Pre-Award

Reviewing a Funding Solicitation [aka Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), Funding Mechanism, Request for Applications (RFA), Request for Proposals (RFP), Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)] is the first important step in the proposal preparation process.  The solicitation will define the requirements for the application and submission process and provide important information such as deadlines, eligibility, required attachments, etc.  Formatting and guidance will vary by sponsor, but the table below provides many basic elements that can be used as a checklist when reviewing most solicitations.

RESOURCE: Learn more about NIH funding opportunities at the NIH Grants & Funding webpage.

[create annotated FOAs for major sponsors – NIH, NSF, DoEd]

Overview

Building a budget for a grant application is a collaborative process between the PI and research administrator.  After reviewing the solicitation and/or sponsor requirements, drafting the budget is often the next important step in the proposal planning process.  The budget should be a reasonable and justifiable request that aligns with project aims and scope.  It is the research administrator’s role to steward the budgeting process by being familiar with the applicable requirements and guidelines.

Specific budgeting principles are discussed below. For detailed instructions to create a budget in Huron please refer to the Huron Budget section on this page.

Personnel

Personnel costs include salaries, wages, and fringe benefits for all paid participants on sponsored projects.

Institutional Base Salary

Institutional Base Salary (IBS) is comprised of all components of an individual’s pay. This might include income from an academic appointment, University Physicians Group (UPG), or UVA Medical Center. IBS does not include incentive payments, bonuses, or rewards & recognitions; however, it does include ongoing supplemental pay (e.g., for appointment as a department chair).

QRG: IBS Report in UBI

Fringe Benefits Rate

Fringe benefits are allowances and services provided by employers to their employees as compensation in addition to regular salaries and wages.  Fringe benefits include, but are not limited to, the costs of leave, employee insurance, pensions, and unemployment benefit plans.  Except in unique situations outlined by a sponsor’s solicitation or policies, the costs of fringe benefits are allowable on sponsored projects.

UVA’s fringe benefits rates are negotiated with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).  [Note: The UVA faculty fringe rate is applicable to all Faculty and Professional Research Staff.]

[add MC rate PDF] UVA Medical Center’s fringe benefits rates.

Salary Cap

A salary cap is a limitation on the direct salary that can be charged to a Sponsored Award for any individual project personnel.  If an individual’s IBS is higher than the stated salary cap, the grant budget should be based on the salary cap.  The department/unit is responsible for covering the salary-over-the-cap (SOC) overage as cost share.  Upon award, OSP will establish a separate Award Line (GR) for the SOC expenses.  Salary caps vary by sponsor and program and it is important to review the solicitation and/or award guidelines for any applicable salary cap.  If no salary cap is defined, then budgeting should be based on the individual’s full IBS.

Effort

Effort is the amount of time devoted to a specific activity including, but not limited to, sponsored projects, clinical care, and teaching/administrative duties; it is represented as a percentage of a full-time appointment (100%). Examples of typical faculty appointments might be: 80% research, 15% clinical, and 5% administrative; or 60% teaching, 20% research, and 20% administrative.  When faculty apply for research awards, they commit a certain portion of their effort to that project and salary is budgeted commensurate with that effort.

Some sponsors utilize “person months” instead of percentages to express effort.  A person month is a calculated unit based on the type of appointment and effort percentage.  The basis of a person month is either a calendar year (CY; 12-month appointment), academic year (AY; 9-month appointment), and/or summer term (SM; 3-month appointment).

RESOURCE: How to Calculate a “Person Month”

UVA tracks effort in an online platform called the Payroll Allocation Confirmation (PAC) System. Faculty must certify their payroll allocations bi-annually in the PAC System which is based on regularly maintained costing allocations in the WorkDay Financial System.  The certified payroll allocation represents the commensurate salary charged to a Sponsored Award for a specified effort amount.

Other Than Personnel Services (OTPS)

All costs other that salary and fringe benefits are referred to as “other than personnel services” (OTPS). This includes cost categories such as materials and supplies, animals, core facilities, tuition, equipment, travel, etc.  Check sponsor guidance for allowable cost categories on any proposal or award.

Direct Costs

Direct Costs (DC) are expenses that can be identified specifically with a particular cost objective/program by applying the reasonability, allocability, and allowability principles. Some examples of standard DC are research personnel salaries, supplies, equipment, travel, graduate student researcher compensation, tuition reimbursement, patient care costs, etc.​

UVA PROCEDURE:  Budgeting Direct Costs of Sponsored Programs

Indirect Costs

Indirect Costs (IDC; aka Overhead or Facilities and Administrative (F&A)) are any cost not directly identified with a specific project or activity, but incurred for the joint benefit of multiple projects, activities, and/or the institution.  Examples of resources funded by IDC are:

• Buildings​​ and Utilities
• Operations and Maintenance​
• General Administration​
• Administrative Personnel
• Sponsored Projects Administration​
• Office and Custodial supplies

UVA has a negotiated IDC rate that is applied to research grant budgets. Exceptions may be granted if a sponsor or solicitation clearly defines an IDC rate for the research program.  UVA has defined rates for activities classified in the categories of instruction, research, other sponsored activities, and industry-funded clinical trials.

JOB AID:  IDC Decision Tree

[add IDC Examples]

Indirect Cost Base

The indirect cost base determines which direct cost categories encumber indirect costs. The base is calculated on either Total Direct Costs (TDC) or Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), which excludes certain cost categories.

Total Direct Costs

Total Direct Costs includes all cost categories in a project budget.

Modified Total Direct Costs

Modified Total Direct Costs is a term used most frequently for federal grant and contract proposals. Standard MTDC excludes equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, rental costs, tuition remission, scholarships and fellowships, participant support costs and the portion of each subaward in excess of $25,000.

RESOURCE:  Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) Exclusions

Other sponsors may define a modified indirect cost base that differs from standard MTDC.  Check sponsor guidelines and solicitation instructions to confirm the indirect cost base.

RESOURCE: F&A Base Type Calculations Examples [link]
Budget Justification

The budget justification is a narrative description of the proposed costs.  It generally addresses each of the major cost categories (i.e., salaries, fringe benefits, equipment, travel, supplies, other direct costs, and indirect costs), however, the requirements may vary by sponsor, so it is important to review the solicitation prior to drafting the budget justification.

Helpful Tips

• Organize the budget justification listing items in the same order and format as the sponsor’s budget categories.
• Only include budgeted items and/or what is required in the solicitation (e.g., NSF will disqualify a proposal if contributed items are listed and NIH modular budgets only require justification for personnel and not OTPS)
• Do not include expenses not requested in the budget (e.g., institutional resources or voluntary cost share)
• Line items should match the amounts listed in the budget – double check everything.
• Explain why items are essential to meeting the goals of the project.
• Provide detailed justification; do not merely restate the proposed expenditure.
• Include quotes if applicable (e.g., equipment, services)
• Explain any exclusions applied to the IDC base calculation

Common Mistakes

• Mis-identification/omission of personnel roles and/or effort
• Insufficient detail for personnel activities
• Listing personnel effort in percentages instead of person months
• Mis-identification of capital/non-capital equipment

[insert link to Budget Justification templates https://portal.ithriv.org/#/resource/2113]

[insert links to school budget templates]

Initiate Funding Proposal

Prior to the submission of a grant proposal to an external sponsor, several institutional requirements must be met, the most important of which are the initiation of a Funding Proposal (FP) in UVA’s electronic proposal routing, budget development, and system-to-system submission platform (known as ResearchUVA Powered by Huron) and the approval of that FP and the associated grant proposal by the submitting unit (either the schools with delegated submission authority or the central Office of Sponsored Programs).

The Funding Proposal consists of two main components – the Proposal SmartForms, a series of questions designed to gather basic information about the proposal and the research to be accomplished, and the Budget SmartForms.  For most federal sponsors (like NIH and DoD), the information provided in the Proposal and Budget SmartForms will populate into the application package (SF424 forms).  Through the Ancillary Review process, the Funding Proposal also captures Principal Investigator (PI), participating investigator/collaborator, department, and School-level approvals for the submission.  Investigator Compliance requirements can also be reviewed and tracked from within the Funding Proposal.

RESOURCE: Huron Resources & Learning

[create video]

Complete Funding Proposal Budget

Once the FP has been created, the system automatically creates both a Proposal Workspace and a Budget Workspace (with the name of the Direct Sponsor, which can be overwritten).  The Workspaces provide summary information for each component and facilitate navigation to other parts of the Huron system.

The Budget SmartForm is completed from within the Budget Workspace.  The information from the completed Budget SmartForm will populate into the application package for system-to-system submissions.  External/outgoing subaward budgets are also created from within the Budget Workspace using the Create Subaward activity.  Additional budgets (such as for cost share and internal subprojects) can also be created within the Budget Workspace as necessary for internal financial management and tracking.

RESOURCE: Huron Resources & Learning

[create video]

For most NIH and DoD proposals (and some other federal sponsors like HRSA, AHRQ, etc), the application package (SF424 Forms package) is created from within the Proposal Workspace and is populated with the information from the completed Proposal SmartForm and Budget SmartForm.  [Add info about non S2S proposals]

RESOURCE: Huron Resources & Learning

[create video]

[link to application guides, NIH, NSF, etc]

Most non-federal and other sponsors (and some of the larger federal multi-component submissions and NSF) require application packages to be completed in their own specified electronic portal or by other defined processes. Some of the more common examples include:

1. National Science Foundation utilizes Research.gov for all proposal submissions.
2. The National Institutes of Justice uses a 2-step submission method: Grants.gov (Workspace) and JustGrants.
3. The US Department of Defense uses eBRAP for pre-applications and Grants.gov (Workspace) for full applications.
4. Proposal Central is used by the American Heart Association, Alzheimer’s Association, American Cancer Society, and other foundations.
5. Other funders, such as the Spencer Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, and the John Templeton Foundation have their own submission portals.
6. Many smaller sponsors allow proposal submission by email, rather than through an electronic portal.

Ideally, a copy of the final proposal from the sponsor’s portal or submission process is uploaded into the Huron Funding Proposal as it gets routed internally for review, if the reviewer does not have access to the sponsor’s portal. Most non-federal sponsors do not have an institutional login, so your unit’s proposal reviewer/submitter will need access to the proposal in the sponsor’s system. The proposal in the sponsor’s portal should not be submitted until approval has been granted by the institution’s submitting authority.

Some portal submission systems do not allow the proposal to be uploaded and saved for later review. Work with your proposal reviewer on the best way to accomplish the review.

Some sponsors require proposal submission by email. Contact your unit’s reviewer for specific submission instructions. A copy of the email should be uploaded into the Huron funding proposal.

Incoming subawards involve UVA receiving funding as a subcontractor from a pass-through entity (PTE). The Prime Sponsor is often a foundation or federal agency that has awarded funds directly to the PTE. Incoming subawards require submission of an abbreviated Funding Proposal package and Budget in the Huron system.

RESOURCE: Determine the difference between a subcontractor and a vendor

The PTE often defines the documents required for a subaward proposal package.  The study team should connect with the administrative team at the PTE as early as possible to determine the requirements, including the deadline for submission to the PTE (which is often days/weeks in advance of the deadline for submission to the prime sponsor).  The Funding Proposal must be reviewed and approved by the UVA submitting office as with all other outgoing proposals and must follow all standard internal deadlines and processes.

Common Documentation Requirements

• Consortium Commitment Form or Institutional Letter of Intent (the PTE usually provides a preferred form/format)
• UVA-specific Statement of Work
• Budget
• Budget Justification
• Facilities and Resources
• Major Equipment
• Biosketches/CVs
• PI Letter of Support
• IACUC or IRB, if applicable
• Institutional Rate Agreement

The Ancillary Review process is used in ResearchUVA to capture PI, participating investigator/collaborator, department, and School-level approvals for proposal submission.  It can also be used to capture approvals for specific situations such as cost share, PI eligibility, or F&A waivers.  From the Proposal Workspace, these approvals are initiated through the “Manage Ancillary Review” activity by the PI, departmental grants administrator, project team member, or the central office at various points throughout the workflow.  The assigned Ancillary Reviewer will receive a notification from the system to  complete (or manage) an Ancillary Review once it has been requested.

Quick Reference Guide: Ancillary Reviews

Submission processes vary depending on the responsible submitting unit.  The Schools of Engineering, Education, and Medicine have delegated submission authority for most Pre-Award and Award Management actions.  All other units submit through the Office of Sponsored Programs.  Please check the roles and responsibilities matrix or the below tables for details on the submission processes in your area.

Just-in-Time (JIT) is a process to collect time-sensitive information that is not included in the original grant application. Submission of JIT material usually occurs after application review, but before an award is made.  Although NIH’s eRA Commons system issues automated JIT request emails to all applications scoring at a certain threshold, JIT should not be submitted until a specific request is received from a Grants or Program Officer.  Early submission of JIT may result in duplicated effort, as materials may expire or the Program staff may request additional information not included in the automated notice.

Carefully review all requested information and submit a consolidated response to ensure efficient processing of award materials. In cases where regulatory materials (IRB, IACUC, etc) are not available at the time of JIT request, communicate the expected approval date or process to the sponsor’s Program staff as part of the JIT submission.

Common JIT materials requested:

• Other Support (current/pending)
• Regulatory requirements (IRB, IACUC, GWAS)
• Budget revision
• Confirmation of institutional information (EIN, F&A rate, etc)

JIT processes differ by submitting unit.  Be sure to check with the submitting office (OSP, SOMOGC, SEAS OPRA, EHD) to determine the appropriate process based on sponsor submission method (online platform, email, etc).

RESOURCE: Learn more about NIH Just In Time procedures at the NIH Grants Policy webpage.

Advance/Preliminary Accounts (at-risk) allow units to apply expenses to a project-specific financial account before an award letter/contract is received and/or finalized by OSP.  Advance Accounts can be used to allow study staff to begin work on a project during protracted contract negotiations, to accommodate pre-award costs as allowed by certain sponsors, or to capture startup fees related to research study initiation.

Advance Extension Accounts (at-risk) allow units to continue applying expenses to a project-specific financial account before a continuation award letter/contract is received and/or finalized by OSP.  Advance Extension Accounts are most frequently used to accommodate ongoing work on incoming subawards or other annually renewable awards when award notices are not received prior to the budget period start date.

Advance/Preliminary and Advance/Extension processes differ by submitting unit.  Be sure to check with the submitting office (OSP, SOMOGC, SEAS OPRA, EHD) to determine the appropriate process.