OSP Proposal Submission Policy

Purpose

The Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) is committed to assuring timely submission of complete, accurate and fully compliant proposals. In order to achieve this, it is critical that OSP receives proposals in sufficient time to provide adequate review. As a significant number of proposals are submitted electronically, it can take up to 48 hours or even longer to process applications once they are submitted by OSP. This policy is in place to ensure that proposals submitted from the University of Texas at El Paso are processed in a timely manner and are submitted in compliance with all sponsor and University requirements.

Applies to: All proposal submissions, including subaward proposals and noncompeting continuations. This policy also applies to pre-proposals that are presenting budgetary information to a sponsor or that require authorized official approval and/or submission via a sponsor system.

Background

Effective November 1, 2024, the Office of Sponsored Projects will ensure, using its best effort, the on-time, accurate, complete, and compliant submission of applications to the sponsoring entity when each of the following timelines detailed below are met. It should be noted that individual colleges, schools and/or departments may impose additional deadlines in advance of those cited below.

Policy

Five Business Days in Advance

A completed proposal containing all final business elements should be received by OSP at least five (5) business days prior to the sponsor’s deadline. Final business-related elements of the proposal include but are not limited to the budget, budget justification, cost share commitments, identification of required resources, subawards and significant financial interest disclosures. These elements should be in their final form and submitted to OSP, though scientific narrative may still be in a draft form. Note, however, that the scientific narrative must be far enough along to allow for the accurate identification of any potential compliance issues vis-a-vis export controls or the use of humans or animals in the research. Proposals received five business days or more in advance of the sponsor’s deadline will receive a detailed review by OSP to provide greater assurance that the proposal can be submitted error-free. Proposals that fail to meet this deadline and requirement will be subject to substantive review to the extent reasonable, given the nature of the proposal and arrival date in OSP.

Calculation of Five Business Days

The calculation of five business days considers the fact that weekends, holidays or University closures do not count as a business day. Note specific time and time zones used in the sponsor deadline are NOT factored into the OSP deadline. Please see examples below:
 

Exceptions and Waivers

Waivers to the five (5) business day rule will be made only for any of the following reasons:

• Official university closure (e.g. inclement weather)
• Due to PI or Co-PI serious illness, injury, or death of a key personnel
• If documented notification of the funding opportunity was made less than two (2) weeks prior to the deadline
• Due to sponsor complications or sponsor system technical issues experienced prior to the OSP deadline, with documented support

Any proposal received by OSP under an approved waiver will be submitted to the sponsor; however, for those proposals requiring submission via an electronic portal, OSP cannot ensure that the electronic submission will be transmitted error-free and in time to meet the sponsor’s deadline. This includes the transmission of a proposal from Grants.gov to a sponsor award or post-award system. This applies to any external system used to transmit a proposal to an agency.

Requests for Exception and Waiver

All requests must be made to Cory Brown, Director, Office of Sponsored Projects at cjbrown5@utep.edu and must be sent by the Director, Chair, or Dean of the PI’s Department.

Responsibilities

Office of Sponsored Projects:

• Review of proposals routed/uploaded before submission to the sponsor
• Submission and/or final institutional sign off of proposals and noncompeting continuations routed to OSP.
• Receipt and review of OSP waiver requests

Principal Investigator:

• Routing of proposal to the designated Research Administrator consistent with OSP deadlines and any internal deadlines set by other departments (such as Proposal Development)
• Response to OSP Research Administrator comments
• Finalizing proposal content so that it is Ready to Submit, including revisions as required before submission to sponsor

Director, Chair and Dean:

• Approval of transmittal for associated proposal prior to submission

Submission of waiver request to Director, OSP

Definitions

Business day:
Weekday that UTEP is open for business. Excludes weekends and holidays or other closures.

Business Elements:
Includes but not limited to the budget, budget justification, cost share commitments, identification of required resources, biosketches, subcontractor supporting documents, and significant financial interest disclosures.

Transmittal:
Electronic form submitted to capture required approvals prior to submission the external sponsor. The transmittal contains a copy of the proposal, the budget, institutional signatures and/or approvals.

Ready to Submit:
A Proposal status in which the proposal is deemed to be full and complete and in final format that is ready for submission to the Sponsor. A Ready to Submit proposal includes all completed required Sponsor forms, components, sections, and attachments, consistent with Sponsor program announcements and policies. A proposal is NOT Ready to Submit if it does not conform to all applicable policies and requirements of both the Sponsor and the UTEP