What are some Proposal Reminders to help streamline submission?

Proposal Reminders

Here are some proposal reminders and tips to help make your proposal submissions successful.

Draft Proposal Review 鈥� 7 day GIM 19 Deadline

The business and administrative components of a proposal should be complete听seven business days before the sponsor deadline. The scientific/programmatic portions can be draft versions.

Route to OSP for initial review.听OSP will review听补苍诲听provide reviewer comments, as applicable.

In particular, please route draft proposals for federal Contract and Other Transaction Agreements to OSP in SAGE for initial review no later than 7 business days before the sponsor deadline. See:听Why should I route an eGC1 for Contracts & Other Transactions to OSP ASAP?

Ready to Submit by the 3 day GIM 19 Deadline

All proposals that are In OSP by the听three business day GIM 19 deadline听must be听Ready to Submit. This should not be the first time OSP has seen the proposal. It is expected that OSP carried out an earlier review of the draft proposal.

Ready to Submit (RTS) means that the eGC1 has a complete proposal in final format, ready for submission to the sponsor.

RTS proposals must have or show that:

  • Final documents attached in the order required by the sponsor
  • All investigators completed their Significant Financial Interest Disclosures
  • Ready to Submit question on the eGC1 is marked 鈥淵es鈥�
  • The eGC1 is 鈥淚n OSP鈥� status before 5 p.m. Pacific time
  • The PI has given OSP access to the proposal in the sponsor system, if applicable

TIPS

Many federal sponsors听require or will require applicants to use the听. Some sponsors, like NSF & NIH, 听to prepare these forms.听Using听ORCID听connected to听听will help听keep biographical sketch and current and pending (other) support forms up to date.

Use project management tools and timelines and incorporate early steps into the process such as ensuring:

  • Investigators are available and have access in 91探花systems, such as the Financial Interest Disclosure System (FIDS)
  • Sponsor system accesses/permissions are obtained
  • Limited Submission听approval is sought and documented, if applicable
  • Permission from NIH to exceed $500,000 direct cost limit is documented, if applicable
  • Subrecipient materials听are received timely to incorporate into UW鈥檚 overall proposal
  • Common forms are prepared well ahead of time

For authorized official contact information that is listed on proposal cover pages, such as the SF-424 cover page, please refer to the听Institutional Facts & Rates听辫补驳别.

Understand who is reviewing what on the eGC1, as it routes. OSP uses听GIM 1听criteria for review once it arrives in OSP.

Run any sponsor system validations or error checking for the draft proposal. This will help 鈥渃lean up鈥� formatting and other requirements that sponsor systems are designed to catch.

Do not first route a proposal to OSP on the 3 day听GIM 19 deadline. Route your draft proposal on or before the seven day deadline.

Format Reminders

Incorrect formatting can prevent proposal submission to Grants.gov and other sponsor systems. Carefully review sponsor format guidance. Avoid using hyperlinks and flatten PDF files to remove incompatible file formatting, except for SciENcv documents that require specific formatting for validation.

More from Grants.gov:听
More from NIH:

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1/16/2026: Page reviewed & updated