Lessons Learned from FY19 Proposals

In FY19 BU Sponsored Programs submitted 2,296 proposals and the vast majority (80% of proposals with deadlines) did not adhere to the proposal submission policy. 58% of proposal packages ready to submit were received within 1 day or less of the due date, meaning we are not able to perform an adequate review prior to submission. We know of 6 proposals that were rejected by the Sponsor due to non-compliance of Sponsor guidelines and the reasons these proposals were withdrawn include:

  1. Missing budgets details
  2. Preliminary Data included but not allowed per the guidelines
  3. Inadequate information in vertebrate animals sections
  4. Non-compliant appendix materials
  5. Science not responsive to solicitation
  6. Application did not meet 5pm deadline

    7. While 6 proposals out of 2,296 may not seem like lot, this totals $26M in missed research opportunity to the university and time lost for the investigators and their administrative staff. In FY20 so far there have been 3 proposals we could not successfully submit, totaling $5.3M. So what can be done?

    • Investigators and Department Administrators should take time to carefully review sponsor guidelines to ensure your proposal is scientifically and administratively responsive to the sponsor solicitation
    • Investigators and Department Administrators should notify your Sponsored Programs Research Administrator as soon as you are planning a proposal and share the sponsor solicitation
    • Investigators and Department Administrators should prepare and finalize proposals well before the deadline and in accordance with the proposal submission policy
    • Investigators and Department Administrators should submit proposals to your Sponsored Programs Research Administrator in accordance with the proposal submission policy to allow adequate time for the SP RA to review all materials, communicate any concerns to the Principal Investigator and Department Administrator and submit in a timely manner which may help mitigate the reasons proposals are withdrawn but also eliminate the undue stress last minute submissions cause even if the proposal is ultimately accepted by the sponsor

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