Proposal Submission Policy

Proposal Submission Policy

Exceptions - New Process Effective 7/1/2026

Each College and Institute may use its annually allotted vouchers to grant exceptions to this policy.  Approval of exceptions will be rare and rests with the College Dean or Campus Interdisciplinary Research Institute Director where the grant would be housed.  

Authority to approve exceptions may be delegated to a single Associate Dean or Associate/Deputy Director. When the exception request comes from a college, the endorsement of the unit executive officer of the PI’s home department should be included in the exception approval request.  If a Dean is a PI or Co-PI, the Provost must approve the request.  If an Institute Director is a PI or Co-PI, approval must be given by the Dean of their home college, even if the proposal goes through the Institute.

If a college or institute has exhausted its annual allotment of vouchers and an extenuating circumstance arises, the Dean or Institute Director may endorse an additional exception request. In such cases, the request must be submitted by the Dean or Institute Director to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation (SVCRI) who will make the final determination to grant an exception.   

For all exceptions, SPA requires a copy of the College/Institute approval email to be submitted as an attachment with the proposal. In addition, when an exception is approved, the proposing unit must ensure an appropriate representative is available to respond to questions or required changes to the proposal, through final submission.

Details

• The PI and unit are responsible for submitting a complete proposal that is compliant with the Sponsor's guidelines.
• A proposal is considered complete if it meets two criteria:
  1. It is submitted FOUR business days prior to the sponsor's deadline.
  2. It includes all the documents noted in the table below.
• The proposal deadlines calculator should be used to identify the submission deadline to SPA.
• A full day means business hours from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• The Sponsor deadline date does not count as one of the four lead-time days.
• Typical Submission Deadline Example
  Sponsor deadline: Friday, August 1, 5:00 p.m.
  Day 4 = Monday, July 28, 8:30 a.m.
  Day 3 = Tuesday, July 29, 8:30 a.m.
  Day 2 = Wednesday, July 30, 8:30 a.m.
  Day 1 = Thursday, July 31
• The deadline to submit to SPA will shift depending on the sponsor's deadline. The four business days are calculated by business hours. If your sponsor's deadline is anything other than 5:00 p.m. Central Time, please use the proposal deadlines calculator to determine your precise submission deadline.
• SPA's business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. SPA will not submit proposals after 5:00 p.m. on the sponsor due date, regardless of the sponsor's deadline time.
• Once a proposal has been submitted to the sponsor, SPA will not make any changes or corrections to the submission package unless the sponsor requests changes or there are significant changes to the solicitation that require resubmission.
• If your proposal requires a letter or certification from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, the request must be submitted to OVCRI a minimum of three business days in advance of the SPA submission deadline.

Proposal Review Level

• On-time proposals will receive a comprehensive review for compliance with institutional and sponsor requirements prior to submission.
• Late proposals with exception approval will receive a limited review to ensure they meet institutional requirements. However, they may not be checked for compliance with sponsor requirements. If submitted to SPA on the sponsor’s deadline day, they will receive either a cursory review or no review before submission. SPA cannot guarantee the review will be complete or the proposal will be error free or result in a submission failure.  SPA will not submit proposals received less than two business hours prior to the sponsor deadline; for deadlines outside normal business hours, 5:00 p.m. will be used as the effective deadline (e.g., an 11:59 p.m. deadline requires submission to SPA by 3:00 p.m.)
• Pre-proposals (white papers, letter of intent, etc.) must go through SPA if the submission requires either the signature of an authorized representation or submission by an authorized representative.Proposal Update and Just-In-Time (JIT) Requests

• Proposal Update and Just-In-Time (JIT) Requests  Requests from a Sponsor for revised and/or updated information prior to the issuance of an award are typically time sensitive and are not subject to the 4-day proposal submission policy. 

   

Proposal Items and Timeline