Pre-Award Research Services
The research services function at UT-ORII seeks to provide pre-award services to faculty in their pursuit of sponsored programs funding. All proposals prepared for sponsored projects funding consideration should be reviewed by UT-ORII Research Services for completeness and approval before final submission to the Division of Research Administration.
Services provided include:
- Confer with faculty on potential funding opportunities
- Review of RFP/Solicitation, funding guidelines, and regulatory requirements with faculty
- Budget development
- Facilitate internal and external collaborative relationships, including subrecipients
- Review of submission material
- Application preparation via electronic submission system(s)
- Facilitate and finalize proposals for internal approvals and submission to the Division of Research Administration (DRA)
Proposal Lifecycle at UT-ORII & the University of Tennessee
Proposal Lifecycle explained
Find funding
| Faculty interested in obtaining external funding are encouraged to utilize University of Tennessee resources to maximize their funding potential. The Research Development Office at UT provides faculty with access to such funding search engines as Pivot as well as Funder Portfolios. |
Develop proposal
| During the Proposal Development phase of the sponsored programs lifecycle, researchers have access to multiple types of support. The Research Services unit at UT-ORII will provide start to end pre-award services to ensure proposals are assembled and submitted per university and sponsor requirements. During this period of time faculty should identify any key requirements for the funding opportunity, including: – Submission limitations per institution or investigator – Cost Share requirements – Subrecipients on the project In addition, the Research Development office provides proposal support to faculty, collaboration and networking and multiple faculty development programs. It is strongly encouraged to utilized the Research Development office as you prepare your project description. |
Route & Submit to Sponsor
| Upon completion of the application components, researchers will work with UT-ORII Research Services to compile, route and submit the sponsored programs proposal to the appropriate sponsor/solicitation. Post submission requests from sponsors, such as a revised budget, updated current and pending support or compliance information may be requested after submission. UT-ORII Research Services will work directly with faculty to ensure requested documentation is submitted through DRA/ORIED and to the sponsor. |
Award Receipt & Negotiation
| Upon notification of award from a sponsor, DRA, the PI and UT-ORII Research Services will work together to accept an award to the University of Tennessee. Actions that typically occur at this time include: – Award agreement negotiation and signature – Confirmation of budget or re-budget if award is less than amount originally proposed – Update of personnel documents, such as current and pending support – Compliance approvals |
account setup
| Upon full execution of an award and PI completion of required compliance items, an award will be established by ORIED with a project period and budget consistent with official award documentation. |
Manage project
| The project management phase of a sponsored project is typically the longest part of the sponsored program lifecycle. In this time frame PI’s will conduct research while UT-ORII and the post award office in ORIED will financially manage expenditures, setup subrecipient agreements and submit financial reports. It is the responsibility of the PI to complete and submit programmatic reports, per the terms and conditions of the award. |
Closeout
| Closeout is the last phase of an award. It occurs after the project has ended, the project’s deliverables have been met, including submission of any financial reports and invoices, and all payments have been received. During this period of time, PIs work to submit final progress reports while ORIED and UT-ORII work to ensure all financial obligations have been met and cleared in the financial accounting system. ORIED also works to submit final financial reports which run parallel to a PI’s final programmatic report. |
Contact Research Services
Raquel Rust, MPA, CRA
Manager of Research Services
(865) 946-1871
rrust2@utk.edu