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Procedures for Submission of Limited Application Proposals

Foundations frequently issue Requests for Proposals (commonly referred to as "RFPs") that are limited in number and scope. These are often of great interest to a large number of faculty, departments and programs. The Office of the Provost has therefore developed comprehensive procedures on how Dartmouth responds to such opportunities:

Step One: Notification to the Office of the Provost

The first step in this process occurs when the Office of Foundation Relations, a member or members of the faculty, or another entity on campus (such as the Office of Sponsored Projects) notifies the Office of the Provost of a limited application RFP. The Office of the Provost requests that this happen as soon as opportunities present themselves to make certain that there is adequate time for the steps below. The Vice Provost for Research is the primary contact and coordinator for limited application proposals in the Office of the Provost. Questions regarding particular grant programs or proposals should be addressed there.

Step Two: Notification to the Dartmouth Academic Community

The Office of the Provost then sends notification of these RFPs to the chairs of the appropriate academic departments (usually via BlitzMail). Copies are also sent to the appropriate Deans and Associate Deans, as well as other appropriate offices such as Foundation Relations or Sponsored Projects. The Office of the Provost requests the chairs to submit appropriate pre-application materials necessary for review, if they have an interest in responding to the opportunity.

Step Three: Collection of Pre-Application Materials and Review of Pre-Proposals

The Office of the Provost then collects the pre-application materials that have been submitted and convenes a review committee appropriate to the particular RFP. For example, for an RFP dealing with science and engineering matters, the review committee would likely be the Provost, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the Dean of the Thayer School or their designees. An RFP dealing with biomedical sciences would likely involve a review committee consisting of the Provost, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the Dean of the Medical School. The review committee evaluates the pre-application materials and determines the most appropriate and competitive nomination from Dartmouth.

Step Four: Matching Funds

Any internal Dartmouth matching funds required for a proposal will need the approval of the appropriate dean before the faculty or the department is informed of the decision regarding the status of their proposal. Any external matching funds also require prior approval of the Vice President for Development.

Step Five: Notification to Departments of the Nomination(s)

After a decision is made regarding the Dartmouth College nominee for a particular RFP, the Office of the Provost notifies the department chairs and the appropriate deans. The Office of the Provost makes this notification well in advance of the RFP deadline so that the nominees will have adequate time to prepare their proposals. The Office also notifies the Office of Foundation Relations or the Office of Sponsored Projects of these nominations as appropriate.

Applicants who are not selected as institutional nominees but who wish to be considered as "alternates" for the institutional nomination should inform the Provost's Office. Alternates will be considered as nominees in the event that a nominee withdraws from a grant competition.

Step Six: Proposal Preparation

The nominee for a limited submission RFP bears primary responsibility for preparing the application materials. The Office of the Provost assists nominees, as appropriate, with institutional nomination letters, forms, copying, etc. Staff in Foundation Relations and/or the Office of Sponsored Projects will also assist, as appropriate.

Nominees are responsible for keeping the Provost's Office apprised of the status of the proposal. If a nominee has to withdraw from a limited application proposal for any reason, the nominee must inform the Provost's Office in a timely manner so that an alternate nominee for the institution can be selected.