SPO Proposal Review and Timely Submission

Last Updated: April 8, 2024 9:38:50 AM PDT

Read about proposal submission deadlines for all proposals submitted to the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO).

UC San Diego is one of the top research universities in the country. The campus administration supports our researchers by staying up to date on the requirements of the 1600+ entities from which we receive contracts or grants as well as changing state and federal requirements for these entities. To ensure researchers have the best chance of having their research projects funded, we need to ensure compliance with ever-changing regulations and identify inaccuracies or errors that can be fixed before proposals are reviewed by funding agencies.

The SPO, through their contract and grant officers and analysts, has designated delegated authority to solicit, accept, and execute extramural contracts and grants. The SPO is responsible for reviewing and endorsing extramural proposals, or Institutional Review, on behalf of The Regents of the University of California.

integrity in research
appropriateness of the activity to the University’s mission
protection of human and animal subjects
use of University facilities and resources
cost-sharing
adherence to personnel policies as it relates to sponsored research
intellectual property
conflict of interest
recovery of costs (both direct and indirect/F&A)
liability, insurance and indemnification, and
export controls

Institutional Review Criteria

An Institutional Review is a focused review of extramural funding proposals by UC San Diego’s Sponsored Projects Offices (SPO) of key areas of institutional risk that could create financial, audit, and/or policy risks for the University.

Under Institutional Review, Contract and Grant (C&G) Officers do not review the technical or administrative sections of proposals, save for those noted in items 9-11 below. Principal Investigators (PIs) and their submission teams

Through training, outreach, and ongoing collaboration, the Sponsored Projects Offices will work in partnership with researchers and department research administrators to understand sponsor policies and requirements that apply to proposal submission.

SPOs will review for the following elements:

Review institutional eligibility requirements and ensure all identifying proposal information provided about UC San Diego, the Sponsored Projects Offices, and/or The Regents is required, accurate, and/or correct.
Review all items that trigger a compliance review such as human subjects, animal subjects, conflict of interest, export control, background IP, exceptional PI status, etc.
Check to ensure that effort is budgeted for all Single and/or Multiple PD/PIs (for NIH, this also applies to Co-I, Sr/Key Persons). Also for NIH Other Significant Contributors or UCSD consultants who do not have a measurable effort on the application, it should be listed at 0% in PD (for COI purposes). The proposal package and the KR PD record must match.
Confirm that the appropriate Facilities & Administrative (F&A)/Indirect Cost (IDC) rate and base are applied to the proposal budget.
Ensure specific University costs are applied as required.
Review budgeted costs to ensure they are aligned with sponsor policies.
Verify that there is appropriate documentation of any committed/in-kind University or third-party cost sharing.
Review the proposal package to see if it is specified that new space is needed to complete the project and if so, ensure the KR PD record question is answered accordingly.
Ensure all required internal documents have been included in the KR PD record.
Determine if anything in the sponsor’s guidelines or award terms would prevent submission of the proposal or acceptance of an award if the proposal is funded.
Review and signature of certifications, assurances, and representations.
Communicate issues and concerns identified during the Institutional Review.

Institutional Review Timeline

A complete and accurate KR record and final proposal package, with required documents uploaded to both KR and sponsor’s portal (if applicable), will be prioritized by the order routed to an officer stop and reviewed per the Proposal Submission Timeline below (NOTE: For Scripps Institution of Oceanography see the Late Submission Waiver Process)

A complete and accurate KR record and *final proposal package*, with required documents uploaded to both KR and sponsor’s portal (if applicable), will be prioritized by the order routed to an officer stop and reviewed per the **Proposal Submission Timeline** below (NOTE: For Scripps Institution of Oceanography see the Late Submission Waiver Process)
Institutional Review of KR Record and Proposal	Institutional Review of KR Record As-Is Submission of the proposal itself	No Guaranteed Submission
5 Business Days before the published deadline date.	Less than 2 Business Days before the published deadline date.	After 8:00 a.m. on the published deadline date.
Final proposals routed to an officer stop before 4:30 p.m. on the 2nd Business Day prior to the deadline due date, fall into the Institutional Review category. The SPO will conduct an institutional review based on institutional risk, for consistency with institutional policies/requirements, and identification of possible errors and/or warnings that would prevent proposal submission (if applicable).	All records must contain a complete and accurate KR record prior to submission. Final proposals routed to an officer stop less than 2 Business Days before the deadline are considered an “As-Is” submission. As-Is submissions are submitted but without a guaranteed and thorough review of any documents or possible errors and/or warnings. It is common for As-is submissions to be rejected by the sponsor. Grant Transfers (Change of Grantee Requests), Non-SNAP RPPRs, or Just-in-Time (JIT) requests will not be submitted as-is	No guaranteed submission for proposals routed to an officer stop after 8am on the published deadline day. Proposals routed to an officer stop that fall under this category will be evaluated for possible submission by management based on risk. In an effort to provide the appropriate service level to customers who routed proposals timely, last-minute proposals will be reviewed in the order they were received, and only after other proposals that arrived at the officer stop prior are reviewed and submitted.

Core KR PD Data Elements

KR PD Record	Data Elements
Basics: Proposal Details	Proposal Type (see KB0033180)
Basics: Proposal Details	Activity Type (see KB0033180) This impacts compliance and routing and should correspond with the Indirect Cost (IDC) rate For more information see the Agreement Types blink page.
Basics: Proposal Details	Project Dates
Basics: Proposal Details	Project Title
Basics: Proposal Details	Sponsor Codes Prime Sponsor Pass-through entity sponsor (entity immediately funding UCSD), if applicable For more information visit Solicitation and Sponsor Information.
Basics: Proposal Details	Original Institutional Proposal ID (applicable if the Proposal Type = Continuation or Revision) Award ID - Required if applicable
Basics: Proposal Details	Keywords Supplements: Minority Suppl. (NIH) OR Supplement (other than minority supplement)
Basics: Delivery Info	Submitted By Indicate who will take the final action: OSP or Department
Basics: Delivery Info	Submission Description Provide the sponsor proposal identifier, e.g., ASSIST # for NIH, Temporary Proposal ID for NSF, Workspace ID for Grants.gov, Proposal Central, etc. Provide instructions on where and what to submit Indicate any special instructions from the sponsor
Basics: Sponsor and Program Info	Sponsor Deadline Type Hard Deadline = published/”real” Internal = target/soft deadline Retroactive Proposals: Hard Deadline and enter the date when the proposal was submitted
Basics: Sponsor and Program Info	Sponsor Deadline
Basics: Sponsor and Program Info	Notice of Opportunity For more information visit Solicitation and Sponsor Information.
Basics: Sponsor and Program Info	Opportunity ID - if applicable
Basics: Sponsor and Program Info	Opportunity Title - if applicable
Basics: Sponsor and Program Info	Sponsor Proposal ID NIH: provide Grant # if resubmission, renewal, continuation, revision, RPPR
Basics: Sponsor and Program Info	Subawards Checkbox Check if there’s a subrecipient or a Multi-Campus Award which is when another UC campus is acting as a “subrecipient” For more information visit Other Agreements and Outgoing Subawards.
Basics: Sponsor and Program Info	Anticipated Agreement Type This impacts compliance, routing to the correct SPO/team, and the questions that populate For more information see the Agreement Types blink page.
Key Personnel	Key Personnel Important for federal proposals (Audit finding) Linked to KCOI Must list all Key Personnel, and if applicable, Mentor and Co-Mentors First-year effort must be included in the Org tab, under the Calendar Year Effort field for all Key Personnel Compliance Questionnaire must be completed by the Principal Investigator (PI)
Questionnaire	All questions must be answered
Compliance	Compliance NIH: For Supplements and RPPRs, indicate the IACUC and/or IRB protocol # for congruency review For more information visit Compliance.
Attachments: Internal	Upload Attachments as applicable Solicitation Proposal Application Package Internal Detailed Budget (xls/xlsx/xlsm) Transmittal Letter/Face Page (completed and ready for officer signature) Other documentation as required by the sponsor Subrecipient Documentation for outgoing subawards Statement of Work Budget Justification UC/VA Salary Worksheet Salary Waiver PI Exception Cost Share Documentation NIH RPPRs: PHS 2590 Budget Form Page 2, PHS 2590 Checklist, PHS 2590 All Personnel Report Grant Transfers: Copy of Awarded Application, Copy of Most Recent NoA, Relinquishing Statement
Budget	Direct Cost, F&A, Total, Start, End, and Cost Share, other UCSD required fees For more information visit Developing Budgets.
Supplemental Info	COA/Financial Unit (this impacts routing)

Requirements for when UC San Diego is the Applicant


NIH or AHRQ (UC San Diego is the lead)	New, Resubmission, Renewal, or Supplement	Progress Report (RPPR)
PD Record
Basics: Proposals Details	If applicable, indicate the IP # here at Institutional Proposal ID.	If applicable, indicate the IP # here at Institutional Proposal ID.
Basics: Delivery Info	Indicate the ASSIST # at Submission Description.	Indicate the RPPR is in eRA Commons at Submission Description.
Basics: Sponsor & Program Information	Indicate the FOA # at Opportunity ID. Indicate the FOA title at Opportunity Title. If applicable, indicate the NIH Grant # at Sponsor Proposal ID.	Indicate the NIH Grant # at Sponsor Proposal ID.
Compliance	For Supplements, indicate the IACUC and/or IRB protocol # for congruency review.	Indicate the IACUC and/or IRB protocol # for congruency review.
Attachments: Internal	Internal Budget (Excel) If applicable: UC/VA Salary Worksheet Salary Waiver PI Exception Subaward Packet(s) Cost Share Documentation	Internal Budget (Excel) If applicable: UC/VA Salary Worksheet Salary Waiver PI Exception Cost Share Documentation
Proposal	When the application is ready to submit, change the status in ASSIST to "Ready for Submission" and notify your HS SPPO Analyst via email.	Route your RPPR in eRA Commons to your HS SPPO Analyst and notify your HS SPPO Analyst via email.

Requirements for when UC San Diego is the Sub

UC San Diego is the Sub on a Subaward or Internal Proposal	New, Resubmission, Renewal, or Supplement	Progress Report (RPPR)
PD Record
Basics: Proposals Details	If applicable, indicate the IP # here at Institutional Proposal ID.	If applicable, indicate the IP # here at Institutional Proposal ID.
Basics: Delivery Info	Indicate special instructions or requests by Sponsor.	Indicate special instructions or requests by Sponsor.
Basics: Sponsor & Program Information	Indicate the FOA # at Opportunity ID. Indicate the FOA title at Opportunity Title. If applicable, indicate the NIH Grant # at Sponsor Proposal ID.	Indicate the NIH Grant # at Sponsor Proposal ID.
Compliance	For Supplements, indicate the IACUC and/or IRB protocol # for congruency review.	Indicate the IACUC and/or IRB protocol # for congruency review.
Attachments: Internal	Internal Budget (Excel) Application Package If applicable: UC/VA Salary Worksheet Salary Waiver PI Exception Cost Share Documentation	Internal Budget (Excel) Progress Report Package If applicable: UC/VA Salary Worksheet Salary Waiver PI Exception Cost Share Documentation
Proposal	Option 1: PHS 398 Face Page Statement of Work PHS 398 Budget Form Pages 4 & 5 Budget Justification PHS 398 Checklist Option 2: PHS 398 Face Page Statement of Work SF424 R&R Budget, with Budget Justification	Option 1: PHS 2590 Face Page Statement of Work PHS 2590 Budget Form Pages 2 Budget Justification PHS 2590 Checklist PHS 2590 All Personnel Report Option 2 PHS 2590 Face Page Statement of Work SF424 R&R Budget, with Budget Justification

Requirements for Grant Transfers


NIH or AHRQ	Change of Recipient Organization (Grant Transfer)
PD Record
Basics: Proposals Details	Indicate the proposal type as a Revision.
Basics: Delivery Info	Indicate the ASSIST # at Submission Description.
Basics: Sponsor & Program Information	Indicate the FOA # at Opportunity ID. Indicate the FOA title at Opportunity Title. Indicate the NIH Grant # at Sponsor Proposal ID.
Compliance	Indicate the IACUC and/or IRB protocol # for congruency review.
Attachments: Internal	Internal Budget (Excel) Copy of Awarded Application Copy of the Most Recent NoA Relinquishing Statement If applicable: Copy of IRB and/or IACUC protocol, if applicable UC/VA Salary Worksheet Salary Waiver PI Exception Subaward Packet(s) Cost Share Documentation
Proposal	When the application is ready to submit, change the status in ASSIST to "Ready for Submission" and notify your HS SPPO Analyst via email.

Requirements for NRSA F30 & F32 Fellowship Applications

NIH NRSA Fellowship	New or Resubmission	Progress Report (RPPR)
Email	Letter of Intent to apply to your HS SPPO Analyst
PD Record*
Basics: Proposals Details	If applicable, indicate the IP # here at Institutional Proposal ID.	If applicable, indicate the IP # here at Institutional Proposal ID.
Basics: Delivery Info	Indicate the ASSIST # at Submission Description	Indicate the RPPR is in eRA Commons at Submission Description
Basics: Sponsor & Program Information	Indicate the FOA # at Opportunity ID. Indicate the FOA title at Opportunity Title. If applicable, indicate the NIH Grant # at Sponsor Proposal ID.	Indicate the NIH Grant # at Sponsor Proposal ID.
Compliance	N/A	Indicate the IACUC and/or IRB protocol # for congruency review.
Attachments: Internal	NIH NRSA Budget Workbook (Excel)	NIH NRSA Budget Workbook (Excel)
Proposal	Change the status in ASSIST to "Ready for Submission" and notify your HS SPPO Analyst	Route your RPPR in eRA Commons to your HS SPPO Analyst
Fellowship Assurance Form	Work with your Fund Manager to initiate, complete, and route for approvals in OnBase.

*Fellowship NIH Individual NRSA RPPRs are NOT entered into PD, though reviewed and submitted by HS SPPO.

For more information or questions email researchadmin@ucsd.edu.