Proposal Submission Deadline Policy

The Office of Research Support (ORS) is a service-oriented unit dedicated to providing exceptional domestic and international pre-award support to College of Agriculture and Natural Resources faculty. To accomplish an efficient submission of a quality proposal package, ORS has established a Proposal Submission Deadline Policy that works in connection with university and agency deadlines. In order to achieve the various deadlines associated with a proposal submission, regular and timely communication between faculty and ORS is critical. Additionally, the following policies will be adhered to: 

  • ORS reserves the right to prioritize requests for assistance, which may result in turning down requests due to capacity and availability.
  • Due to the complexities relating to proposals with international involvement, ORS highly suggests requesting pre-award services as soon as it’s determined an opportunity will be pursued.
  • ORS reserves the right to deny further assistance and return all proposal materials to the PI and unit for completion for lack of attention to established deadlines outlined in the diagram below.
  • If a PI fails to respond within two business days to ORS staff (email and/or phone calls) on two attempts, the unit leader and fiscal officer will be copied on the third attempt. After three unsuccessful attempts at communication (no response within two business days), ORS will deny further assistance and return all proposal materials to the PI and unit for completion and proposal submission.
  • ORS reserves the right to decline future requests for assistance with proposal submissions due to repeated occurrences of non-responsiveness and/or lack of attention to the established deadlines. This policy will allow pre-award support to be focused on faculty that abide by the established guidelines and help ensure quality and timely proposal submission.

Timeline*

  • 30+ business days before deadline: Complete and submit a Proposal Request Form to request ORS assistance.
  • 25 to 30 days before the deadline:  If the proposal will have international subawards, provide contact information to your ORS administrator as extra time is needed for international subawards.
  • 12 to 15 days before deadline:  Final domestic and international subaward/s budget, budget justification, signed subrecipient commitment form and statement of work are due to ORS.
  • 10 to 15 days before the deadline: Budgets involving cost share due to ORS. If the proposal budget involves required or voluntary cost share, extra time will be needed to receive the required cost share approvals from the individual’s department or unit.
  • 8 business days before deadline: Final MSU budget, budget justification and statement of work are due to ORS.
  • 5 business days before deadline: All final proposal documents are due to ORS. This includes project summary, project narrative, biographical sketches/CVs, current and pending support forms, etc. Proposal development (PD) document begins routing in KR.
  • 3 business days before deadline: ORS will perform final review of the completed proposal package and notify OSP that it's ready for their review.
  • 1 business day before deadline: OSP will submit final proposal to the sponsor.

*If MSU is a subaward, the lead institution will have its own deadline policy and the above timeline will be applied to the lead institution's due date.

OSP Deadline Policy