As is the case in many Universities, the administration of grants within SAS is primarily the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (PI), assisted by the Director of Research in the Office of Research and Graduate Education. In addition, support is also provided by the business staff assigned to the PI's department. At SAS, the Business Office provides guidance and direction to departmental staff as necessary.

Grant proposals and the pre-award process are handled by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP), and in the case of private grants, by the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations.  The post-award process is managed by Grant and Contract Accounting (GCA)

Grant proposal preparation takes considerable time and effort.

Proposal preparation guidelines:

Grant Submission Timeline:

5 days prior to Sponsor Due Date

RAPSS Funding Proposal should be entered along with budget and all administrative requirements into the portal and approved by all three reviewer levels.

  • Final proposal excluding final science
  • Final budget with budget justifications

At this time the Specialist will review documents and reach out to PI and department administrator for required additions and/or corrections.

2 days prior to grant submission

Note, if proposal is not submitted to ORSP by the two (2) business day deadline, an exception request must be sent by the PI to the Associate Vice President for Research Administration () along with a CC to your Grant Specialist with a justification to why the proposal cannot meet the required deadline.

  • Final Science must be submitted to ORSP
    • Project Summary/Abstract
    • Project Narrative
    • Bibliography and References Cited
    • Facilities and Other Resources
    • Specific Aims
    • Research Strategy
  • Completed Conflict of Interest (COI) Disclosure Form
    • For all PIs, a disclosure must be on file and active (submitted within the last 12 months) at the time of proposal submission.

Once your ORSP specialist reviews the proposal, the Grant Specialist may request changes.

Day of Submission

All changes requested by ORSP must be completed and returned to ORSP on the day of the sponsor deadline.

Notice of Award:

When a grant has been awarded, the department will receive a Notice of Award from GCA.  The department is responsible for understanding the terms and conditions of the award and for establishing award salary charging expenses for the grant.  Please visit GCA's Policies and Procedures, for more details regarding the Notice of Award.

Grants from several Federal agencies are administered under Expanded Authorities, allowing GCA to approve rebudgeting and various other changes to the award.  If the grant is not under Expanded Authority, formal requests to the agency are usually required.

Many of the functions that GCA provides are handled using an Institutional Prior Approval System (IPAS).

This form must be completed for approval of pre-award spending (up to 90 days prior to the official start date of an award), continuation funding (including no cost extensions), etc.

Every department has an assigned GCA staff member.  While the daily project administration is handled at the department level, the GCA staff is available for inquiries and assistance.

Every department also has an ORSP staff person individually assigned to them.  They are available for inquiries and assistance regarding the pre-award process.