Services  Offered

PROPOSAL PREPARATON AND APPROVAL
The faculty member, or Principal Investigator (P.I.), initiates the proposal submission process when he/she contacts the appropriate OSP Team (PDF) for assistance in preparing a response to a solicitation or for help in preparing a budget that is to be a part of a proposal. We ask the P.I. to forward a copy of the sponsor solicitation to us as soon as possible. A business proposal is required in response to a formal solicitation, and the solicitation must be reviewed by OSP to ensure compliance with sponsor requirements and university and state policies. If possible, we would like to have a minimum of 3 days to review and process a solicitation, to ensure adequate time to prepare a quality product.

As soon as the faculty member has a rough draft of the budget, or a concept of the budgetary requirements, he/she should call for assistance in budget preparation. The Project Administrator will review the budget and ask the following 12 Questions. The appropriate administrator within the team prepares the budget and drafts the business proposal for the faculty, advising him/her of special sponsor budget and other required forms to be used in preparing the proposal package. That individual will work with the P.I. to finalize a budget that conforms to the requirements of the prospective sponsor and the University. It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator to have the full proposal - technical, business, and budget - word processed into its final form even if the submission is electronic.

The Principal Investigator delivers the proposal package to the Office of Sponsored Programs for processing. The package consists of the original proposal, a proposal cover page bearing original signatures, and a Proposal Internal Approval Form (Yellow Sheet) with required original signatures. The Team member, who prepared the budget or business package for the P.I., reviews the budget information and the total package for completeness. The technical proposal is not reviewed. Do not quantify any type of cost sharing in your technical write-up if it is not shown in your budget. Upon completion of review, the proposal is entered into the Banner Proposal System. This system enables us to track the progress of the proposal until it is funded, declined, or withdrawn.

If your research proposal is an unsolicited one, we recommend that you talk to your prospective sponsor before preparing the proposal, to gauge his or her interest in your project. However, you should be aware that some sponsors have rules that preclude such contact.

PROPOSAL PROCESSING
Once approved, OSP prepares a transmittal letter to accompany the proposal to the sponsors. Our office makes copies of the proposal for the sponsor and all that have signed as coordinators on the Proposal Internal Approval Form. The package is forwarded to the sponsor by courier. Be aware that many proposal deadlines are absolutely final, and that overnight delivery services cannot guarantee delivery by the next day. Also unforeseen circumstances such as equipment or server failure, absence of personnel or a heavy deadline submission day may impede OSP in processing your proposal in a timely manner if received the day of final submission. Therefore, we strongly recommend proposals be sent a few days prior to the deadline. The OSP file copy of the proposal is filed in the Pending file until notification is received from the Sponsor that the proposal is funded, withdrawn, or declined. Declined or withdrawn proposals are returned to the Principal Investigator.

Several of our Federal sponsors are now requiring electronic submission of part or all of the proposal. If you are submitting a proposal to an agency that requires electronic submission, you should contact your OSP team member early in the process. It is the PI's responsibility to input the proposal into the electronic module. OSP will review the proposal for accuracy and completeness and submit the final copy of your proposal electronically. It is imperative that enough time be given for complete and accurate review prior to submission. The electronic systems tend to be extremely busy the day of submission and failures have occurred, so give yourself a safety factor by starting your process early.

Occasionally, circumstances require that a proposal be withdrawn after it has been submitted to a sponsor. Please advise us when these situations occur so that a formal, written university withdrawal can be provided to the sponsor.

AWARD NEGOTIATION AND ACCEPTANCE
All accepted awards must be in the name of the University. Awards specifying individuals or organizations within the University are not acceptable. The signature accepting awards on behalf of the University must be that of a University official delegated by the authority of the Board of Visitors. Most award documents require some negotiation, and all awards must be signed by the University and the sponsor before the project begins. Technical negotiations are referred to the Principal Investigator for resolution. Negotiations related to fiscal and administrative matters are the responsibility of OSP. University policy and state and federal regulations must all be complied with in the terms and conditions of an award.

There are common contractual terms and conditions that are unacceptable to the University. These terms and conditions conflict with state law, our position as a non-profit institution, or university policies. The terms and conditions that commonly require resolution are:

                   *  Our contracts cannot be governed by the laws of another state.
                   *  By law, we cannot indemnify our sponsors, or hold harmless.
                   *  By law, we cannot give up title to intellectual properties that result from research if the effort involves any expenditure of state funds.
                   *  As an institution of higher education, we must preserve the right to publish the results of research done by faculty and students.

Once the award (award types defined), with its terms and conditions, is considered acceptable (negotiations may take days or even weeks), and both the sponsor and the University have signed the award, the proposal is assigned a fund number and entered into the University accounting system. The P.I. may not initiate work on a project without a firm commitment that this work will be supported. Such a commitment would be a signed, approved award from the sponsor or a written commitment from the department or college that they will assume any costs not covered by the award. OSP sends the P.I. and the department head notification that the project has been accepted and established. Work may begin on the project and costs may be charged to the fund. The Project Authorization Notice (PAN) will provide the name of the OSP team member assigned to support the P.I. in the administration of the project. This person will be the principal contact throughout the duration of the project unless notified otherwise. Please note that when possible, it is in the best interest of the Principal Investigator to use Virginia Tech's standard contracts to save time during the negotiation phase.  

AWARD ADMINISTRATION AND PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
The Project Authorization Notice (PAN) that we send you, accompanying your copy of the award document, will highlight terms and conditions of the document that you should pay particular attention to. The Principal Investigator is responsible for fulfilling whatever technical reporting requirements the sponsor sets. Please note the schedule and due dates of these reports. In the past, sponsors have held up funds while awaiting technical reports called for in their awards. OSP will be responsible for preparing and submitting whatever fiscal and administrative reports the sponsor requires.

The PI should note any restrictions placed by the sponsor on your expenditure of funds. Sponsors often require that they approve in advance expenditures for items such as foreign travel, equipment not already in the approved budget, general purpose equipment, subcontracting part of the project, or hiring outside consultants. Another key area of prior approval may involve a change in the amount of the principal investigator's effort to be spent on the project.

OSP is responsible for working with the sponsor to obtain approval for any items requiring the sponsor's prior consent. If you have a need to obtain prior approval, please contact your assigned OSP team member. The same holds true for all equipment requisitions and payment requests from subcontractors or consultants.

It is your responsibility as Principal Investigator to monitor the day-to-day fiscal performance of your project as well as the technical aspects of the job. We regularly provide you with information to make this part of your job easier. We will provide you with a fund statement on your project each month. In general, you should make sure that salaries and equipment are being charged accurately. If you spot any problems, we will work with you to make sure that cost transfers are done on a timely basis. If transfers are not made within 90 days (including 30 days to get through the university accounting system), University policy requires supporting justification in order for those transfers to be made. So please contact us as soon as possible.

We also review the project account statements and will let you know if we spot any problems. The key is to track your budget reports carefully. If you have spent 80 percent of your budget, are you roughly 80 percent finished with your project? Or have you had difficulties along the way? The earlier fiscal difficulties are spotted, the more likely they will be solved without major expenditures by your college or department.

If your project should be overspent, we will let you know that it has been flagged, which means that no additional expenditures can be made until the overdraft problem is solved. We'll be happy to work with you to clear up any problems, and, if necessary, transfer costs to the appropriate college overhead account.

The greatest percentage of costs for any research project is in salaries and benefits for the personnel directly involved in that project.  It is extremely important that you submit personnel forms, particularly the Personnel Activity Report (PAR), in a timely fashion, and that you fill these forms out carefully to assure that expenditures are correctly charged to your project. The same holds true for cost-sharing projects. We can't emphasize this enough.

If you find you will need a no-cost time extension on your project, we can work with the sponsor on that as well. But please let us know at least 90 days in advance of the award ending date for your research, to allow us to work with the sponsor to modify the award documents.

PROJECT CLOSEOUT
When your project is completed, OSP will prepare and send whatever documents the sponsor requires to close the project out. As a part of this process, you should know that we routinely request that title to any equipment purchased with sponsor funds be transferred to the university.

We will work with the auditors to provide any documentation they may need, and to answer any fiscal or administrative questions they may have.

Please be aware that many sponsors will not make final payments on awards until they have received the final technical report. So make sure to review your award document carefully, and issue your final technical report as soon as possible after you have completed your research.  A copy of the cover letter transmitting the final report should be sent to the appropriate OSP administrator for the University file.

NOTE: Departments are responsible for ensuring that all payroll paperwork is submitted in a timely fashion to remove personnel from the fund to be closed.

INDUSTRIAL SECURITY CLEARANCES
The Office of Sponsored Programs serves as the Industrial Security Office responsible for the issuing and maintaining of security clearances for faculty and staff and the safeguarding of classified material. The director of OSP, David Richardson, serves as the facilities security officer and Phaedra Lewis serves as the facilities security administrator. For all forms and materials related to security clearances, please visit our website at VT SECURITY.