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The University of Tennessee

UT Knoxville Office of Research and Engagement

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Proposal Submission Deadline Procedures

Revised Effective December 1, 2010

All proposals must be electronically received via TERA-PAMS by the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) office no later than 9:00 am five (5) business days before the sponsor proposal deadline date. This includes the following documents in final form:

  • Fully authorized proposal through the TERA-PAMS system
  • Budget
  • Budget justification
  • Cost sharing request, if applicable
  • All supporting documentation from proposed subcontractors, if applicable
  • All other required documents per the solicitation
  • Completed grants.gov application (if submission is through grants.gov)
  • If submission is through NSF Fastlane or other electronic submission vehicles, all documents must be uploaded and access granted to the Sponsored Programs office 
  • Draft copy of the project narrative. 

All parts of the proposal, except the proposal narrative must be in final form five (5) business days before the sponsor proposal deadline date. If any of these are not in final form, your proposal is considered late.  

A PI can continue to refine the draft proposal narrative, but it must be received in final form by the SP office no later than 9:00 a.m. two (2) full business days before the proposal deadline date.  This will allow the Office of Sponsored Programs personnel to do a thorough review of your final documents prior to submission. If any errors are found this allows plenty of time for corrections. This also allows sufficient time for the submission process. For example, grants.gov recommends that proposals are submitted 2-3 days prior to the official deadline to avoid any problems that the system may encounter. Many other electronic submission vehicles are recommending the same.

Proposals that Meet the Five Day Deadline

Office of Sponsored Programs personnel will do a thorough review of your proposal documents. This includes: budget, budget justification, supplementary documents, and comparison of project narrative against the RFP or program solicitation to assure all requirements have been met. Receiving the proposal within the deadline allows us to make appropriate corrections and work closely with the PI to assure the proposal is in the best shape possible prior to submission. These proposals will be given priority over proposals that arrive late.

Late Proposal Process

If this is your first late proposal which does not meet the five business day deadline the proposal will be evaluated by the Director or Assistant Director to see if it can be reviewed and submitted. The determination will be based on current workload at the time the late proposal arrives.

If this is your second or multiple proposal that has not met the five business day deadline, you must obtain written approval from Greg Reed for submission of this proposal, prior to it being reviewed by Sponsored Programs.

Remember all parts of the proposal, except the proposal narrative must be in final form five (5) business days before the proposal deadline date. If any of these are not in final form, your proposal is considered late.

NOTE: With TERA-PAMS the five (5) business day required by the Office of Research & Engagement is five days from the day the proposal reaches our office, which is after it has been approved by the department head and dean’s office. It is the PI’s responsibility to allow sufficient time for this review to occur. Some dean’s offices require 24 hours to review and approve proposals (in addition to the 5 business days for ORE); therefore, we recommend that you check with your department heads and dean’s offices and plan accordingly.

Contact Information

Cindy Scott
Office of Sponsored Programs
1534 White Avenue
Knoxville, TN 37996-1529
Phone: (865) 974-3466
Fax: (865) 974-2805
Email: utkegrants@utk.edu