Understanding the Logistics of Proposal Production

1
Understanding the Logistics of Proposal
Production

• Office of Proposal Development
• Phyllis McBride, Ph.D.
• p-mcbride_at_tamu.edu
• June 25, 2008

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Preparing your proposal

• Allow lead time
• To identify and assess your research topic
• To review and evaluate funding opportunities
• To obtain background information on the agency
• To download application forms
• To become familiar with application instructions
• To create a proposal checklist
• To select collaborators

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Preparing your proposal

• Allow work time
• To talk with the program manager
• To draft the application
• Cover sheet, principal investigator data,
  abstract, summary, research and project design,
  significance, background, literature review,
  preliminary studies, project schedule,
  references, biographical sketch, facilities and
  resources, grant support
• To prepare the budget and budget justification
• To request and obtain supplementary materials

4
Preparing your proposal

• Allow wrap-up time
• To have your colleagues review your application
• To revise, edit, and proofread your application
• To route your proposal and budget for
  institutional approvals
• To submit your application

5
Practicing project management

• Establish clear priorities
• Make your proposal one of your top priorities
• Eliminate or minimize distractions
• Learn to say no
• Learn to delegate
• Learn to live with good enough
• Set a specific time to meet with students,
  return phone calls, and respond to e-mails

6
Creating your proposal production schedule

• Create a proposal production schedule
• Identify all required steps in the proposal
  production process, then back into your schedule
• Divide the proposal activities and proposal text
  into small parts, and identify the date by
  which you need to complete each part
• Allow time to accommodate Murphys law
• Stick to your schedule!

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Working with campus grants and contracts agencies

• Realize that there are great people here to help
  you!
• Log in your proposal
• Answer questions about rules and regulations
• Prepare your budget
• Route your proposal for signatures
• You must submit your proposal through the
  appropriate campus agency
• Texas AM Research Foundation (TAMRF)
• Health Science Center (HSC)
• Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (TAES)
• Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES)
• Texas Transportation Institute (TTI)

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Preparing your budget

• Adhere to agency and program requirements
• Include only allowable costs
• Request what you need to complete the project
• Make sure the budget reflects the research
  projects objectives, scope, and duration
• Base budget on real costs
• Remember that reviewers know what things cost
• Factor in direct costs
• Personnel, travel, equipment, materials and
  supplies, etc.
• Factor in indirect costs
• On-campus rate 46.5 of MTDC
• Off-campus rate 26.0 of MTDC
• Factor in cost escalations for multi-year projects

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Preparing your budget justification

• Use this section to continue to persuade
  reviewers that you are a thoughtful and careful
  investigator
• Provide a clear explanation of why each budget
  request is needed

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Routing your proposal

• Remember that all proposals must be routed to
  obtain the necessary institutional approvals
• Principal investigator
• Department head
• Dean
• Office of Sponsored Projects
• Campus grants and contracts office (e.g., TAMRF)
• Know that TAMRF will route your proposal for you
• Allow a minimum of 6 days to route
  single-investigator proposals
• Allow additional time to route multi-investigator
  proposals
• E-mail your proposal to your proposal
  administrator
• Draft text
• Final budget

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Submitting your proposal

• E-mail the final text to your proposal
  administrator
• Allow a minimum of 24 hours for TAMRF to review
  your proposal
• Realize that your proposal administrator
• Is assisting many other faculty members with
  their proposals
• Requires adequate time to prepare your proposal
  for submission
• Review the final text for compliance with the
  sponsors guidelines
• Assemble the proposal into the specified format
• Perform a quality control check
• Photocopy the proposal
• Check copy quality
• Submit the proposal via the appropriate carrier
  or upload the proposal electronically

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Questions?