The Office of Research Administration (ORA) has the legal responsibility to ensure compliance with all federal and state regulations surrounding grants and contracts. The mandate of the office also includes promoting and providing related services to researchers at Tufts to help advance research and to improve the research environment. The primary services provided are described below and include:
ORA is the Authorized Business Official that can Legally Bind Tufts
ORA is the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) and Signing Official (SO) for all proposals, grants, contracts and subcontracts. ORA is the only Authorized Business Official that can legally bind Tufts for sponsored research proposals and funding agreements.
ORA is the Point of Contact with Funding Agencies
All sponsored research programs, grants and contracts, regardless of sponsor, are processed through the Office of Research Administration (ORA). ORA acts as liaison with state and federal agencies which sponsor research. It also works with University Advancement’s Corporate and Foundations Relations (CFR) to ensure that research proposals to and funding agreements with foundations and corporations are processed correctly.ORA Coordinates the Limited Submission Process
While many funding agencies have no restrictions on the number of applications they will accept for a particular program, there are some that do – that is, they will accept only a limited number of applications from a given institution. Submitting too many proposals, whether knowingly or unknowingly, may result in the automatic rejection of all proposals from Tufts. ORA centralizes the limited submission process in order to ease the application process for interested candidates and to ensure that submission restrictions are met.More information about the limited submission process is available here.
ORA Communicates Funding Opportunities
The most frequent means for communicating funding opportunities to faculty is through Opportunities in Research (OIRs). These summary sheets contain a brief profile about the funding program and the sponsor's contact information. OIRs are based on a comprehensive review of numerous information sources including:- Community of Science Funding Opportunity Database
- GrantsNet Database
- The Federal Register
- FedBizOpps
- National Institutes of Health Guide
- National Science Foundation Funding
- Department of Defense program announcements
- Other publications and announcements
OIRs are emailed to investigators and administrators via the ORA funding opportunities elist. If you would like to subscribe to the ORA funding opportunities elist, please click here. Please note that Grants.gov can be used to find ALL federal funding opportunities, please see here.
There are also commercial and subscription-based electronic resources provided by ORA. These include the Community of Science (COS), ResearchResearch and the IRIS database, which are national subscription services accessed by the web. They provide keyword-searchable, timely and comprehensive information regarding both public and private funding sources. ORA staff will input COS profiles for faculty upon request. To use any of these services, please call ORA at (617) 636-6550.
The Office of Proposal Development staff can assist individuals in developing a customized computer search for support. To use this service, please call (617) 636-2480, email proposaldevelopment@tufts.edu, or complete a request for a custom funding search here.
The ORA associate directors are the Tufts officials authorized to negotiate contracts and subcontracts. When appropriate, ORA associate directors will work directly with program and contract officers on behalf of the PI.
ORA associate directors and staff work informally with research staff, administrators, and faculty to ensure understanding and compliance with sponsored research processes and regulations. Please contact the ORA office if you would like to schedule a meeting with the ORA associate director at (617) 636-6550 for the Health Sciences Campus or (617) 627-3417 for the Medford/Somerville Campus. ORA also offers formal training on important topics as they arise. Notices of formal training opportunities are sent to the ORA email announcement list; please contact Elizabeth Brady at (617) 636-6550 to subscribe to this list.