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 programs 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 by the Research Services team include:

Review of RFP/Solicitation, funding guidelines, regulatory requirements
Research submission process, including assistance in systems access
Technical assistance with Cayuse and sponsor-specific portals
Creation/assistance with budget development
Subrecipient documentation
Review of submission materials
Application preparation via electronic submission portal
Finalization of application to Division of Research Administration (DRA)

Proposal Lifecyle

The proposal lifecycle at UT-ORII is the portion of a sponsored programs lifecycle that includes initial research project development, finding matching sponsors and crafting a winning proposal.

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

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.

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 utilize 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.

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, set up 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.

Intent to Submit

Serving as a PI (University of Tennessee as applicant):

Upon determination that you would like to submit to the funding agency, provide the following information to the Manager of Research Services (RS) (rrust2@utk.edu) via the Proposal Notification Form (see Appendix for blank template preview):

Sponsor Solicitation – document or active link to guidance
Due Date – sponsor deadline; RS will back into internal DRA deadline
Personnel on Proposal – all Senior/Key Personnel
Subrecipient Information – Identify Subrecipient, Subrecipient Investigator; also see below for required documentation at time of proposal preparation

Serving as a Co-PI (lead PI is at University of Tennessee):

If a researcher will serve as a Co-PI or PD/PI on a multi-PD/PI submission, a Proposal Notification Form is required to initiate communications with Research Services. Research services will provide support for proposal components required of UT-ORII faculty.

Collaboration with other Institutions or Organizations (lead PI is external to University of Tennessee):

If a researcher will serve as a Co-PI or PD/PI on a multi-PD/PI submission with external organization, Research Services should be notified via the Proposal Notification Form to initiate communications with the lead organization and DRA. All instances of research faculty serving as Co-PI or Senior Personnel on an external organizations’ funding proposal must be routed to DRA via UT-ORII Research Services. These types of proposals place the lead applicant as the “sponsor” and the funding agency to which a response to an RFP or funding opportunity is requested as the “prime” agency. As such requirements from the prime will flow down via the lead organization to UT-ORII. All proposal processing requirements (compilation of specific documents, routing in Cayuse, 5 Day Deadline) remain unchanged from situations in which the University of Tennessee is directly applying for funding.