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Proposal Deadlines

Effective for proposal deadlines of November 1, 2022 and beyond

Proposal Deadlines

  • 5 Business Days Before Submission
    • Proposals must be fully routed and approved in Cayuse and all documents be finalized and provided to Division of Research Administration (DRA)
    • No changes initiated by key personnel will be allowed for any documents. At this time only changes identified by DRA to meet institutional or sponsor requirements will be accepted.
    • To allow the proposal to be submitted, final revisions to all documents must be provided to DRA no less than two days before submission.
  • In order to assist faculty in meeting the deadline above DRA requests the following at least 10 Business Days Prior to Submission
    • All non-technical, financial, and supplemental documents submitted to DRA fully routed and approved via Cayuse. Routing should also include a draft of the technical documents (these documents describe the project that is proposed).
    • This allows DRA to begin the review, while also allowing investigators to continue to edit technical documents.

Late Proposals

Proposals that do not adhere to the required internal routing deadline requirements will not be submitted.

Extenuating Circumstances

The 5 Business Days deadline will be enforced and proposals not following the requirements will not be submitted unless under extenuating circumstances as determined by DRA leadership in collaboration with the appropriate College Associate Dean of Research.  These circumstances are uncommon and beyond the PI’s control (e.g., late notification from prime sponsor, bereavement leave, etc.), but do not include situations which could have been planned for (e.g., late communications from collaborators, being on travel, vacation, etc.).

Additional support

As a reminder, many colleges have proposal support available to faculty and those offices are still available to assist. If faculty do not have access to college support and would like DRA support, they must notify DRA twenty (20) business days before the sponsor’s deadline.  Contact information for college and DRA support is located on our website.

FAQs 

  • The deadline is no later than 5pm on the date in which the proposal is to be submitted to our sponsor.
  • That is frequently the date listed in the solicitation, but in many cases, such as when UT is a subcontractor, a deadline may be set by the lead institution that is earlier than the date in the solicitation. The deadline may be earlier if the research team will be unavailable and would like to submit early.
  • If there is not a hard deadline given by the sponsor, Cayuse should reflect the date in which the PI wishes to submit to it to the sponsor. If that date, or the proposal files provided, is not in adherence to the policy, the deadline will be changed by DRA upon arrival.
  • The Cayuse record must complete routing no later than five full business days before the submission deadline regardless of the number of units required to approve the Cayuse record. It may take additional time to obtain approvals if there are several needed, so routing Cayuse early may be beneficial. Note – for Cayuse routing, once the Award Admin Unit approves, all other units will be notified simultaneously, so any additional time required for routing is not a matter of Cayuse functionality.
  • No. No PI or research team initiated changes are allowed after the 5-day deadline date.
  • Technical documents describe the project that is proposed.
  • Sponsors use a variety of names for these documents such as project description, narrative, statement of work, abstract, summary, references cited, etc.
  • Draft technical document can be at any stage of development. The more complete the draft the better review will be provided by DRA.
  • This includes items such as identifying need for collaborator documents (subcontracts, consultants, etc.); adequate facility access; activities that do not appear to have been budgeted for; applicable FERPA requirements; indicators of research compliance needs like export control, human subjects, etc.; verifying portals will accept files are prepared, section headers; etc.
  • Researcher initiated changes to these documents may be made up to the 5 business day deadline.
  • Common examples on these documents include current and pending support forms, facilities statements, budget and budget justification, letters of commitment or support from external collaborators, subcontract and consultant commitment forms, project management plans, data sharing plans, postdoctoral mentoring plans, etc.
  • Each sponsor and solicitation may require additional non-technical, financial, and supplemental documents so it is important to read the proposal preparation guidelines for each proposal.
  • Yes, this is acceptable as long as it is acceptable by the units approving the proposal in Cayuse routing.
  • If this method is chosen, access to the portal must be granted to DRA such that the documents are available for review in accordance with the 5-business day deadline.

  • All documents (needed by the sponsor and /or the University) must be received from the institution’s Sponsored Programs Office (or equivalent) and be provided to DRA 5 business days before the deadline.
  • Note documents cannot be accepted from the individual collaborators and must be officially submitted by the institution.
  • It is important to notify collaborators early so they can work through the internal processes in time for DRA to receive their documents.

  • Since the lead institution uploads the Project Description, the document is not required to be finalized at the 5-business day mark. DRA still requests a draft be made available for review as normal.

  • All internal process must still be adhered to, so it is important to start the internal process as normal, which means not waiting for the lead institution to request documents.
  • It is important to establish the date in which the lead institution needs UT’s institutionally reviewed and approved documents.
  • That date will be the deadline entered in Cayuse and used to create the internal timeline for review and submission.
  • All documents must be provided to the lead institution by DRA.
  • Please include a technical and administrative contact for the lead institution in Cayuse routing so DRA can begin communications quickly. Also, please include and previous communications about the proposal submission needs of the lead institution.

  • These terms are defined differently by each sponsor and the requirements can vary dramatically from one to the next.
  • Any pre-proposal that requires institutional approval must be routed and approved via Cayuse.
    • Common indicators of needing institutional approval are references to the university’s research office (AOR/SRO/SPO) needing to review, approve, submit, sign, etc.
    • Common language seen in solicitations are, but not limited to:
      • Submission required by a person with “submit privileges”
      • “Institutional countersignature” required
      • “I certify that I am authorized to submit”
      • “I have reviewed and agree to terms and conditions…
  • “Pre-proposals” that require a higher degree of review (e.g., coordination with other university offices, joint faculty or national laboratory involvement, line-item budgets, cost share, personnel documents such as biosketches, current & pending support, conflict of interest review, etc.) must follow the standard 5 business day deadline.
  • There may be some scenarios in which the 5-business day deadline is not required based on the sponsor requirements.
  • Any proposal the requires DRA action must be routed through Cayuse as the institution must have official record of what was submitted to a sponsor.

Please contact proposals@utk.edu for solicitation specific guidance when you identify a “pre-proposal” opportunity.

  • The vast majority of awards are issued to the University and not individual faculty. Occasionally, awards are issued directly to individuals and the University does not receive funding or assume responsibility for the award. In these rare cases, in which the University does not have to provide approvals, signatures, etc., ORIED does not require the proposal to route in Cayuse.
  • Very often there are college and/or departmental factors involved with these awards and those administrators should be contacted before engaging in externally funded activities. Additionally, colleges/department may still require a Cayuse record for the activity. In those case, the proposal is not required to follow internal deadline policies since DRA is not involved with the review and submission. DRA will process the Cayuse record within 10 days of receipt to ensure timely record keeping for the college/department.

  • Most funding opportunities, especially federal, have published deadlines such that the internal deadline policy can be followed.
  • If the solicitation issued with a short window, that may be evaluated by DRA Leadership in combination with the college’s Associate Dean for Research to determine if there are extenuating circumstances beyond the PI’s control.