External Grant and Contract Timetable
Submitting External Grant and Contract Proposals
All proposals for external grants and contracts, regardless of the size of the grant, must be reviewed and approved by IU Southeast administration and the IU Office of Research Administration (ORA). Proposals follow the procedure below. At any point in the process, you may consult the IU Southeast Dean for Research (Lisa Hoffman, lhh@iu.edu) for assistance. In general, the Dean for Research assists with federal, state, and other governmental grants, and Grant Coordinator Jean Borger (jmborger@iu.edu) assists with corporate and foundation grants.
Step 1: Informing your Dean/Unit Head
As soon as you have developed a grant project, secure the approval of your dean or unit head. Contact both the Dean for Research and the IU Southeast Grants Administrator to let them know you are planning to apply.
Step 2: Writing the Proposal
The IU Proposal Development Services office in Bloomington serves Southeast faculty and staff also, and they can help with larger and more complex grant applications. If you are building your grant budget without PDS assistance, you may need to reference these IU policies, if applicable: supplemental pay policy and summer salary policy for faculty. The Dean for Research and Grants Coordinator are happy to help with questions.
Step 3: Securing Budget Approval
Send your proposed grant budget and an abstract or executive summary of the proposal to IU Southeast Accounting Services (Ashley McKay, atronc01@iu.edu) for suggestions and approval of the budget. Accounting Services will review your budget, identify compliance issues with IU, IU Southeast, or funder policies and procedures, discuss university cost sharing if required, and review use of campus resources and budget implications. Please copy the Dean for Research and IU Southeast Grants Coordinator so we can help with the approval process. This step should be completed as soon as possible, ideally four weeks before the grant is due.
Financial consequences resulting from budget errors; faulty or insufficient planning; lack of compliance with IU, IUS, or funder policies; or unforeseen changes in project staffing or circumstances are borne in most cases by the department or unit receiving the grant. Time and care in planning is an essential part of the budget process. When grant projects will require accounting and other university resources beyond what can be provided at current staffing levels, funding for those resources must be incorporated into the grant budget in dialogue with Accounting Services and the Office of Administrative Affairs.
Step 4: Submitting your Proposal to IU Office of Research Administration
As soon as your grant budget is approved by IU Southeast Accounting Services, submit the IU Office of Research Administration (ORA) Proposal Assistance Form. Attach the budget (once approved by campus accounting) and narrative to the ORA form. Please forward the form submission confirmation to the Dean for Research and the IU Southeast Grants Coordinator. Note that ORA will not move forward until the campus has approved the grant budget.
Step 5: Receiving Feedback from your ORA Grant Consultant
ORA will assign a consultant to your grant. Your grant consultant will check to make sure all necessary paperwork is present and will be the one to route your proposal through the approval process. Please copy the Dean for Research and IU Southeast Grants Coordinator on all correspondence with ORA so they can advocate on your behalf.
Step 6: Submitting your Proposal!
Once you have made revisions suggested by your ORA consultant, you will submit to ORA your final proposal with project narrative, approved budget, and any other components of the application package. The Office of Research Administration routes the proposal through approval channels via a digital routing process. Once your proposal has been submitted into routing, you will receive an email indicating that an item in your Action List needs approval. You can access your Action List via One.IU.edu. Once you have approved the proposal in the digital routing system, your dean or unit head will receive a similar email requesting their approval. The proposal will then route through the other approvers, including the Dean for Research, Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs, and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
Last Updated on 9/1/2023
