3. Proposal Deadlines set by UA Policy (Office of the Vice
    President for Research)

ERAS must comply with rules established by the Office of VPR, SPS, and ORCA. Please contact these units for further policy explanations. ERAS is not allowed to grant waivers for these requirements. 

Policy

          "Electronic proposals must be submitted to Sponsored Projects Services (SPS) in final form three (3)-business days prior to the sponsor deadline.  As a consequence, SPS will need to review and approve budgets and other relevant routing sheet requirements prior to three-business day proposal deadline.  Be advised that your college may have additional deadline requirements. [For the College of Engineering, ERAS requires eight (8) business days]
          Non-electronic proposals including proposal routing sheet, cover page, budget and budget justification must be submitted to SPS for approval three-business days prior to the sponsor deadline.

Rationale:

   All Federal agencies currently are required to transition to Grants.gov online proposal submission.

  SPS review of Grants.gov proposal submissions takes significantly longer, even if the budget has been reviewed and approved by fax.  SPS must open each form/file, which can take up to one hour per proposal (substantially longer than one hour if the routing sheet and budget have not been faxed prior to submission).

  In many cases, SPS and the PI must follow up on proposal issues/errors for up to one week after the initial submission, and for each submission/re-submission, the PI and SPS must complete a series of steps to finalize the submission.  Although the NIH currently offers a 2-business day window for each re-submission, the NIH will remove this window in the near future, and will require that all errors be resolved by the deadline date.  Submitting the proposal on the deadline date will no longer be an option. 

Each federal agency has a dramatically different way of handling electronic submission, from an easy file upload (Department of Energy) to more complicated procedures, with multiple steps, for the PI and SPS (NIH and HRSA). The change in workload impacts all proposals, regardless of submission format (paper or electronic).  Thus, a 3-business day deadline prior to the sponsor deadline will:

  Be transparent for paper proposals.  Many faculty and departments send the Proposal Routing Sheet (PRS), Abstract, and Budget to SPS via fax more than 3 days before their deadline.  SPS allows faxed signatures on the PRS, which reduces the routing time for paper submissions. 

  Allow SPS to prioritize workload for online submissions, without sacrificing on-time submission.  To date, there have been no late Grants.gov submissions, but, as the submission window shrinks, SPS will have less time to review, correct errors and submit each proposal. The new 3-business day deadline will streamline submission process and prevent missed opportunities."

Indirect Cost Waivers Requiring VPR Approval Deadlines

Policy

       "Indirect cost waivers that require VPR approval must be submitted to  Sponsored Projects Services, with all required documentation, 5-business days in advance of the SPS proposal deadline.   SPS will route to the VPR office for approval.

       Indirect cost waivers must include the signatures of the PI, the Department Head, and the Dean on the proposal routing sheet.  The Dean’s Office approval may not be delegated to departments. Required documentation includes: a copy of the sponsor indirect cost stipulation; budget and budget justification; and a waiver justification, which includes identifying the benefit to the University for accepting the project at the reduced rate.

       Indirect cost waivers must be approved by the OVPR prior to the SPS proposal submission deadline."

Publication Waiver Requests

       "Publication waiver requests should be submitted to the Office of Research and Contract Analysis (ORCA)."