Pre-Award Service Level Agreement for Externally Funded Research Proposal Review and Submission

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

PRIOR TO SUBMISSION ALL RESEARCH PROPOSALS MUST BE APPROVED AND SIGNED OFF BY THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT VIA THE AGRESSO PROPOSAL TO AWARD MANAGEMENT (PAM)

To do this you need to:

1. Have a budget that has been approved by RIS Pre-Award

2. Have a completed and approvedethics form

GUIDANCE ON DEADLINES AND OTHER KEY PIECES OF INFORMATION

We endeavour to support every externally funded research application being submitted.Engaging your Pre-Award Development Officer with a well-defined project as early as possible before the deadline will enable them to dedicate the necessary time and resource to your proposal.

Most funders’ electronic application systems require the proposal to have University authorisation. It is your responsibility as PI to ensure that you submit your application with sufficient time to allow for quality checks, funder compliance and University authorisation. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE THIS TO THE LAST MINUTE. If you do we cannot promise to check and submit your application in time. It is also unfair to your colleagues whose work gets moved down the queue.

TIMELINE FOR SUBMISSION TO PRE-AWARD / PRE-AWARD SUPPORT
If you submit at least5Working Days prior to funder submission deadline (or consortium lead party deadline for multi-institutional collaborations) and:
  • have a final draft application that has been reviewed internally as appropriate e.g. Peer Reviewed, discussed with our Research Grant Development team
  • have Head of Department Approval via PAM (Agresso)
  • haveapproval for any necessary internal requests for support e.g. Equipment contributions, Pro-Vice Chancellor support for part-funded fellowships.
/ If you submit at least 5 working days prior to funder submission deadline, then we will aim to carry out a Full Qualitative Review, comprising:
  • Proposal review:
  • Costs are correct in the proposal and match up with the approved costs in PAM
  • Justification of Resources is accurate and clear
  • Other aspects of the funders terms and conditions have been met such as length and type of attachments where set out in the funding guidance notes
  • Liaison with PI/Co-I/Lead Institution where applicable;
  • Review of non-technical aspects of the proposal e.g. lay summary, pathways to impact

If you submit 2-4 working daysprior to funder submission deadline (or consortium lead party deadline for multi-institutional collaborations) / If you submit2-4 working days prior to funder submission deadline, then we will aim to carry out a Basic Proposal Review:
  • Costs are correct in the proposal and match up with the approved costs in PAM
  • Justification of Resources is accurate and clear
  • Other aspects of the funders terms and conditions have been met such as length and type of attachments where set out in the funding guidance notes

Less than 48 hoursprior to funder submission deadline (or consortium lead party deadline for multi-institutional collaborations) / Where a proposal is submitted with less than 48 hours until the deadline this will be referred to the Pre Award Manager. It may not be possible for us to complete the most basic checks on an application. In these instances the Pre-Award Manager or Head of Pre-Award and Contracts reserves the right to pass overall responsibility for approving submission with associated financial and reputation risk back to Heads of Departments or their alternate.
Exceptions: Cases where More than 5 Days are required for standard review:
Tenders – minimum 21 working days before deadline /
  • Tenders – these are often very complex and legally onerous documents that require thorough review by the legal team before submission and therefore must be submitted at least 21 working days before the deadline.

US Government Funded Projects – at least15 working days before deadline /
  • US Government Funded projects – due to the time-consuming process of submitting through the US funder systems (grants.gov) please submit these at least 15 working days before the deadline.

Partly funded Fellowships – at least 15 working days before deadline /
  • Partly-funded fellowships – these will need sign off by the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and therefore must be submitted with at least 15 working days’ notice before the deadline and must be submitted in line with the specific University guidance on these.

Managed Calls (e.g. NERC demand management) /
  • Managed calls (eg. NERC demand management) have their own time schedules so please refer to individual guidance on these

In addition to the different level services described (above) Pre-Award provides training and support in using PAM. Please contact your Pre-Award Development Officer if you require support and ensure that you do this early enough to work within the given timescales for submission.

Feedback:

In the first instance any complaints should be raised between the PI and the Pre-Award Manager. If it is not possible to resolve the issue at this level complaints will be escalated firstly to the relevant Head of Department and Head of Pre-Award and Contractsand thereafter to the relevant Dean and/or PVC Research and Director of RIS.

We are always pleased to receive feedback on our service and encourage you to leave your comments and requestshere.

Service Hours – on University working days 10am-4pm. Please note: On occasion the Pre-Award office may be closed for training and development or similar activities. In these instances we will make sure that users are notified in advance.

RIS Contacts:

Director of RIS:

Dr Jon Hunt. Email:

Head of Pre-Award and Contracts:

Dr Alison Evans. Email:

Pre-Award Manager:

Lizzie Hope. Email: