Pre-Award Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. If the grant involves animal research, the pass-through entity (UTHSC, in this case) must mark "yes" and include the animal welfare assurance number on the face page. The protocol must be submitted to the UTHSC IACUC for approval, even though no animals are being used on this campus, if the project involves a subrecipient that will be using animals.

The deadline is 5:00 pm on the submission date to the sponsor or the prime awardee where the Health Science Center is a subcontractor.

If there is no specific deadline, enter the PI's planned submission date in Cayuse. The 5-business-day rule will be based on this date. If the date or proposal files do not follow the policy, the OSP will change the deadline when the proposal arrives. The PI can only change this date with written permission from the OSP.  

The 5-business-day rule applies regardless of the number of units involved. Early routing is beneficial for obtaining approvals. Note: for Cayuse routing, once the award admin unit approves, all other units will be notified simultaneously; additional time required for routing is not a matter of Cayuse functionality.

No PI or research team initiated changes are allowed after the 5-day deadline.

Technical documents describe the project that is proposed. Sponsors use a variety of names for these documents such as project description, narrative, statement of work, abstract, summary, references cited, etc.

Non-technical documents include forms like current and pending support forms, facilities statements, budget and budget justification, letters of commitment or support from external collaborators, subcontract and consultant commitment forms, project management plans, data sharing plans, postdoctoral mentoring plans, etc.

Sponsor and solicitation may require additional non-technical, financial, and supplemental documents. It is important to read the proposal preparation guidelines for each proposal.

Some sponsors only allow PIs or applicants to submit documents through their portal. However, the Health Science Center requires that all proposals must be fully routed with finalized documents and approved in Cayuse before uploading any required documents to the sponsor’s portal.  

If this method is necessary, access to the portal must be granted to the OSP to ensure documents are available for review within the 5-business-day deadline.  

A complete copy of the application package must be provided to the OSP.  

The 5 days begin when OSP receives the proposal for the first time. This review window allows time for corrections. PI requested changes are not allowed after the 5-business-day deadline.

No, all proposals, whether new applications, continuations, resubmissions, or revisions, must be entered into Cayuse and received by the OSP 5-business-days prior to the agency deadline. The policy also covers other material that must be submitted to a sponsor by AOR or requiring AOR approval, such as Just-In-Time, RPPRS and post submission material.

No.

Yes, all proposals should be received by the OSP 5-business-days before the agency deadline.

All proposals initiated by applicants or investigators must be reviewed and approved by the OSP before being submitted to any sponsor.

Most awards go to the university, not directly to faculty. Occasionally awards are given directly to individuals, and in those rare cases, the university does not need to approve or sign off on the proposal, so it doesn’t need to go through Cayuse. However, there may be departmental or college rules that apply, so it’s best to check with those administrators before pursuing external funding. Colleges or departments may still require a record of the proposal in Cayuse.  

The 5-business-day policy was approved by the UT Faculty Senate to ensure full institutional review and approval of all proposals prior to submission. Applications are reviewed by the OSP in the order in which they are received. We cannot guarantee that an application received outside of the stipulated review window will be submitted. An excessively high proposal volume may preclude on-time submission of any proposal that arrives late.

All documents required by the sponsor and/or the University must be received from the external entity and submitted to the department administrator at least 10 business days before the deadline.  

It is crucial to notify collaborators early so they can navigate their institution’s internal processes, allowing the department administrator sufficient time to receive their documents.  

All documents must be finalized in accordance with the 5-business-day deadline.  

All OSP and Health Science Center internal processes and requirements must still be followed, so it is important to initiate the internal process as usual, without waiting for the lead institution to request documents.  

Establish the date by which the lead institution requires the Health Science Center’s reviewed and approved documents. All investigators or applicants should confirm the internal deadline set by the lead institution. This date will serve as the deadline entered in Cayuse and used to create the internal timeline for review and submission.  

All documents must be submitted to the lead institution by the OSP.  

Include a technical and administrative contact for the lead institution in Cayuse routing, enabling quick communication by the OSP. Additionally, provide any previous communications related to the proposal submission needs of the lead institution.  

Yes, the 5-business-day deadline applies. Pre-proposals are defined differently by each sponsor, and their requirements can vary significantly.  

Any pre-proposal documents or forms that require Health Science Center approval must be routed and approved through Cayuse.  

• Common indicators that institutional approval is needed include references to the university’s research office (AOR/SRO/SPO) needing to review, approve, submit, signature authority, etc.
• Common phrases in solicitations that signal the need for institutional approval include:  Submission required by a person with “submit privileges”
  • “Institutional countersignature” required
  • “I certify that I am authorized to submit”
  • “I have reviewed and agree to terms and conditions . . . "

“Pre-proposals” that require a higher degree of review (e.g., coordination with other university offices, UT System, joint faculty or national laboratory involvement, line-item budgets, cost share, personnel documents such as biosketches, current & pending support, conflict of interest review, etc.) must follow the standard 5-business-day deadline.

There may be some scenarios, based on the sponsor requirements, in which the 5-business-day deadline is not required.

Any proposal that needs OSP action must go through Cayuse so the institution can keep an official record of what was submitted to the sponsor. Contact egrants@uthsc.edu for solicitation specific guidance when you identify a pre-proposal opportunity.

Most funding opportunities, especially federal ones, have set deadlines which allow our internal deadline policy to be followed. If a solicitation has a very short deadline, the college’s dean and the vice chancellor for research will review it to determine if there are extenuating circumstances beyond the PI’s control.  

Deadlines for FOAs using “standard due dates” can be found on the NIH Standard Due Dates webpage. Some opportunities will follow non-standard due dates- every federal funding announcement will clearly identify the due dates for the opportunity.

No. Unfortunately about 90-95% of the applications received in OSP have SOME errors. The OSP staff needs this time to correct the errors and submit the packages before the agency deadline. If a new package is sent over, the entire package must be reviewed again, increasing the opportunity for errors to be overlooked. If errors are noted by the PI after submission to OSP, contact egrants@uthsc.edu.

Yes, you do need to complete one of the budget forms for each submission. Both budget forms are in the optional section so you may use the type of budget form specified in your package instructions; in most cases, this will be the modular budget form

The site should be the campus address: 62 S. Dunlap, Suite 300, Memphis, TN 38163. More than one location may be listed in cases where co-investigators are working at other institutions.

No. Unfortunately, OSP does not have the staff time to prepare grant applications for faculty. Departments should be working with faculty to be sure that everyone has the proper training and/or staff support to manage the electronic grant preparation process. Preparing the 424 package is no more difficult than filling out the Adobe forms; although it requires careful attention to detail. Training sessions for individuals or departments may be arranged upon request during non-deadline periods.

No. If the package is not complete and in final form by the internal deadline date, wait until it is final to route it in SP. The risk is that you may miss a deadline. On any given deadline, OSP has many grant applications, and does not have sufficient time to review two or three versions of each nor, unfortunately, is there time to insert the various scientific portions in the proper places of the package without neglecting review of other grants proposals that have been submitted correctly and timely.

Yes, UTHSC is registered in Proposal Central. Dependent on the sponsor, the Proposal Central forms can have different requirements such as the requirement for institutional signature and/or approval. It is important to carefully review the requirements for the specific opportunity you wish to submit to.

All proposals requiring submission via Proposal Central must be routed through Cayuse for internal routing, review, and approval prior to the sponsor’s deadline. A full, finalized PDF copy of the Proposal Central forms must be attached to the Cayuse SP prior to routing.

Proposal Central registration can be completed by the investigator and does not require institutional approval.

All applications made via Proposal Central should identify the following individuals for the following common proposal roles:

Grants Officer/ Business Official/ AOR: Brenda Murrell (bmurrell@uthsc.edu) Associate Vice Chancellor for Research 

Fiscal Officer: Raaj Kurapati, Executive Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and Chief Operating Officer (rkurapat@uthsc.edu)

Technology Transfer Officer: Tinieka Thrailkill, University of Tennessee Research Foundation (ttriple2@uthsc.edu)

Yes, all externally funded grant proposals should be routed in SP for review and approval by department, college, and institutional offices prior to submission to the funding agency. For sponsors that only allow for submission by the PI, the assigned Pre-Award reviewer will provide written authorization to submit once a proposal has been approved by an Authorized Institutional Official.

Contact your department business office. They will need to enter information into the human resources data base to allow you access either as a "researcher" or "administrator." If you need to be included on proposals as a member of the project team, you should be identified as a "researcher." Here is the IRIS transaction to be used:

ZSESATAUTH000 - IRIS User Tools -> User Access -> Satellite System User Request

Business staff simply enter personnel number and request access type (researcher or admin); use the "researcher" designation for anyone who will be paid from a sponsored project.

Additional information on IRIS transactions

PIs should work with their department to prepare and review RPPRs before routing to OSP. Please ensure you complete a “Check for Errors” in eRA Commons and correct any detected issues prior to routing. When finalized, route the report to Shannon Guyot, who will review it and route it to Brenda Murrell for final submission. Shannon will contact the PI if there are any corrections that need to be made.

The University of Tennessee is an educational agency of State of Tennessee, exempt from federal income tax as a state agency, under section 170(c) of the IRS Code.

UTHSC's IRS determination letter

UTHSC is NOT a 501(c) 3 organization; however, it is tax exempt (see above). Investigators wishing to respond to opportunities that require the applicant to hold 501 (c ) 3 status must work with the university of Tennessee Foundation ( POC: Greg Harris Assistant Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives & Advancement Services (901.448.4975 gharris@utfi.org) to establish if the submission can be made. Proposals approved by UTF must also be routed in Cayuse for institutional review and approval prior to the internal 5 full business day review window. OSP strongly recommend contacting both UTF and OSP as soon as you are aware of the submission.

UTHSC is NOT a 501(c) 3 organization; however, it is tax exempt (see above). Investigators wishing to respond to opportunities that require the applicant to hold 501 (c ) 3 status must work with the university of Tennessee Foundation ( POC: Greg Harris Assistant Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives & Advancement Services 901.448.4975 gharris@utfi.org) to establish if the submission can be made. Proposals approved by UTF must also be routed in Cayuse for institutional review and approval prior to the internal 5 full business day review window. OSP strongly recommend contacting both UTF and OSP as soon as you are aware of the submission.

The "funding agency" should be the entity from which UTHSC will receive funds. In the case of a proposed sub-award for a grant that will be issued to St. Jude, the "funding agency" should be listed as "St. Jude." NIH should be listed as the Prime funding agency.

The FINAL version must be submitted to OSP five working days in advance to allow time for review, submission, and correction of any possible errors found during the submission process

You need to route it only if:

• the letter of intent requires institutional signature,
• the LOI requires a budget, OR
• an institutional official must submit the LOI.

Management of Intellectual Property falls under the University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF). To report an invention that arose in the course of university employment, complete a technology disclosure in IDEA. Questions regarding IP should be directed to UTRF.

NIH requirements state that all external support of research must be included and that percent efforts be shown, even if no salary support is covered by that project. The percent effort should match the amount of effort that is being expended on the project; if an individual is a PI on a project, he or she must be spending some effort on that project. Also, if a grant application listed an individual with a greater percent effort than the amount of salary support, the "Other Support" page should reflect the EFFORT, not the salary percentage.

No. Just-in-Time (JIT) information is submitted only at the request of the agency. When the agency is ready to receive the information, they will send an e-mail to the PI and the UTHSC officials requesting JIT information. Some grants may show up in Commons with a "JIT" status, even though they may not be approved for funding. OSP Pre-Award recommend using the JIT link to start reviewing requirements for standard “JIT” requests, such as Other Support, to facilitate a faster, smoother submission of materials when requested.

NIH Information on MPI

Sample MPI Plan - UTHSC faculty only

Sample MPI Plan - different institutions

Yes, NIH requires that all articles be submitted to PubMed. Since some journals take care of the PubMed submission, the author is advised to check with the Journal or check the list of journals that submit to PubMed.

Additional information about submission of NIH-funded articles can be found on the NIH Public Access Policy website or the UTHSC Library reference.