URA Review and Endorsement

For purposes of this policy, a “business day” is the standard University administrative work day (9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.), excluding University holidays. The application Submission Deadline is the date/time the Department/Principal Investigator requests the proposal be submitted by the University, whether that is an electronic submission by URA or mail postmark, shipping by FedEX, UPS or other commercial carrier. This date may be in advance of the actual sponsor deadline.

URA Full Institutional Review Deadline

Complete proposals submitted to URA 4 FULL BUSINESS DAYS in advance of the Submission Deadline will receive a Full Institutional Review by the URA Grant & Contract Managers. Review criteria will be based on the “AURA Proposal Review Requirements” and comments will be sent to the Department Administrator and Principal Investigator.

See “URA Proposal Review Requirements” for items required by URA for a Full Institutional Review

On simple research project proposals eligible for a Full Institutional Review, URA will make every effort to provide comments to the Department within 48 hours of proposal receipt. Complex projects (ie: Program Projects, Cooperative Agreements, MTAs, Clinical Trials, proposals with multiple subrecipients or a foreign component) are excluded from the 48 hour turnaround as these applications require additional review time and constitute higher institutional risk. However URA will make every effort to provide comments by COB the day before the sponsor deadline in an effort to allow department’s sufficient time to prepare for submission to the agency.

Proposals submitted to URA LESS THAN 4 FULL BUSINESS DAYS before the Submission Deadline will receive Contingent Endorsement. The Contingent Calculator may be used to determine appropriate submission deadlines to URA.

Contingent Proposals/Endorsement

When a proposal arrives at URA less than 4 full business days before the Submission Deadline, it will be given only a cursory examination. URA Grant & Contract Mangers will confirm the following items:

  • Declarations of the PI(s) including a current COI Assurance
  • Inclusion of some effort for the PI(s) on research proposals
  • Use of the appropriate indirect cost rate
  • Fully signed face page or indication of commitment for any subawards or consultants included in the proposal

Given the above conditions meet institutional policies, the proposal will be routed to the appropriate signing official for Institutional Endorsement and the proposal will be made open for changes.

However, additional comments may be provided, time permitting, and Departments are expected to make any requested changes before submitting the final application. These additional comments (if any) will not delay endorsement.

Please note, if terms and conditions contrary to University policy are found upon review after submission, the proposal may be withdrawn, or the acceptance of an award may require the removal or modification of any troublesome clause(s) and/or satisfactory resolution of deviations from University or sponsor policies.

For Contingent Proposals, URA will make every effort to provide Contingent Endorsement by COB the day before the Submission Deadline in an effort to allow department’s sufficient time to prepare for submission to the agency.

Guidance on NIH Resubmissions

  1. Review Your Proposal Before Releasing to URA as Final Ready-to-Submit

    We are writing to remind administrators and investigators of the critical need to fully review a proposal before releasing it to URA as Final Ready-to-Submit in AURA [consider this step as having deposited your submission in the Fed-Ex box]. The time to confirm that the correct and finest versions of the science and attachments are included is before submission.
     

  2. Submit Final Proposal by 12 Noon at Least 1 Day in Advance of the Deadline

    We are also reminding you that URA strongly advises submitting your final ready to submit application to URA by 12 Noon at least 1 business day prior to the deadline to ensure adequate time to correct any potential NIH Commons errors. Given new NIH rules, the application must be in Commons error-free prior to the deadline. Past experience demonstrates that submissions received in URA late on the day they are due have a higher error-rate, and the Grants.gov/agency submission systems slow down significantly on deadline days. If you submit at 3PM on deadline day, you may not hear until the next day that the application has an error, which means you have missed the deadline and do not have an on-time submission. Resubmitting at that point requires a letter explaining why the proposal is late, and NIH will determine whether they will accept the late application. It is very risky to submit on a deadline day, and the risk grows as the day goes on.
     

  3. Post-Submission Application Materials

    Do also note that NIH has become much more restrictive regarding post-submission application materials (ie., material sent to SRO with institutional endorsement). NIH now states: “the only post-submission grant application materials that the NIH will accept are those resulting from unforeseen administrative issues. Post-submission grant application materials are those submitted after submission of the grant application but prior to the initial peer review. This option is to be used when an unexpected event such as the departure of a participant, natural disaster, etc. has occurred, not to correct oversights/errors discovered after submission of the application.”

The options after submission are very limited. In order to ensure that your best and final application makes the deadline, we are reiterating the need to:

  1. Review the application completely before you declare it Final Ready-to-Submit in AURA and release it to URA
  2. Review the application completely before you declare it Final Ready-to-Submit in AURA and release it to URA

Important to Note

  1.  Because of the risks outlined above, resubmission of an application which is in the NIH Commons error-free is highly discouraged.
  2. URA will always resubmit to correct NIH Commons errors or in cases where the application does not correctly reflect what was submitted (e.g., missing or garbled text due to transmission problems).
  3. ‘Initial’ submissions will always be given priority; URA will address ‘changed/corrected’ applications only as time permits.
  4. URA will not handle any resubmissions for applications already in the Commons error-free on the day of an NIH R-Series deadline, except in cases where the application does not correctly reflect what was submitted (e.g., missing or garbled text due to transmission problems).
  5. We cannot guarantee a timely submission for any application that arrives in URA after 12 Noon on the day of the deadline.
  6. Individual units/departments of the University may have their own requirements in order to help them manage the flow of applications – please make sure investigators are aware of submission expectations.