| Effective Date: 1/1/92 (revised 1/2/01) |
| Office of Origin: Office of Research Administration |
This policy describes deadlines for submissions and signature approvals required in order to submit applications for extramural funding.
A. Policy on Timing of Submissions
1. General
It is essential that proposals be submitted well in advance of the desired start date of the project and sufficiently in advance of the sponsor's deadline to ensure thorough compliance review by campus units.
2. Campus deadlines: Office of Research Administration
a. For all proposals requiring campus approval, the deadline for receipt by the Office of Research Affairs from the Dean's Offices is no later than 9:00 a.m. four working days before the day on which the proposal is due at the funding agency. Late proposals will be submitted in the next appropriate submission cycle. There may be rare and extraordinary circumstances that could justify submission of a proposal to the Office of Research Administration after the four-day deadline. To accommodate these, schools may have an appeals mechanism that may approve such late submission. The Office of Research Administration cannot accept late proposals without authorized approval from the appropriate Dean's Office.
b. All proposals requiring approval by The Regents must be received by the Office of Research Administration 28 working days before the meeting of the Board of Regents at which the proposal will be presented for approval. A schedule of the dates of Regents' meetings is published at regular intervals and sent to campus departments.
3. Agency deadlines
When a funding agency does not indicate a specific deadline, a lead time of nine months prior to the project start date will serve as a general rule for proposal submission. Multi-year projects facing renewal should observe this guideline to ensure uninterrupted funding.
B. Approval Requirements for Applications
1. General
All formal applications must be endorsed on behalf of the University by an individual to whom authority has been delegated to solicit contracts and grants. In the majority of cases, this will be the Contracts and Grants Officer. To receive University endorsement, the application must be submitted to the Office of Research Administration with a completed Contracts and Grants Approval Form. In addition to the number of copies required by the prospective sponsor, submittals to the Office of Research Administration should include one copy of the application for official University records.
2. Individual fellowship applications
The Contracts and Grants Approval Form for individual fellowship applications to private or federal agencies requires the signatures of only the faculty sponsor and the fellow (if available).
3. Institutional training grants require the signatures listed under III.B.4 below.
4. New, renewal, and supplemental applications
The Contracts and Grants Approval Form for new, renewal, and supplemental applications must be endorsed on behalf of the dean of the school (unless the Dean has delegated this review authority to the department chairs/ORU directors), by the chair of the department with which the principal investigator is primarily affiliated, and by the principal investigator. Additionally, projects taking place at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) require written approval by the VAMC's Dean's Office. Projects utilizing space assigned to a department other than that of the principal investigator's primary department will also require the endorsement of the chair of the department to which that space is assigned.
5. Noncompeting continuations and revisions
The signatures of the principal investigator and the department chair are always required for proposals of any type or status. Applicants should also ascertain if their Dean's Office requires review of noncompeting continuations or renewal applications.
6. Research subjects and hazardous materials
Proposals using research subjects (humans or animals) or hazardous materials (e.g., radioisotopes, DNA, infectious agents, and cell cultures) require evidence that the use of the subjects or materials has been approved by the cognizant institutional review committee.
7. Inter-campus and inter-institutional proposals
Proposals that include the participation of other UC campuses or other non-affiliated institutions require the approval of the cooperating institutions.
8. Faculty effort
It is the responsibility of each department chair or organized research unit director to monitor faculty effort. This effort, which includes University responsibilities and extramural projects, must not be committed beyond 100%.