Submission with Research Services & DRA

Division of Research Administration (DRA) within ORIED is the university’s authorized organization representative and therefore the only office on campus authorized to submit proposals on behalf of the University of Tennessee.

To that end, Research Services (RS) seeks to assist faculty in the preparation and submission of their research proposals to obtain approvals from the Institute’s senior leadership, collaborating department heads and/or deans and finally DRA. Upon completion of this workflow for approval, DRA will work toward a final review and submission of proposals to external funding agencies.

The services provided by UT-ORII Research Services and DRA are expanded upon below:

UT-ORII Research Services

  • Confer with faculty on potential funding agencies
  • Review RFP/Funding Opportunity documentation
  • Develop checklists for proposal submission, with key deadlines
  • Assist faculty in obtaining prior approvals with limited submissions
  • Assist faculty with sponsor specific templates
  • Develop budget, with cost share if applicable
  • Facilitate internal and external collaborative relationships, include
    subrecipient documentation
  • Review of non-technical portions of proposal
  • Full review to ensure conformance with sponsor requirements and university policy
  • Facilitate internal approvals via Cayuse
  • Coordinate with DRA to ensure submission

DRA*

Upon receipt of proposal documents via Cayuse, DRA will:

  • Confirm proposal meets all sponsor requirements
  • Confirm budgets comply with sponsor and fiscal policies
  • Review for research compliance needs
  • Facilitate terms and conditions review as required
  • Facilitate required conflict of interest reviews
  • Review documentation needs for external party collaborations
  • Confirm and make required certifications
  • Provide official institutional approval and submit proposal

*DRA Proposal & Award Roles and Responsibilities

Getting Started with Research Services

Upon identifying a sponsored programs opportunity for which you would like to apply, please complete a Proposal Notification Form, Information gathered will help identify collaborations, deadline date and specific requirements of the opportunity.

Research Services will work directly with faculty from notification to submission. The timeline below is meant to serve as a guide of what faculty should expect from initial decision to pursue sponsored programs funding to proposal submission. The staff at UTORII Research Services is here to help during all phases of this timeline:

1. Proposal Preparation
  • During this phase of the proposal process, proposal preparation includes ensuring sponsor specific requirements (such as sponsor user accounts or limited submissions), identifying senior/key personnel and collaborators, initiating proposal budget and ensuring compliance with conflict of interest requirements.
  • Within UT-ORII, Chris Schmitz (Lecturer of Science & Technical Communications) can assist with the technical review of outgoing proposals. To get started with Chris, please email her at cschmi26@dlittl12
  • The University Libraries at UT has a DMPTool to help create Data Management Plans. This tool will guide you through the process of creating a data management plan to meet funder requirements.
  • Research Services will work with faculty to populate required forms and/or sponsor portals with submission documentation and ensure compliance checks of the proposal.
2. Institutional Routing
  • Proposals must route through the university to ensure Chair/Dean and DRA approval to move forward with submission.
  • Cayuse is the university’s system for institutional routing. All proposals must complete all routing approvals at least 5 business days prior to the submission deadline.
3. Proposal Submission

Upon routing approval, DRA will initiate submission to the sponsor.

In order to meet these key milestones and ensure submission, Research Services requests final non-technical documentation 8 Business Days before Sponsor Deadline*. Final technical components must be routed to DRA 5 Business Days before Sponsor Deadline, per university policy.

  • DRA will review and ask questions/clarification pertaining to sponsor submission
  • PIs must be accessible up to submission of proposal

GUIDANCE FOR BUDGET DEVELOPMENT

A draft budget should include the following budget categories, as applicable:

  • Personnel who will work on the project, including students
  • Tuition should be budgeted for GRAs
  • Materials and supplies
  • Special Equipment
  • Consultants expected to be hired and their rate
  • Subawards*
    • *When working with outside collaborators, or subrecipients, to have a subaward relationship the following documents are required at proposal time:
    • Subrecipient Commitment Form (work with Research Services to determine which form to use)
    • Letter of Support/Collaboration (if required by sponsor)
    • Detailed Budget
    • Budget Justification (documents must meet requirements of sponsor)
    • Statement of Work for their portion of the project
    • Additional documentation required for sponsor submission
  • Incentive Payments
  • Travel Expenses
  • Other costs not addressed above

RS can assist with budget development; it is the responsibility of the investigator to determine at minimum line-item costs for such categories as materials, supplies and equipment

COMPLIANCE

The Division of Research Integrity and Assurance is responsible for ensuring the compliance with regulatory requirements associated with various aspects of research activity (see DRIA website for full spectrum of support). It is the responsibility of the researcher to ensure compliance with requirements of external funding agencies and UT. Use hyperlinks to explore these areas further:

Compliance Learning Resources

Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative Program

– Online research ethics education; learning modules for IRB, RCR, COI, Export Control