Many sponsors have published deadlines.  Information of deadlines and how to prepare a proposal can be found here.

NIH Standard Due Dates for Competing Proposals

NSF Active Funding Opportunities

The IO (Institutional Official) is an individual named by Stanford, who is authorized to act for the institution, and to assume the obligations imposed by federal, state and local laws, regulations, requirements and conditions, as well as Stanford policy that applies to a proposal and award.

The IO reviews, endorses, signs and submits proposals to the sponsor on behalf of Stanford. In signing a proposal and in accepting a corresponding award, this individual certifies that Stanford will comply with the assurances and certifications referenced in the application. 

This individual's signature further certifies that Stanford will be accountable both for appropriate use of funds awarded and performance of the sponsored project activities resulting from the application.

To create a timeline to ensure the proposal is submitted to the sponsor on time, learn about the routing and institutional review procedure and time for your school here, Routing & Institutional Review. Keep in mind, reviews do not have to be sequential.  If you know a proposal will require a special approval, e.g., an indirect cost waiver or waiver for PIship, initiate those requests as soon as possible. Remember Stanford’s internal deadline is a critical element. Understand what is required by reading the Non School of Medicine and School of Medicine Internal Proposal Deadline Policy and FAQs below.

Non School of Medicine Internal Proposal Deadline Policy and FAQs

• OSR Internal Proposal Deadline Policy
• FAQs Clarifying the University Proposal Policy
• Sample NSF Fastlane Administrative vs. Technical Sections

School of Medicine Internal Proposal Deadline Policy and FAQs

Suggested Timeline for Proposal Routing

The PI and support staff prepare the proposal in time for routing through department and school channels for approval.

30 days or more to prepare the proposal budget

RMG requests a 30-day or more advance notification (School of Medicine only).

Check eProtocol for panel schedule

If the proposal has an extremely high probability of being awarded soon, request a protocol approval by Stanford compliance panels when the research involves human subjects, stem cells, animal subjects, or hazardous substances.

Check PI Eligibility and Exceptions

Request a PI waiver for procedures specific to your school.

Check with your school for time required to request a waiver of F&A costs

The Dean of Research will consider requests for F&A cost waivers in very limited circumstances. The PI should initiate the request for approval first to her department chair and school dean's office. If approval is obtained, the request must be sent to the Dean of Research Office for approval.

For projects administered within the School of Medicine, the request must be sent to the Dean of the School of Medicine through the Research Management Group once it is approved by the PI’s department chair.

10 days prior to sponsor deadline

The PI routes the completed proposal to her school department and dean for review and approval. The proposal must be accompanied by a Proposal Development Routing Form (PDRF). The PI and others (department and school officers) sign and route the PDRF electronically within the Stanford Electronic Research Administration (SeRA) system.

5 days prior to sponsor deadline

The school routes the approved proposal and PDRF to the institutional official. 

By 5:00 PM local time on the sponsor's deadline date

The the institutional official (OSR, RMG, OTL) will review, endorse and submit the proposal to the sponsor. It will be submitted via Grants.Gov for federal sponsor

Your department and school research administration team can help you. 

Proposal submission

Your Institutional Representative is responsible for the submitting proposals.

Once you complete it, send the proposal to your Institutional Representative  The Institutional Rep is the individual, named by Stanford University, who is authorized to act for the organization and to assume the obligations imposed by federal, state, and local laws, regulations, requirements, conditions as well as University policies that apply to the proposal and award.

In signing a proposal application and in accepting a corresponding award, this individual certifies that the applicant organization will comply with all applicable assurances and certifications referenced in the application. This individual's signature on the proposal application further certifies that the applicant organization will be accountable both for appropriate use of funds awarded and for the performance of the sponsored project activities resulting from the application.

Who is my Institutional Representative?

The Office for Sponsored Research (OSR) serves as the Institutional Representative for the University and is responsible for the submitting proposals. 

In the School of Medicine, the Research Management Group is responsible for preparing the entire budget and also serves as the Institutional Representative.

For industry awards (excluding clinical trials) the Institutional Representative is the Industrial Contracts Office.

Key points to consider are:

• Stanford salary is allocated on the basis of a distribution of TOTAL effort (FTE), including teaching, research activities, University citizenship, etc.

• No one has more than 100% and most Schools require that a specified % be reserved for non-sponsored activity.

• A faculty member who is on a nine-month appointment may be paid from federal and/or non-federal sponsored projects for no more than 90% during any of the summer months. Salary charged to sponsored projects during the summer months must be consistent with effort expended during the same period.

• Stanford University requires a commitment of effort on the part of the Principal Investigator during the period in which the work is being performed. This effort may be expended during the academic year, summer quarter only, or both.

Effort committed in a proposal, awarded by the sponsor, and expended on the project must be matched with an equivalent salary charge either directly to the sponsor, or to a cost-sharing account, or to some combination of these.

Steps to Obtain Approval

The Dean of Research will consider requests for F&A cost waivers in very limited circumstances. The PI’s Research Administrator and the PI should initiate the request, and it must be approved by the PI and the PI’s school dean's office before being sent for approval to the Dean of Research.  This can be done electronically in SeRA on the budget page.  See: IDC Waiver User Guide.

For projects administered within the School of Medicine, the Research Administrator and the PI should coordinate the request with their Research Process Manager (RPM) in the Research Management Group.  The RPM will submit the request to the Director of the Research Management Group for review/approval where it will be reviewed and approved as appropriate.

For projects administered within the School of Engineering, the request must be sent to Engineering Research Administration prior to being routed to the school dean or Dean of Research. Please review the ERA Job Aid.

For procedures specific to your school view PI Eligibility and Exceptions in the Research and Scholarship section of this website.

If an F&A cost waiver is approved at 0%, the PI is still responsible Stanford’s infrastructure charge. 

The negotiated Facility and Administrative rate (F&A) is applied based on the type of activity  proposed and the location, on or off campus, or a combination:

• Research
• Instruction
• Other Sponsored Activity
• Animal Care
• Non-Federal Clinical Trial Rate

F&A Bases

The F&A rate is applied to a base, i.e., a specified subset of project costs:

Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC)

This is the  most common base, and it includes all costs with certain exclusions.  If a project is bearing the full negotiated  F&A  rate, that rate is always applied to the MTDC base.

MTDC Exclusions:

• Capital equipment
• SLAC services
• Tuition
• Cost of renting/leasing project space or equipment
• Portion of each subaward over $25K
• Student aid support (stipends)
• Patient care costs
• Participant support costs
• Animal care/VSC costs
• Entire cost of renovation/construction projects over $50K

   

New Proposals

The negotiated F&A rate(s) is used and applied to the appropriate F&A base.

Continuation Proposals

The awarded rate is fixed for the life of the project and is used in all continuation year proposals.

Competitive Renewal Proposals

The negotiated F&A rate(s) is used and applied to the appropriate F&A base.