last minute. If only the deadline fairy would come and grant us one wish--to make everyone submit their proposals chronically early! But yes, five days sounds great to me. I think that may be a policy we adopt before the start of the new school year. Best regards, Suzanne Happell Assistant Director of Sponsored Programs Otterbein College -----Original Message----- From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On Behalf Of Charlie Hathaway Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 1:23 PM To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org Subject: [RESADM-L] Internal deadlines and processing times I have a meeting in an hour. I'd like to be able to say that most OSPs do __________________. So...super quick survey: We have all discussed how many days before a deadline we expect to see proposals/forms submitted for internal approvals. And we have all (+/-) agreed that you do everything you can to get every proposal out the door regardless of violation of internal deadlines. I understand that the job demands extraordinary effort and flexibility to get everything done on time...but Question: Do you have a policy saying that a proposal will be reviewed and approved within a specific time frame following submission of paperwork? Or do you just tell people "You will get it back in time to submit!" thanks Charlie Hathaway ====================================================================== 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 <http://www.hrinet.org/> (click on "Listserv Lists") ====================================================================== ====================================================================== 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 <http://www.hrinet.org/> (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================
