Pre-Proposal Development

Definitions

Pre-Proposal  Submission of a project summary/concept paper/white paper required by the Proposal Sponsor which is intended to result in an invitation to submit a full proposal.  May require an estimated cost or budget.  Does not include a pre-submission “Letter of Intent” intended to assist the Proposal Sponsor in determining the number of proposals expected for a particular call or the number of reviewers that will be needed.

Pre-Proposal Template  The eTRACS simplified proposal template used for pre-proposal development and routing.

Letter of Intent A document declaring intentions to submit a proposal to a given sponsor.  A letter of intent does not require a detailed budget and/or scope of work and would not be developed and/or routed within eTRACS.

Final Proposal The full proposal to be submitted to the sponsor after a pre-proposal submission.

 

When to create and route a pre-proposal

A pre-proposal should only be routed if an initial budget and scope of work are required for pre-proposal submission.

Letters of intent (LOIs) will not be captured in eTRACS or routed for review/approval.  The PI/PD is expected, as a courtesy, to notify his/her Hub Administrator, Department Chair and Associate Dean for Research when he/she submits a LOI to the sponsor.

 

Developing a Pre-Proposal

  • Navigate to the Proposal Development module and click “Proposal” under the Create New section

  • New Proposal Questionnaire:
    • Step 1 – Create New Proposal > Continue
    • Step 1 Continued – Choose Setup Proposal Manually > Continue
    • Step 2 – Select “Pre-Proposal” > Continue
    • Step 3 – Type Sponsor Name > Continue
    • Step 5 – Type Proposal Title > Continue
    • Step 6 – Enter Project Start and End Dates > Continue
    • Step 7 – Select the correct number of budget periods > Continue
    • Click Create Proposal

  • eTRACS will navigate to the SetUp Questions page. Instructions are included in red text about the different proposal templates available.
  • Scroll down to “Please select a Submission Mechanism/Screen Template”
  • Choose “3. Pre-Proposal” from the menu

  • After choosing the Pre-Proposal template a message window will populate asking for confirmation > Click Ok
  • The template will refresh
  • Answer the remaining questions on the Set Up Questions Tab
    • Is this a Flow Through Project – A “Yes” answer will prompt an additional window pop-up asking for the originating sponsor
    • Deadline Type
    • Deadline Date
    • Deadline Time – Defaults to 5:00 PM EST but can be changed to another EST time
    • Associated Departments – See Associated Departments Training Document for guidance
    • Associated Centers/Programs – See Associated Departments Training Document for guidance
    • Select Program Type – See definitions linked at the bottom of the page.
    • The majority of the research will be conducted – Defaults to “On Campus.”
      • Note: An off campus rate must be reviewed and approved by central administration and requires an official pre-approval during final proposal development.
    • Click Save
  • The remaining pre-proposal tabs will populate
  • Complete the Setup Questions by clicking the “Completed” check box in the upper right-hand corner > Click Ok
  • Navigate and complete the following tabs: Personnel, Budget, Abstract/SOW
  • Once those tabs are completed, navigate to the Finalize screen
  • Click “Build” under the “Build PDF/Form Pages” section

  • Click “Build” under the “Assemble Application” Section

  • A PDF compiled of the pre-proposal components will be available under the “Form/Document” sections called “Assembled Doc.”  View the assembled document using the glasses icon.

  • Because a Pre-Review route is required for all other submissions, eTRACS will first require that you run a pre-review route; NOTE: this route will finalize instantaneously and will not cause delay
    • Click Submit for Pre-Review
    • A window will pop with a “Final PI Notification” step
    • Click Submit
    • PI will receive an email that the pre-review route was completed
  • Click Submit for Final Review
    • Click Submit
    • The pre-proposal will now begin its approval route

 

Developing the Final Proposal – Non Federal

The process to develop the final proposal requires the user to create a new proposal record, but the pre-proposal budget can be copied in to the new proposal record.

  • Navigate to the Proposal Development module and click “Proposal” under the Create New section
  • In Step 1 of the New Proposal Questionnaire, choose “Copy From Existing Proposal” > Continue

  • Choose the appropriate pre-proposal record to copy into a final proposal
    • Either, leave the text field blank and click the “Browse” button to search for the pre-proposal using different parameters; or,
    • Type in the pre-proposal number
    • Check the box for “Include all Proposal Attachments”
    • Click Continue

  • Continue filling out the New Proposal Questionnaire as you would a new and final proposal
    • Proposal Type = New
  • Create Proposal
  • All the data entered in to the pre-proposal will populate in to this final proposal record
  • Scroll down to “Please select a Submission Mechanism/Screen Template”
  • Choose “1. Generic” from the menu
    • After choosing the Generic template a message window will populate asking for confirmation > Click Ok
    • The template will refresh
  • All the data entered in to the pre-proposal will populate in to this final proposal record
  • Develop and complete each tab of the proposal and submit for final routing

 

Developing the Final Proposal – Federal

The process to develop the final proposal requires the user to create a new proposal record.  Only the budget can be uploaded from the pre-proposal record to the final proposal record as the System-to-System forms differ and require the Grants.gov or SPIN ID to be filled out during the New Proposal Questionnaire.  There will also be additional questions on the Setup tab.

  • See Starting a Federal Proposal training guide to start your final federal proposal
  • If the budget from the pre-proposal needs to be copied to the final proposal record from the pre-proposal record:
    1. Navigate to the pre-proposal record
    2. Navigate to the budget tab
  • Click on the Import/Export button in the top right-hand corner

  • Click on “Export Budget to Adobe Forms”
  • Enter Grants.gov Test Opportunity #: PA-18-780 (or the appropriate Grants.gov opportunity number) > Search > Export
  • Save the file that is exported to your documents

  • Navigate back to the new federal system-to-system proposal already started
  • Navigate to the budget tab
    • Click on the Import/Export button on the budget screen
    • Click “Import Budget From Adobe Forms

      • Browse for the file > Upload

      • Copy the desired periods from the uploaded budget with the new final proposal budget by choosing from the drop-down menus next to “Copy Budget”
      • Click Process

    NOTE: Subawards on the budget will not populate with this process.  Subaward budgets can be exported and imported separately in the same way. 

    • Develop and complete each tab of the proposal and submit for final routing