Proposal Submission

A proposal must be received by OSP at least five (5) full business days prior to the sponsor’s due date.  Business days exclude any University holidays or closures.  At day 5, the proposal components must be ready to submit to the sponsor with the exception of the technical narrative/statement of work (SOW), which may be submitted in draft form. At day 3, the technical narrative/SOW must be final, and the proposal must be considered submission ready.  No administrative or budgetary changes after day 5 shall be permitted except at the request of OSP or SEAS as part of the review process. By day three the proposal must be released to OSP by close of business (COB).

A proposal submitted less than 1 business day prior to the sponsor’s due date will not be submitted, and there will be no exceptions granted for these same-day submissions. A same day submission is anything received after 5:00PM EST the day before the proposal is due.

This policy applies to all requests for externally funded sponsored projects even in cases where formal sign-off is not required by the sponsor.

Definitions

• Complete and Final Proposal - The complete and final proposal has all of the necessary School and University-level approvals. The application is considered complete by the Principal Investigator (PI) and the dept; no further edits are occurring on the science (as defined below), budget, or other forms.
• Science - "The science" or "Research Plan" represents any number of documents required by the sponsor that will be presented to a review panel or board of directors during a funding selection process.  Examples may include the Abstract, Project Summary, Project Narrative, Project Description, Research Strategy, References Cited, Volume I, Technical Plan, etc. If a sponsor does not use these specific terms, please use your best judgment to determine the equivalent sections. Pre-Award team can also provide guidance on a case-by-case basis. OSP provides examples for common sponsors.  PIs should contact Pre-Award team for guidance.
• Statement of Work (SOW) - The SOW, also called the "scope of work," should provide a full and detailed explanation of the proposed activity, typically including project goals, specific aims, methodology, and Investigator responsibilities. It should be no shorter than a paragraph in length.  This document is required for all subawards to outline the responsibilities of the Harvard team and may be requested in other arrangements to outline Harvard-specific responsibilities when they are unclear.
• Submission Deadline - The day and time (EST) the proposal is due to the sponsor.  If the sponsor provides the date and time in another time zone, the deadline must be converted to EST.  OSP will not submit outside of standard business hours. If there is no formal deadline from the sponsor, including requests to submit "ASAP," the “due date” is 5 full business days ahead of the date it arrives at OSP.
• Received by OSP - A proposal is considered received once OSP has all the review-ready documents at each stage of the proposal submission timeline. For the Day 5 deadline, this means all proposal components other than the final SOW, and by Day 3, this means the complete, submission-ready version of the proposal. All required PI and departmental signatures should be completed in GMAS by Day 3 to indicate the product is finalized and ready to be submitted, barring any SEAS/OSP feedback.  Adequate time must be given to administrators in advance of Day 5 to review and compile documents so that they can be released to OSP in a timely manner.

Counting Days

In general, for five business days, it's easiest to begin with one week before and add additional days for every day that Harvard is closed.  Importantly, the day of submission does not count as a business day, and the deadline is 9 a.m., which allows five full days to review before the submission day.  Examples of complicating factors:

• Holidays - Holidays are not included in the five business days and must be accounted for when counting days.  For example, if a proposal is due Friday, May 30, then it would normally be due Friday, May 23.  However, if there is a holiday (Memorial Day) and the university is closed, one day is added and the proposal is due at 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 29.  If a proposal is due on a holiday or weekend, the submission deadline is moved to the nearest business day prior to the deadline.  In some cases, a sponsor may accept the proposal the day after, however the best practice is to submit the day before.
• Outside Business Hours - Proposals will only be submitted during business hours (before 5 p.m.).  If a proposal is due after 5 p.m., the submission must be done prior to close of business.
• Time Zones - If a submission is due outside of business hours due to a time zone difference, the due date is adjusted to the nearest business day prior to submission.  For example, if a proposal for a Korean sponsor is due at 1 a.m. EST on a Monday, it will be due at 5 p.m. the business day before the submission, which would be the Friday before (if the University is open that day).
• ASAP/Rolling Deadlines - If a proposal request is required to be submitted "ASAP" or has no specific deadline, the standard five business days is required for review.  For example, if the proposal were locked and routed in GMAS before 9 a.m. on Thursday, the due date would be the following Thursday.  If the lock and route were after 9 a.m., the sponsor due date would be Friday.   If there were any holidays during the review period, the corresponding number of additional days would be added to extend the sponsor due date.
• Winter Break - For late December and early January, there are always special deadlines that OSP announces in early December due to the winter recess.  PIs should consult their RPMs for guidance on deadlines in December and early January.

Please fill out the Proposal Intake form to initiate the proposal preparation process.  The form should be completed with sufficient advanced notice (SEAS Proposal Timeline) to enable the team members to work with you on proposal preparation and meet the OSP 5-day deadline. Once assigned the Pre-Award RPM will reach out to the faculty member directly to kick off the process and ask more specific questions.

We aim to have assignments made within 1-2 business days, though assignment may take longer during peaks in proposal volume.

For general proposal questions or if you wish to discuss an opportunity prior to submitting the form please email SEAS Proposal Support at preaward@seas.harvard.edu .

While the amount of preparation time varies by individual proposal, general guidance for proposal preparation time is as follows:

• Complex proposals - Some applications may be complex and require more time than for additional input, review, and approval. Depending on the number of individuals involved in large projects, preparation time may range from one to six months.  Features of complex projects may include, but are not limited to:
  • Multi-site projects
  • Research team size exceeds 5 PIs/Co-PIs/Co-Is
  • International collaborators
  • International field work, human subject work, or other work subject to export-controls
  • Participant Support Costs (particularly REUs)
  • Inclusion of non-traditional PIs who may require exceptional PI rights
  • Terms and conditions that need to be agreed to prior to submission (for example, a model Other Transaction (OT))
  • Task-based budgets (usually required by DARPA, ARPA-H, and IARPA)
• Fellowship and Mentored proposals - For proposals that are submitted by postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, or undergraduate students and require a PI to serve as a mentor, ample time is required for the collection of documents from mentors and preparation of individual documents.  Individuals seeking to submit proposals should expect at least a month of preparation time and should contact their PI to help submit the proposal intake form.  Examples of mentored awards include, but are not limited to, NIH F and K proposals.

Review

To ensure that the review process is fair and PIs who comply with the proposal submission deadline are not penalized, OSP and SEAS will review proposals in the order in which they are received. Proposals will not be permitted to “jump the queue” ahead of proposals that were submitted earlier even when a deadline is imminent. Principal Investigators (PIs) are also encouraged to request that OSP submit a proposal in advance of a sponsor’s deadline as an added precaution. Early submittal may allow for the correction of errors that are detected by the sponsor during the transmission process and may provide an opportunity for resubmission prior to the sponsor’s due date.

OSP provides complete guidance on their review process, including GMAS retraction criteria and business process documentation and their review checklist.

Exception

If the PI is unable to meet the 5-day proposal deadline, which includes submission of a complete draft of the scientific documents and final administrative documents, they must request an exception to the proposal submission deadline.  Late proposals will be allowed only under very limited circumstances that are outside the control of the PI.

Principal Investigators (PIs) are responsible for the following:

• Knowing and understanding the SEAS Sponsored Submission Deadline Policy and being responsive to the timeline as described in the Policy.
• Adhering to any departmental deadlines for proposal preparation and review in advance of the deadline for submission to OSP.
• Engaging the Pre-Award team as early in the process as possible, preparing proposal narratives in sufficient detail, and forwarding all relevant proposal materials to the assigned Pre-Award RPM with enough advance notice to allow adequate review and proposal preparation.
• Understanding that proposals require their collaboration with the assigned Pre-Award RPM for the development of project budgets and administrative elements of proposals.
• Knowing which elements of a proposal could necessitate Provostial review and/or review by the Research Compliance Program ("RCP"), and for consulting with Pre-Award team staff to determine if a proposal under development will require such review.
   

Pre-Award Team Staff are responsible for the following:

• Knowing and understanding the SEAS and OSP Sponsored Submission Deadline Policies and communicating them to PIs.
• Setting and enforcing their own additional deadlines for proposal preparation and allowing for sufficient lead time in advance of the deadline for submission to OSP.
• Knowing the elements of proposals that could necessitate Provostial and/or RCP review and approval, and for consulting with the SEAS Director of Research Policy and the OSP pre-award team to determine whether a proposal under development will require such review.
• Leaving additional time for Provostial/RCP review, when applicable, and communicating to PIs that such reviews are required.
• Notifying SEAS Research Administration management in the event that a PI is unresponsive to deadlines.
   

OSP Proposal Review Staff are responsible for the following:

• Reviewing each proposal for adherence to agency guidelines, federal regulations, and additional terms and conditions, if applicable, compliance with University and School policies and procedures, as well as for contractual issues that may put the University or faculty at risk.
• Reviewing proposals in the order in which they are received in order to ensure that the review process is fair and PIs who comply with the proposal submission deadline are not penalized.
• Preventing proposals from “jumping the queue” ahead of proposals that were submitted earlier, even when a deadline is imminent.
• Providing proposal sign-off as the authorized official and submission when necessary.