External Funding

To ensure an overall level of quality assurance, follow the proposal submission policy of the BU’s Sponsored Programs Office.  Notification of intent to submit is required 10 business days before the sponsor deadline, submission of administrative components five business days before the sponsor deadline and technical/scientific components three business days before the sponsor deadline. These internal deadlines will allow for a thorough review and necessary corrections before the sponsor deadline, thereby maximizing the opportunity for proposal success.

Submitting a Proposal

If you are planning to submit a grant proposal, complete the PI Upcoming Proposal Submission form to notify your grant & finance administrators of your upcoming proposal. Requires Microsoft sign-in.

Fill out the form as soon as you have identified a funding source you’re interested in applying to. This is critical to be able to plan for the proposal support needs of various requests.

Three weeks before deadline

  1. Meet with IT to discuss your technology needs, if applicable. IT will help identify the technology and media resources needed to successfully execute your project.  There will likely be costs involved for these services and these costs will need to be built into your budget.
  2. Meet with GFA to plan your budget. The preliminary budget will allow you as PI and the Research Office to evaluate the feasibility of implementing your project which may impact the scope and project goals. Budget planning should begin no later than 3 weeks before the proposal deadline.  You need to know only general categories of budget items—personnel needs, travel, equipment, special services, unusual supplies—required to carry out your project.

Your GFA will calculate the dollar amounts based on her experience with extramural funding. It is especially important to identify unusual budget items, cost-sharing needs, and subcontract expectations. If you are including another institution as a subcontract, your GFA will provide the documentation needed and it is important that you let your contacts at the institution understand the timelines required to meet the proposal deadline, as well as the name, phone number, and email address of a person your GFA can contact if questions or problems arise. After the planning meeting, your GFA will prepare a preliminary budget for you. There will likely be multiple revisions leading up to the final budget.

Two weeks before deadline

  1. Submit your draft proposal for editing and routing. Submit an electronic draft of your proposal (abstract, narrative, and references) to the Research Office at least 2 weeks before the proposal deadline. Your GFA will begin routing the proposal abstract, final budget and budget justification, and other required documents for signatures. The proposal draft will be routed from the Research Office before going to BU’s Sponsored Programs Office for university authorization.

Four days before deadline

  1. Submit your final proposal for submission to the funding agency. If you are wanting the Research Office to prepare your online submission, it is critical that you plan to send the final drafts of your abstract, narrative, and references with all required attachments to your GFA at least 4 days before the proposal deadline. Your GFA will facilitate electronic and hard copy submissions and will work with you to ensure that all required documents are in place.

Two days before deadline

  1. Review your completed proposal. Submitting your proposal in a timely and accurate manner is critical to the mission of our Research Office. Please review and solicit a colleague to review your proposal at least 2 days before the documents are submitted to the funding agency. Review, uploading and mailing of electronic and hard-copy submissions takes place in the Research Office and should be scheduled with your GFA. After the proposal has gone out, the Research Office will make archival copies of your grant.  Let your GFA know how many print copies of the proposal you’ll need for yourself and other project personnel.