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THE SUBMISSION PROCESS . . .

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Before Contacting OSP…

Are you eligible to submit a proposal? ( PI Eligibility policy)

If your department (A&S, DMS, Thayer) has been assigned a Research Grant Manager (RGM), contact him/her first. (Grant Manager List)

Review sponsor guidelines. If the sponsor limits the number of submissions per institution, please contact OSP well in advance, because there will be an institutional selection process.

Determine the scope of your project (i.e., duration, who will participate, approximate cost, etc.)

Gain the support of your department head for any required resources (i.e., release time, facilities, graduate students, etc.).

Ensure that the project you envision will meet the requirements imposed by the sponsor.

What To Look For ...

THESE ARE EXAMPLES OF ITEMS TO NOTE IN SPONSOR GUIDELINES; IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A COMPREHENSIVE LIST.

Limitations to the number of applications per institution or department.
Restrictions on an applicant’s years of experience, position, or years in a position.
Whether PI salary can be included in the budget.
Page limitations and whether appendices may be included.
Restrictions on concurrent applications to other programs or sponsors or overlapping support for proposed project.
Letter of intent or pre-proposal requirement.
Cost-sharing or matching funds requirement.
Restrictions on indirect cost rate.
Restrictions on the participation of foreign nationals.
Publication restrictions.
Requirements of data, resource, or intellectual property sharing.
Export controls: requirements of federal licenses for sharing information or materials abroad.

Suggested Boilerplate Resource Language ...

Trustees of Dartmouth College, commonly known as Dartmouth College, is a corporation created by Royal Charter and exists under the laws of the State of New Hampshire. It is a private, four-year, liberal arts, coeducational college with schools of business, engineering, and medicine, as well as 16 graduate programs in the arts and sciences. Its 200-acre main campus includes such facilities as the Hood Museum of Art, the Hopkins Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, the Hanover Inn, the Dartmouth Skiway, the Berry Sports Center, the Kiewit Computation Center, and the Burke Laboratory. It maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly enrolled student body of over 4,000 undergraduate students and 1,000 graduate students in attendance at Hanover, New Hampshire, where its educational activities are regularly conducted.

The College library system is headquartered in the Baker-Berry Library, located in the heart of the campus. In addition to Baker-Berry Library, there are ten other libraries on campus that serve the specialized needs of several academic departments and the three professional schools of the College (Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and Amos Tuck School of Business Administration). The library system makes available approximately 2.4 million printed volumes, 2.6 million microform pieces, 20,000 serial subscriptions, and 2,500 networked electronic resources to students, faculty, and other members of the College community.

Dartmouth Medical School is the fourth oldest medical school in the United States. In addition to its four-year curriculum leading to the M.D., the Medical School offers an M.D.-Ph.D. program for persons wishing to become physicians qualified to direct research in a medically-related area of basic or applied science. The Medical School also operates a Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences which offers graduate and continuing education programs and conducts research on medical practice and outcomes of treatment.

The Proposal Routing Form

The Dartmouth Proposal Routing Form is an important, mandatory tool used by:

Your department chair to gain a sense of the content of your proposal, and any departmental obligations (space, equipment, etc.).
OSP to track compliance required information, such as Conflict of Interest disclosures, animal usage, etc.
OSP to complete its review of proposals and enter data into its proposal and award database.

This form should be completed, approved, and forwarded with every proposal within the three (3) or five (5) day recommended lead times described on the next page. Visit the OSP website for the most up-to-date routing form and instructions: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~osp/resources/forms.html. Sample can be found in the appendix. (Routing Form)

PI Considerations:

Notification and Recommended Lead Times
Your initial contact with OSP can be at any time prior to the proposal deadline, but you should submit your signed routing form and proposal to OSP pre-award for review (see your division-specific section for details):

Three (3) business days prior to sponsor deadline for proposals that will be transmitted via U.S. Postal Service or delivery service;

OR
Five (5) business days prior to sponsor deadline for complex, multi-project applications;

OR
Ten (10) business days prior to sponsor deadline for applications submitted through Grants.gov (relevant applications to federal agencies).

Why are such lead times necessary?

- OSP wants to give your proposal the attention it deserves. OSP reviews many proposals and may not be able to process yours immediately.
- Additional time may be required to get your proposal in “ready-to-go" condition. There is a high risk to submitting electronic applications at the last minute. Sponsors are very strict about deadlines and unanticipated system failures are not acceptable excuses for tardy applications.
- OSP is responsible for reviewing more than budgets. This review may include the considerations listed on the following pages.

PLEASE NOTE: applications that are not submitted by OSP electronically are submitted to the sponsor by the applicant and the applicant is expected to take responsibility for the application’s final appearance, including compliance with sponsor’s format requirements.

Personnel

Is the PI clearly identified?

Is the PI eligible to submit proposals? ( PI Eligibility)

Are the PI and all project personnel familiar with the Dartmouth College Misconduct Policy?

Does the PI have an actual or perceived conflict of interest in her/his relationship with the sponsor?

Are there any Co-PIs or key personnel involved in the project?

Are the levels of effort stated for key personnel reasonable?

Has appropriate approval been given for the proposed level of effort, commitment of space and resources, etc. for every person with effort listed on the application?

Proposals should accurately represent the amount of time that key personnel are committing to the project. In preparing proposals, PIs must be careful not to over commit themselves or others. In determining percentage effort, the PI must take into account the time required for teaching, committee meetings, clinical and campus citizenship.

Institutional Assurances

Have the appropriate forms, including required assurances and certifications, been used?

Will there be subcontractors/consortium sites conducting off-campus activities? If so, are letters of intent, scopes of work, and budgets in hand?

Is a letter of intent/scope of work included for each consultant?

Are current space & facilities resources adequate for the project?

Does the proposal promise any institutional commitments beyond the proposed period of performance? If so, this must be approved by all appropriate authorities.

Will there be the use of animals or humans in the project? If so, has IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) or IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval been granted?

Does the project involve the use, or will it result in the creation, of any research risks (i.e., hazardous materials, chemicals, recombinant DNA)?

Does the proposal contain any proprietary material? If so, are these sections of the proposal labeled appropriately?

Do any known publishing, intellectual property, or other sponsor restrictions exist for which a negotiation may be necessary? (Technology Transfer Office)

Administrative

Is all required proposal content included, accurate, and in the proper order as the sponsor expects to see it?

Have the proposed start and end dates been clearly stated? Are these dates reasonable, given the submission date?

Is the proposal formatted in accordance with sponsor guidelines (i.e., no. of pages, page numbering, spacing, margins, font size)?

Fiscal

Is the proposed budget accurate, complete and reasonable?

Are all budgeted costs allowable and allocable? Can all costs be supported under audit by the government?

Have currently approved rates for fringe benefits and indirect costs been used?

Have annual increases been calculated for the “out" years (the project period beyond year 1)?

Are the proposed costs necessary to conduct the project?

Are travel costs based on sponsor guidelines or the Dartmouth College Travel policy?

Have tuition costs for graduate students been requested?

If the project will involve the use of institutional facilities (e.g., animal care, machine shop, computing), have these costs been included in the proposal at currently approved rates?

Is cost-sharing required by the sponsor? If so, have the appropriate institutional approvals been obtained?

Is any “hidden" cost-sharing mentioned in the body of the proposal (that could become mandatory cost sharing, if funded)?

Is your anticipated effort, and that of your co-PI and Key Personnel, accurately reflected in both the budget and justification? Has the percentage of effort been derived prudently?

If you, your co-PI, or Key Personnel are not requesting salary, have you discussed with OSP or your RGM whether or not cost-sharing is required?

Do any matching funds need to be raised during the life of the project? If so, does this activity need to be coordinated with the Development Office?

Is a budget included for each subcontractor? Is it accurate and reasonable and has it been approved by the subcontractor’s institutional authorized official?

Electronic Submissions

Does the PI have the required electronic access to (i.e., user ID, password) and knowledge in how to use the sponsor’s electronic proposal system?

Is the format preserved accurately when viewed by the sponsor?

Can the proposal be submitted in sufficient time to allow for interruptions in internet services?

OSP Proposal Services

Contact Email: Sponsored.Projects@Dartmouth.edu

Identification of funding opportunities and interpretation of sponsor requirements
Registration with sponsors’ electronic systems when/if necessary
Assistance with preparation of forms (assurances, certifications)
Liaison activities with sponsor administrative contacts
Blitzmail bulletin for Important Updates
Distribution of weekly NIH Guide Table of Contents and NSF updates
Departmental and special interest group workshops

The Conflict of Interest Disclosure

Dartmouth College has an institutional policy in compliance with federal requirements which it applies to all sponsored projects. All investigators and key personnel are required to disclose at least annually (or more frequently, if new reportable information is obtained during the period of an award) any actual or perceived conflicts of interest to the College which could impact the objectivity of the research proposed.

NOTE: As the conflict of interest disclosure form is a confidential document, it should be submitted directly to:
Nancy Wray, Director of Sponsored Projects, HB 6210
or via email to: Nancy.J.Wray@Dartmouth.EDU