Proposals
Many sponsors have published deadlines. Information of deadlines and how to prepare a proposal can be found here.
Many sponsors have published deadlines. Information of deadlines and how to prepare a proposal can be found here.
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.
OSR (Office of Sponsored Research) |
RMG (Research Management Group) |
ICO (Industrial Contracts Office) |
|
---|---|---|---|
Proposals |
All Stanford University proposals except the School of Medicine | School of Medicine proposals | None |
Awards |
All awards except those handled by RMG and ICO | Basic grants, fellowships and industry sponsored clinical trials for School of Medicine | Industry sponsored contracts except clinical trials |
Subawards |
All, except those under industry sponsored clinical trials | Industry sponsored clinical trials | None |
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
School of Medicine Internal Proposal Deadline Policy and FAQs
The PI and support staff prepare the proposal in time for routing through department and school channels for approval.
RMG requests a 30-day or more advance notification (School of Medicine only).
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.
Request a PI waiver for procedures specific to your school.
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.
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.
The school routes the approved proposal and PDRF to the institutional official.
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.
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.
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.
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:
The F&A rate is applied to a base, i.e., a specified subset of project costs:
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.
The negotiated F&A rate(s) is used and applied to the appropriate F&A base.
The awarded rate is fixed for the life of the project and is used in all continuation year proposals.
The negotiated F&A rate(s) is used and applied to the appropriate F&A base.