Sponsored Projects Process
What Happens and When
...you have an idea...
The Office of Research Manager of Research Development is located in Brown Hall Room 200C. The phone number is 835-5646. Periodically the Office of Research will send email notices to PIs or departments announcing Requests for Proposals (RFPs) or solicitations from various funding agencies. The office also has access to a variety of websites listing funding opportunities. Some agencies will contact a PI directly regarding a request to submit a proposal.
...that turns into a proposal...
When you decide to respond to a request for proposal, please contact the Sponsored Projects Administration office and provide your Research Administrator with a copy of the RFP. Sponsored Projects can assist researchers in budgeting and pricing proposals, providing you with current salary numbers and the current fringe benefit and overhead rates, and will be able to answer questions regarding other line items of direct costs.
If cost sharing or matching is require, or if a subrecipient will be proposed, discuss those items with your Research Administrator. Internal approval of cost sharing is required prior to proposal routing, and there is specific documentation that must be acquired from a proposed subrecipient prior to proposal submission.
After the Research Administrator has reviewed the budget and budget justification, the PI provides a completed Proposal Routing Sheet which includes a Conflict of Interest form and an Export Control Screening form, to accompany the budget, the budget justification, and the scope of work. Sponsored Projects will submit this proposal routing package to the Manager of Research Development for electronic approvals. The proposal routing forms are available at https://www.nmt.edu/research/NMT_routing_sheet_2020.11.04.pdf.
If the proposal is to be submitted electronically through FastLane, grants.gov, NSPIRES, or other agency website, it is the PI's responsibility to do the data entry, and the PI should coordinate the electronic submission in advance with the Manager of Research Development who is responsible for doing the actual submission.
...which becomes a project!
When the award arrives, it should come to the Sponsored Projects office where the terms and conditions of the award will be reviewed and negotiated if required. Sponsored Projects will submit the award to the Vice President for Administration and Finance for signature, return the document to the awarding agency for its signature if required, set up a new Index (Fund) in the financial system, and notify the PI that the award is ready for use.
Once fully signed, Sponsored Projects provides fund management for the PI which includes
- approving financial transactions to ensure their compliance with agency provisions,
- invoicing and ensuring that NMT receives payment in accordance with the terms of the award,
- submitting and processing approved budget revisions,
- processing any required correction of expenditures,
- initiating an award to a subrecipient,
- preparing required financial reports,
- preparing close-out documentation (with the exception of the final technical report which is the responsibility of the PI),
- and overseeing any internal or external audits.
...and by the way . . .
It is not really over until the funding agency closes out the award on their side, which could take several years! Please stay in touch with your Research Administrator throughout the process.