Step by Step List for Proposal Submission

The University has strict procedures that must be met internally before an application leaves the Office of the Vice Provost for submission to the funding agency. These procedures are the pre-award business processes that ensure, among other considerations, that Federal requirements for grant submission are met. In addition, the process ensures that the funds from successful grant applications are most efficiently handled and made available to researchers as soon as possible.

1. Check the Office of the Vice Provost website to obtain current rates for indirect costs and Facilities and Administrative (F&A) rates. The Office also has grant forms and other useful time savers, many available on the Web.

• Fringe Benefit and F&A rates
• PHS 398 forms with Tufts information already filled in
• Other Tufts forms you may need
• List of Tufts identifiers, assurance numbers, institutional officials, and addresses
  

2. Send a draft budget and other components to the appropriate Associate Director of Research Administration for your campus in the Office of the Vice Provost for review and advice.

3. Download and complete the application with the routing sheet (Internal Sponsored Coordination Form: Health Sciences Campus, Medford Campus). These forms include the nature of the project, Principal Investigator information total project costs, data elements for cost sharing, etc. Special considerations are also reported on this form, such as:

• whether more than one department of school will participate in the project
• human subjects
• hazardous materials
• laboratory animals
• development of new courses
  

Click here for a list of contacts for Special Review.

Once the form is completed, it should be submitted with the necessary application forms to the Department Chair (and Dean of the appropriate School if necessary) for approval prior to submission to the Associate Director of Research Administration. These forms must be submitted to the Associate Director for Research Administration in the Office of the Vice Provost five business days prior to the submission deadline.

4. Submit the completed proposal to the Associate Director for Research Administration. The Associate Director, among other things, ensures that the budget is calculated appropriately, particularly the employee benefits rate and indirect cost rates. The Associate Director will also verify any cost-sharing components. Any proposed cost sharing, including reduced or no indirect costs, must be justified in terms of value of the proposed activity to the academic mission of the institution. Cost-sharing must be approved by the appropriate school official or Dean, which should occur when the Internal Sponsored Coordination Form is approved in Step 3. Cost-sharing must meet the requirements of the sponsor, be complete and accurate, and be consistent with Tufts University policy as well as agency terms and conditions. The budget is reviewed for reasonableness and accuracy. When all information is reviewed and verified, the proposal is approved and signed by the Associate Director.

5. Once the Associate Director signs the proposal and the Internal Sponsored Coordination Form, key pages are copied at the Office of the Vice Provost, the original application is returned to the PI for submission to the funding agency or sponsor.

6. Note about FastLane submission for NSF: Although these grants are submitted electronically to NSF, complete paper copies of the applications and budgets must be included with the Internal Sponsored Coordination Form.

7. When the application is submitted to the sponsor and the sponsor has approved the grant, a notice is usually sent to Tufts University. Any award notice sent directly to the PI should be brought to the attention of the Office of the Vice Provost to ensure that the award is appropriately handled.