Limited Submission funding

Process

The limited submission process is broken into multiple steps: announcement, proposal development, review, and notification.

Step 1

• Posting and announcement to campus
• 12 weeks before the sponsor submission deadline

Step 2

• Internal proposal submission
• 10 weeks before the sponsor submission deadline

Step 3

• Review and notification
• 8-9 weeks before sponsor submission deadline

Step 4

• Proposal Preparation and Submission to Sponsor
• 1 week before the sponsor submission deadline

Announcement

The Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) will announce limited funding opportunities through (1) posting on the OSP website, and (2) by direct e-mail to all faculty and staff via the faculty and staff e-mail distribution lists. The OSP’s goal is to announce limited submission opportunities at least twelve weeks prior to the sponsor’s submission deadline.

Proposal development

The OSP will attempt to align proposal preparation requirements with those of the sponsor. Generally, the following documents are required for internal review:

1. One (1) or two (2) page proposal summary and biographical sketch(es) for the PI and Co-PIs (if applicable)
2. If the proposal is a resubmission, include no more than one (1) page to the proposal summary indicating: (a) previous review score, and (b) a plan to address reviewer comments.
3. An acknowledgement memo from the Dean or designee is required in cases where school or college level financial or other resources are committed to meet cost-share or matching obligations.
4. Submit completed document as PDF attachment to: OSP-Limited_Submissions@nau.edu by the internal deadline referenced in the announcement. Please include the name of the funding opportunity in the subject line.
5. The OSP will notify the sender via reply e-mail upon receipt of the above materials.

The OSP’s goal is to set internal deadlines to submit the above referenced documents at least ten weeks prior to the sponsor’s deadline, pending release of the limited submission opportunity by the sponsor.

Review

The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) will conduct an internal review of the above referenced submitted documents if/when the number of interested applicants exceed the sponsor’s proposal submission limit. The purpose of the OVPR’s review is to select the most competitive proposal(s) to move forward to prepare a full proposal to submit to the sponsor.

The OVPR’s review is based on the sponsor’s criteria and thus differ for each limited opportunity program. Generally, review criteria will include, but is not limited to:

• PI and investigator team qualifications in the specific limited opportunity funding area, and if applicable, success leading multi-disciplinary/multi-institutional team efforts;
• The relevance or “match” between the proposed project and the limited opportunity program requirements;
• The impact or “importance” of the proposed project;
• Responsiveness to review comments from a previous submission, if applicable;
• The strength and completeness of the proposed team for large, complex proposals;
• The impact of proposed cost sharing on the University’s extant cost share exposure; and,
• Any other factors relevant and appropriate to the limited opportunity funding program such as cultural competency, public outreach efforts, inclusion of under represented groups, and quality of the evaluation design.

For all proposals, alignment with the university’s strategic objectives is considered.

Notification

Notifications of the selected proposal(s) will be sent to the applicant, the Dean’s Office (when cost share and other school/college resources are committed), the Associate Vice President for Sponsored Projects, and the assigned OSP Grant and Contract Administrator. Ideally, proposals are reviewed and applicants are notified in approximately 1-2 weeks after the internal submission deadline; however, in some cases (large quantity of applicants or large/complex proposals) additional time may be required.

Exceptions

While every effort is made to adhere to the procedures listed above, there are instances when the interval between becoming aware of a limited submission and the sponsor’s deadline makes it impractical to follow the process outlined above. In those cases, broad announcements may not be made, expedited reviews with limited or no feedback comments may be performed, and/or submission slots may be reserved for those with whom the university made a prior commitment.

Limited Submission opportunities

Current Limited Submission opportunities are updated weekly, but please be aware that it should not be considered comprehensive. Anyone who wishes to apply to a limited submission RFP that is not posted on this page, should contact OSP-Limited_Submissions@nau.edu, 928-523-4880. Limited Submission opportunities will be reviewed and an appropriate internal deadline will be established and posted.