The Research and Faculty Development (RFD) team provides assistance with all aspects of developing a competitive proposal, from strategizing for proposal submission timing, finding a source of funding, strategizing for a resubmission, through finalizing and strengthening the proposal documents.
Please note that all services are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority going to strategically important proposal efforts. We encourage PIs to contact our team as soon as possible to ensure adequate time to fulfil the requests. Timing guidelines for making a request are as follows:
- For large proposals with budgets >$1M (see Level 6), we request notification of your intent to submit a proposal at least 90 days prior to the sponsor deadline.
- For all other proposals, we request notification of your intent to submit a proposal at least 30 days prior to the sponsor deadline.
The seven levels of proposal development service that we offer are outlined here. Please reach out with any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!
Level 0: Consultation with RFD
Three options exist here, ranging from learning how to work with our team to develop a competitive proposal, to discussing Broader Impacts for your next NSF proposal, to strategic planning for future proposal development efforts.
Level 1: Funding Search
Assist with funding opportunity searches for a particular project. Allow 2 days per project for completion*.
Level 2: Developing a Concept Paper and Contacting Program Officers
A key first step in your proposal development process. We can assist with the development of a quad chart or a one-page white paper/concept paper and a communication strategy for contacting Program Officers to evaluate a proposed project’s programmatic relevance before you submit your proposal. Allow 3 days for completion*.
Level 3: Resubmission Strategizing
Review and discuss comments from panel reviewers on a submitted proposal, in preparation for developing a resubmission proposal. Allow 3 days for completion*.
Level 4: Proposal Narrative Review
Review the Proposal Narrative (or equivalent) document to ensure this section is clearly written, grammatically correct, and responsive to the RFP/solicitation. Time permitting, this may involve more than one round of review/edits. Allow 3 days for completion per round of edits*.
Level 5: Proposal Package Review
Review all proposal documents, with the exception of the budget (OSP will review this), to ensure these are complete, clearly written, grammatically correct, and responsive to the RFP/solicitation. This level of review may be required for limited submission proposals. Allow 5 days for completion*.
Level 6: Support for Large Interdisciplinary Proposals (Budgets >$1M)
Provide high-level assistance with the coordination of proposal development efforts across units/institutions, including project team assembly, creating workflow calendars, managing the collection of proposal documents from team members (e.g., biographical sketches), and editing the proposal documents to ensure consistency between author contributions and responsiveness to the RFP/solicitation. Time to completion of this task will vary depending on the nature of the request.
*During times of high volume, additional time may be required for completion of these services.