Common Proposal Inquiries
LETTER OF INTENT / PRE-PROPOSAL PROCEDURE
There are two instances for Letters of Intent (LOIs) and pre-proposals that require a PINS record: (1) a budget is required, and (2) authorized university signatures / submission are required (including any submissions through NSF FastLane or NASA NSPIRES). For other LOIs / Pre-proposals, you may submit without involving the Research Office, but please notify the office that you have submitted. If you are unsure if you need a PINS, please contact the Research Office and we can give you a definitive answer.
COST SHARE
All cost share requests must go to the Department Head first. If cost share outside the department is required, the Associate Dean for Research will work with the the Department Head, the PI and other groups, including ORI, if necessary to negotiate the commitment. Please begin this process at least three weeks prior to submission.
EFFORT
Regardless of whether you ask for salary support in a proposal, for almost all sponsored projects, key personnel are required to have measurable effort on the project. Your effort consists of both your paid and unpaid effort. We recommend that you be conservative in your estimate of your effort on proposals projects. Exceptions to this are projects, such as equipment grants, that are solely for the procurement of an instrument and not to conduct a research project.
NIH effort is reported in person months per year. The minimum effort on a project is 1% of your time (For 9 month appointments, this is the equivalent of 0.09 months). For more information on calculating person months per year, please see the NIH’s FAQ on Person Months.
Given the level of detail now required, the Research Office is unable to help compile your Current & Pending document. It is suggested PIs use SciENcv for Current & Pending and the Biosketch given that it is now required by NSF and will soon be by other federal sponsors. Once it is set up it is easy to maintain. The library has staff who can provide assistance and link our SciENcv to your ORCID profile.
CURRENT AND PENDING SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION
Key Concepts:
- Templates and other forms can be found here: Disclosures in Federal Agency Forms.
- Sponsors generally utilize the current and pending support document for two purposes: 1) To ensure that an individual is not overcommitted (i.e. the sum of their effort commitments does not exceed 100%); and 2) To determine whether the proposed scope of work overlaps with other projects in the individual’s portfolio and resolve overlap, if necessary.
- The sum of an individual’s current and pending effort commitments (expressed as a percentage) may not exceed 100%
- All current project support from whatever source (e.g., Federal, State, local or foreign government agencies, public or private foundations, industrial or other commercial organizations) must be listed. Consulting must be included.
- NCSU funded projects should be included; NCSU startup funds should not be included.
- All projects or activities requiring a portion of the investigators’ time during the period of the proposed effort must be included, even if they receive no salary support from the project(s). This includes work for startup and other companies.
- For assistance with your current and pending support documentation, please contact pre-award.
PI ELIGIBILITY
If you would like for one of your employees, such as a research scholar, to be eligible to serve as a PI or co-PI, please review NC State’s policy on PI eligibility. Requests for PI status must be vetted by your Department Head, who should send the request to the College of Sciences Associate Dean for Research. This request should include a justification for why they should receive PI status. If approved by the Associate Dean for Research, this request will be forwarded to the central office for approval. Please be sure to make this request well ahead of the deadline to ensure there are no delays to your proposal submission.
Please note that NC State has a very specific policy about postdoctoral research associates serving as PI. If you have questions about this, please contact the Research Office.
SIGNATURES FROM INSTITUTIONAL OFFICIALS, SUCH AS CHANCELLOR, PROVOST, DEAN, ETC.
If your proposal requires signatures from any institutional official in the College (i.e. Dean or Associate Dean for Research) or University (i.e. Chancellor or Provost), please provided the completed documents to the Research Office no later than 2 weeks ahead of the proposal submission deadline.
Sponsor-specific Requirements and Templates:
NSF – National Science Foundation
- NSF Current and Pending form (Included with proposal submission)
- Required for each PI and all individuals listed as Senior Personnel. Each individual’s current & pending support must be uploaded as a single PDF file or inserted as text associated with that individual. Do include the proposed project. Put “(THIS PROPOSAL)” beside the proposed project title.
- All current project support from whatever source (e.g., Federal, State, local or foreign government agencies, public or private foundations, industrial or other commercial organizations, or internal funds allocated toward specific projects) must be listed. Additional support not listed in RADAR must also be included.
- List the total amount (direct and indirect costs for the entire award period) for each current and pending project
- Effort is expressed as person-months (i.e. academic, summer, or calendar). It will be the PI’s responsibility to fill in the effort (paid and/or unpaid) for each project.
NIH – National Institutes of Health Other Support
- Format page example: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/competing_othersupport.pdf The downloadable template can be found here: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html
- Not submitted with proposals. The document is required at the time that JIT (Just-In-Time) information is requested. The only time it is submitted with the proposal is when the solicitation states it.
- When requested, Other Support must be submitted for each PI and all individuals listed as Key Personnel
- Do NOT include the proposed project nor its predecessor, if the proposal is a competing continuation)
- For each project listed, include only the annual (or current year) direct cost total
- Effort is expressed as person-months (i.e. academic, summer, or calendar)
- A short description of each project should be included and overlap with the proposed project, if any, should be addressed.
- NIH biosketch
- Other Support
NASA – National Aeronautics & Space Administration
- NASA Current and Pending Template
- Included with proposal submission
- Required for PI. Also required for funded team members who are proposed to devote >10% of their time to the proposed work.
- Do NOT include the current proposal on the list of pending proposal unless it also has been submitted to another sponsor/agency.
- The following information is required:
- Title of award or project title;
- Name of PI on award;
- Program name (if appropriate) and sponsoring agency or organization, including a point of contact with his/her telephone number and email address;
- Period of performance;
- Total amount received by that investigator (including indirect costs) or the amount per year if uniform; and
- Effort expressed as person-months for each year (i.e. academic, summer, or calendar).
ARO – U.S. Army Research Office
- DOD Other Support Template
- Included with proposal submission
- Required for each PI and all individuals listed as Senior Personnel
- Do include the proposed project. Put “(THIS PROPOSAL)” beside the proposed project title.
- The information should include, as a minimum:
- The project/proposal title and brief description;
- The name and location of the organization or agency presently funding the work or requested to fund such work;
- The award amount or annual dollar volume of the effort;
- The period of performance; and
- Effort expressed as person-months (i.e. academic, summer, or calendar).
ONR – Office of Naval Research
- DOD Other Support Template
- Included with proposal submission
- Required for each PI and all individuals listed as Senior Personnel
- Do include the proposed project. Put “(THIS PROPOSAL)” beside the proposed project title.
- Effort expressed as person-months (i.e. academic, summer, or calendar)
- The following information is required:
- Title of Proposal and Summary;
- Source and amount of funding (annual direct costs; provide contract and/or grant numbers for current contracts/grants);
- Percentage of effort devoted to each project;
- Identity of prime Offeror and complete list of subawards, if applicable;
- Technical contact (name, address, phone/fax, email address);
- Administrative/business contact (name, address, phone/fax, email address);
- Period of performance;
- The proposed project and all other projects or activities requiring a portion of time of the Principal Investigator and other senior personnel must be included, even if they receive no salary support from the project(s);
- The total award amount (including indirect costs) as well effort in person-months; and
- State how projects are related to the proposed effort and indicate degree of overlap.
AFOSR – Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- DOD Other Support Template
- Included with proposal submission.
- Required for each PI and all individuals listed as Senior Personnel.
- Effort expressed as person-months (i.e. academic, summer, or calendar).
- Each current and pending proposal must include a short abstract that includes the title, objectives, approach, and budget.
- The following information is required:
- Title of the research;
- Name of the agency;
- The proportion of time to be devoted to the project;
- The amount of support; and
- Period of performance.
AMRMC/CDMRP – U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command
- CDMRP Current and Pending template
- This includes proposal submission to the Congressional Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).
- Included with proposal submissions.
- Required for each PI and all individuals listed as Key Personnel.
- Do NOT include the current proposal on the list of pending proposal unless it also has been submitted to another sponsor/agency.
- Effort is expressed as person-months (i.e. academic, summer, or calendar).
- For all previous awards, please only include those projects with an award period of performance ending within the past 5 years.
- The following information is required:
- Title;
- Time commitments;
- Supporting agency;
- Name and address of the funding agency’s procuring Contracting/Grants Officer;
- Period of performance;
- Level of funding;
- Brief description of the project’s goals;
- List of specific aims; and
- Identify where the proposed project overlaps with other existing and pending research projects, if applicable. Clearly state if there is no overlap.
DOE – U.S. Department of Energy
- Template – Coming soon
- This includes proposal submissions to the Office of Science.
- Included with proposal submission.
- Required for each PI and all individuals listed as Senior/Key personnel.
- The document is provided as an appendix to the project narrative.
- Concurrent submission of an application to other organizations for simultaneous consideration will not prejudice its review.
- Effort is expressed as person-months (i.e. academic, summer, or calendar).
- The following information is required:
- The sponsor of the activity or the source of funding;
- The award or other identifying number;
- The title of the award of activity;
- The total costs or value of the award or activity, including direct and indirect costs. For pending proposals, provide the total amount of requested funding; and
- The person-months of effort per year being dedicated to the award or activity.
Current and Pending Summary of Requirements by federal agency:
NSF | NIH | NASA | ARO | ONR | AFOSR | AMRMC/
CDMRP | DOE | |
Submitted with Proposal? | Yes | No. Only at time of JIT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Persons to be Reported? | PI and all Key Personnel | PI and all Key Personnel | PI and all Key Personnel | PI and all Key Personnel | PI and all Key Personnel | PI and all Key Personnel | PI and all Key Personnel | PI and all Key Personnel |
Include the Proposed Project? | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Award Amount? | Direct and indirect cost for the entire award | Annual or current year direct cost | Direct and indirect cost for the entire award | Direct and indirect cost for the entire award | Direct and indirect cost for the entire award | Direct and indirect cost for the entire award | Direct and indirect cost for the entire award | Direct and indirect cost for the entire award |
Effort Expressed As? | Person – months | Person – months | Person – months | Person – months | Person – months | Person – months | Person – months | Person – months |
Resources
National Science Foundation. “Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide, January 2017.”
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Service. “PHS 398 Grant Application.”
NASA. “2016 NRA and CAN Proposers’ Guidebook.”
NASA. “Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences 2017 (ROSES-2017).”