This section provides an introduction and overview of the process for writing and submitting a proposal.
Please note:
See the section on Access to Sponsor Websites if this is the first time you will be submitting a proposal to NIH or NSF; you will need to be registered with NIH or NSF through the Office of Research Administration as applicable. Please note in particular that if you intend to submit a grant proposal to NIH or AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality), the PI must first be registered in the NIH eRA Commons at least two weeks in advance. Please contact Elizabeth Brady at (617) 636-6550 for the Health Sciences Campus or Suzanne Rocha at (617) 627-3683 for the Medford/Somerville Campus to register.
Please click here to see the step-by-step process for proposal preparation.
Once a research funding opportunity is identified, the researcher will write a proposal – that is, complete a very specific application for funding – and then submit it to the funding source in hopes of receiving an award, usually for a contract or grant. At Tufts, the Office of Research Administration (ORA) is responsible for the coordination of proposal submission and the acceptance of awards for grants and contracts. All faculty-initiated requests for support, regardless of funding source, must be processed by ORA. This is to ensure that if the grant is awarded, the university is prepared to receive and administer the funds. ORA is often required to make reports on ongoing and pending grants and contracts, and complete data is necessary.
The proposal process at Tufts is generally this:
Researcher identifies funding opportunity (for types of proposals and awards, click here).
Researcher (or his/her designee) downloads the application form for the opportunity from the funding agency website. (Grants.gov for federal grants.)
Researcher/designee reviews and completes the application (“writes the proposal”), using all required forms and formats, providing all required information, and seeking/following advice from the ORA as needed. In particular, it is beneficial to send a draft budget and other draft portions to the appropriate ORA associate director well in advance of the deadline (in fact, as soon as possible) for their preliminary review and guidance. ORA associate directors have significant experience in proposal preparation/submission and can offer helpful insights, time-saving tips and the latest information.
Researcher/designee completes the Internal Sponsored Coordination Form for the appropriate campus (Health Sciences or Medford/Somerville) and the Financial Interest Disclosure Form, attaches it to the proposal, and routes the completed proposal for internal (departmental, school, etc.) approval as required by the Internal Sponsored Coordination Form.
Researcher/designee sends the approved, completed proposal to the appropriate ORA associate director for a final review, approval and submission. This must occur at least five business days prior to the submission deadline at the funding agency to allow time for review, revision of errors and inclusion of additional material if needed. Also, there are times when Grants.gov may not be available (scheduled or unscheduled downtime, overloaded with simultaneous submissions), or key personnel or experts may be unavailable to answer last-minute questions, or other technical difficulties or emergencies could arise, so the five-days-in-advance rule should be strictly adhered to.
ORA then submits the proposal to the funding agency. If the proposal is electronic via Grants.gov or FastLane, the agency will require the submission to be made by the ORA associate director. This may vary with foundations which sometimes will allow the PI to apply via the foundation's own proposal submission system. Please note that the ORA associate director must review and approve all proposals before submission regardless of funding agency. If the submission is by paper, the ORA associate director is usually required to sign the face page or other proposal document. Once this is complete, the originals are given to the PI or designated administrator, who then submits the paper version to the sponsor. If there is any doubt about who submits the proposal and how, always contact your ORA associate director.
When applying to a non-federal funding source, visit the source’s website to find out what forms or guidelines they have for applicants.
You may also contact the Office of Proposal Development (OPD) for specific kinds of assistance in writing your proposal. In particular, for NIH and NSF proposals, the OPD has developed tools to help you organize your writing and to make writing standard sections more efficient while tailoring them to your particular goals or aims. Please click here for more information.
NOTE: Only the director and the associate directors in the Office of Research Administration have signature authority for proposal submission, regardless of sponsor.