Office of External Resources

Services Internal procedures Putting together your proposal Preparing the Budget Compliance Issues Matching Funds Release Time Approvals Submission to ORE Electronic Submission Funding Opportunities Funding Opportunities Open Internal Competitions		Resources Institutional Information Institutional Facts for Forms and Applications Budget preparation tools F&A Rates, perdiem, fringe benefits Guidelines for Grants and Contracts Workshops Proposals Development Unit Research Committees Human Subjects (IRB) Human Research Protections (OHRP) Animal Use and Care (IACUC) Animals in Research Access to CITI Course site

Contact information

For further inquiries, you may contact the R&DC ORE Office at:

Phone: 787-832-4040 ext. 5235
Fax: 787-831-2060
Email: ore@uprm.edu

Office Hours: 7:30 am – 4:30 pm (Monday through Friday)
Office Location: Room JD2 of the R&D Administration Building

Our postal address is:
CID - ORE
University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
Box 9000
Mayagüez PR 00681-9000

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Internal competitions for Limited Submissions

1. All investigators interested in competing for the funding opportunities listed below must submit a pre-proposal (4 copies) to the ORE office following the corresponding internal guidelines.
   
   
2. ORE will review and submit elegible pre-proposals to the Limited Submission Selection Committee composed of the Deans for Research of all four Colleges at UPRM.
   
   
3. The selected pre-proposal(s) will be notified by ORE.

Open Internal Competitions

FOA / RFA	Agency	Deadline	Internal Guidelines	Pre-proposals Due Date
	Microsoft	11/16/2009	Research Faculty Fellowship	11/02/2009, 12:00PM
NSF-09-502	NSF	01/28/2010	MRI Program	12/01/2009, 12:00PM

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Internal Procedures

Identifying a Funding Opportunity - We encourage all applicants to contact the ORE office as soon as a funding opportunity is identified. It takes time to put together a strong proposal and there are many issues to take into account when processing funding requests. We ask that you provide us with three main pieces of information when you first contact our office: funding opportunity ID (FOA, RFP), agency, and deadline. The applicant must read ALL guidelines carefully and thoroughly. Remember that some funding alerts make reference to agency-wide guidelines that also apply. Look for information pertaining to:

1. Is there a limited number of submissions per institution?
2. Does our institution qualify for these funds?
3. Are there any restrictions the applicant must satisfy? For example: citizenship, residency, institutional affiliation, degrees, etc.
4. Are institutional matching funds required?
5. Does the deadline fall on a UPRM non-working day? How will this be managed?

These are only some of the many items that need to be considered. At ORE, we’ll provide assistance in studying and understanding the application package.

Putting together your proposal

Preparing the Budget - Once the funding opportunity details have been verified and the decision to proceed with an application is made, we request a preliminary budget (MS Excel format) and budget justification to be submitted to ORE as soon as it is available. Upon request, ORE can also provide the applicant with a working-copy of a budget template to assist in this process. This template is ONLY an aid and in no form constitutes an official application part.

Special attention should be paid to any requirements specified in the guidelines. The included items and format can vary largely from agency to agency and even for different programs within an agency. Study the application package BEFORE you start putting together your budget so that is follows the necessary structure from the beginning; it is easier than having to completely restructure a budget at the last minute. To avoid complications at the time of submission, we recommend that the budget not be entered into the electronic application package until it has been revised by ORE.

Compliance Issues - Once a research plan has been devised, all applicable compliance issues need to be identified and properly addressed. The most common compliance areas are listed below but each case should be studied on its own merit:

• Conflict of Interest
• Human Subjects in Research
• Use and Care of Animals in Research
• Environmental Impact
• Hazardous Materials Handling & Disposal

Matching Funds – Current policy restricts the approval of Institutional Matching Funds only to those external funding opportunities that require it. Because of the multiple levels of approvals required for institutional matching funds, we request you to contact Evelyn Albino for guidance at least one month before the deadline. If at the time of proposal submission (deadline) all levels of approvals (local and central) have not been received, the proposal submission process can not be completed.

Release Time – When release time has been negotiated, the investigator must include the corresponding signatures in Section B of the Proposal Transmittal Form.

Approvals – Once the proposal is ready (or almost) and the budget has been revised by ORE, the investigator should start getting the necessary approvals using the Proposal Transmittal Form.

• The signature of the Dean of Academic Affairs is required if the proposal involves changes to curriculum, course creation, etc.
• If Release Time is being requested, appropriate information and approval must be included in Section B, in addition to all other approvals at the bottom of page 1.
• All supporting documents related to approval of collaborations, sub-award institutions, release time, compliance issues, and alike must also be include with the package.

Submission to ORE - Current R&D Center’s policy requires the complete proposal application package to be submitted to ORE at least 3 business days before the agency’s deadline, if no Central Administration approvals are required.

Please realize that most agencies have a common deadline for many RFPs and there might be several proposals being handled by ORE during the same period. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of submitting complete, revised proposal packages with plenty of lead time.

Electronic Submission - Most federal agencies require proposals to be submitted through electronic portals (Grants.gov, FastLane). These portals are subjected to temporary disconnections, server malfunctions, and slowdowns that can affect timely submission of proposals. We strongly encourage all investigators submitting proposals through ORE to comply with the 3-day policy and to be aware of any conflicts pertaining the agency’s deadline and the institutional calendar.

• Best time for electronic submission from UPRM is before 11 AM.
• Be aware of the guidelines specified file formats when preparing you package.
• Be aware of page and character limits through out the application.

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Budget preparation Tools