Items Required
- eGC-1 (the UW internal electronic form). A "cheat sheet" for completing your eGC1 is here.
- Proposal text and forms required by the funding agency. If you have hard copies, please scan to PDF and attach to the eGC-1.
- Human subjects review materials. If your research involves the use of human subjects you need to submit either an Exemption Certification or a full Human Subjects Review application at the time you submit the grant unless your funding agency accepts "Just in Time" human subjects approval.
Internal Processing Time
A good guideline for getting an extramural grant processed is to allow a total of 15 working days prior to the due date for Department, College, and Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) processing. Please have your completed proposal to the Main Office 15 working days prior to the agency's deadline. OSP requires proposals 7 working days before the agency deadline with final budget, compliance, and forms and draft science. OSP will review proposals that arrive after the 7-day timeline, however, grants that are not submitted by 5:00 pm 3 days prior to the agency deadline in final form and marked "ready to submit" in SAGE will be returned to the PI without review. The College of Arts and Sciences is requiring that proposals be submitted to them for review and approval by noon 3 working days prior to the agency due date (so that they can review & forward to OSP by their 5:00 pm deadline). Please have your proposals to Wendy at least 48 hours prior to the College deadline (so 5 working days prior to due date) for Department review and approval to ensure that there is time to make any revisions or corrections that may be required. Note that Department review and approval is often faster, especially if you work with Wendy early in the process. Proposals that do not meet the deadlines stated above may not make it to OSP in time for their review, approval, and submission.
If the grant is complex, for example involving more than one facility or including subcontractors, please allow extra time.
Extramural grants required Department and College approval prior to OSP submission.
Intramural grants (e.g., RRF, CSSS, UW Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute) generally require only Department and College approval, however RRF proposals are now routed through SAGE using the eGC1. Please have your completed proposal to the Main Office at least 5 working days prior to the deadline.
Grants.gov
You can access the grants.gov portal at http://www.grants.gov/
A "cheat sheet" for submitting a grant using grants.gov can be found here.
Grants.gov slides can be found here.
Grants.gov sample main application page.
OSP's "Step by Step" guide
Preparing a Budget
Please check the funding agency's guidelines for budget preparation.
1. Salaries: Project salary increases each year at 2% effective July 1. This is a suggested projection, based on NIH policy. Follow all sponsor restrictions that may apply.
On the UW eGC-1 form all regular salaries are shown in the 01 budget code. Stipends may be show in the 01 or 08 budget code, depending on whether it's a continuing payment or a 1-time, lump sum payment.
2. Subcontracts
If your grant includes subcontracts you need to obtain a letter of agreement signed by an authorized institutional signer, scope of work, and a budget and budget justification from the subcontractor to include in the grant proposal.
3. Supplies
In general the Cost Accounting Standards consider supplies an indirect/facilities and administrative cost for routine supplies. If supplies are specific to the grant (paper for printing surveys, for instance) or are for supplies above and beyond standard supplies you can include them in your budget, but you will need to include a justification. You should include this in your budget narrative/budget justification.
On the UW eGC-1 form supplies are shown in the 05 budget code.
4. Travel
Travel should be budgeted using per diem rates for the travel destination and the UW contracted airfare rates. You can find this information at http://www.washington.edu/admin/travel.
Some agencies do not fund travel to professional meetings. Please be sure to check the policies of your targeted agency/foundation.
On the UW eGC-1 form travel is included in the 04 budget code.
5. Equipment
Some agencies do not fund equipment purchases unless there is a very compelling reason. Please be sure to check the policies of your targeted agency/foundation; it might also be worthwhile to contact your program officer to get prior approval for including equipment items in your budget request.
On the UW eGC-1 form equipment costing < $2000 is included in the 05 budget code; equipment costing > $2000 is included in the 06 budget code.
6. Benefits
Benefits are applied to ALL salaries paid on grant funds. The current rates to use are available at http://www.washington.edu/admin/finacct/loadrate.html.
On the UW GC-1 form benefits are included in the 07 budget code.
7. Student Operating Fees (Tuition)
Please budget an increase of 10% annually to ensure that your budget adequately covers student operating fees for the grant period.
On the UW eGC-1 form student operating fees are included in the 08 object code.
For 2011-12 the graduate operating fee waiver is $3897/quarter.
Current Rates are available at
http://www.washington.edu/admin/pb/home/pdf/tuition/2011-12-tf-annual.pdf
8. Indirect Costs
The current indirect cost rate is 54% of Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC). The current agreement date is November 30, 2010. The agreement can be found at http://f2.washington.edu/fm/maa/sites/default/files/fa/fa_agreement1.pdf.
MTDC is the Total Direct Costs (total of all your budgeted items) less student operating fees and individual equipment items costing > $2000. If your grant includes subcontracts only the first $25,000 per subcontract is assessed indirect costs. If your subcontract is $50,000 then $25,000 is subtracted to reach your MTDC.
If a funding agency does not cover indirect costs the UW will waive them, however, you need to provide a statement from the funding agency indicating that they do not cover indirect/overhead/facilities and administrative costs.