NCURA Regions VI & VII 2010 Spring Meeting

Complex Proposal Development, Tools You Can Use!

Candyce Lindsay and Marj Townsend Arizona State University

Goal of this session• Share key instruments to orchestrating a

successful proposal submission.

• Complex Proposal at ASU are 4M:– Multi-Dollars (Millions)– Multi-Principal Investigator– Multi-Partners/Subcontracts– Multi-Period of Performance

• Complex Proposal might also include:– Large institutional commitments– Special contract terms and conditions– Proposal specific personnel resources required– “Go No Go” decision making

• Hold meeting of the minds as soon as you get wind of a complex proposal opportunity

"I decided to grab the bull by the horns and apply for a grant to study scientists with maze fetishes.“

First things first-Go No Go meeting• Does the institution have the technical

capacity?• Are researchers willing to invest in the

proposal development• Does it meet the institutional goals

• Include highest level of administrative support needed from the institution-depending scope of research– President/Provost/VP office– Compliance– Environmental Health and Safety– Space– Legal

• Define project manager/s as soon as possible– Person who PI values– Person that research administration responds well

to– Able to dynamically orchestrate the project to

completion– Single point of contact on project– Responsible for gathering the flock (other

analogies are allowed)

• Partner Information Sheet– Used to determine all critical issues to be

addressed• Cost share commitments• Institution Eligibility• Budget parameters

– All proposal contributors can use the same tool for consistency and one voice

Useful Tools to help keep things on track• Checklist of all items needed• Web based document center/site for all parties to

upload their proposal documents (Sharepoint)• Calendar showing critical dates and target dates –

out in the open for everyone to see as a reminder• Send out administrative email to all including

partners with deadlines• Create list of “who is doing what”

Greetings, Thank you for being a XXXXX partner! We are looking forward to a highly productive collaboration on this project. We have created this email to detail a few of the ways in which we’ll be collecting

information from our partner institutions. Our goal is to make this experience as streamlined and easy for you as possible. Please feel free to comment on the process as we move forward. If you are concerned regarding any of the provided

deadlines, please feel free to contact us via email. Communications Email: Our team has created a single email address for any inquiries regarding this proposal. If you have a question or comment regarding any aspect of this or future communications, please address

them to Project@asu.edu. We will address any concern you have within 1 business day. Document site: In light of the proposal timeline, we are circulating documents required from all participants with specific and aggressive deadlines. Your team will have access to the following

documents on our sharepoint site, http://XXXXXXX.asu.edu. They will be located under Proposal Documents>Partner Work Share Packages and divided according to your organization’s name. Your organization will download the existing documents, complete the documents, and then upload them back into your secure folder on the site. Our team will review and process them as they arrive and contact you immediately with any corrections or clarifications.

As an overview, the documents that will be required from your organization are detailed below, along with their due dates. Subcontract/partner required information1. ASU Subcontractor Checklist Final This is an overview of the documents that will be required from all of our partners and the dates that they will be due to us via SharePoint. 2. PI approved SOW The SOW will be discussed between our PI and the PI at your institution. A template is not provided. Due Date: 2/17/10 3 . Budget Documents Budget Summary (Appendix 2) This information will be combined with the all subcontract information to create Appendix 2, the Budget Summary. A compliant template is provided so that we can facilitate collecting

information Due Date: 2/17/10 4. Current and Pending Support (Appendix 10) This appendix describes current and pending proposals and awards for key personnel. This will require that key personnel be identified and approved through the Hub proposal leadership. A template

is provided. Due date: 2/17/10

• Define Timelines• Assign a specific person to specific pieces of the

proposal• One gathering point for all pieces and to identify

missing pieces• Use one voice editor for continuity within the

proposal• Have available external technical and administrative

persons for review• Create “who can we cut” list, if needed, early

I will be the lead research administrator for Arizona State University’s submission in response to (Sponsor Name and FOA). My team will be responsible for answering your questions submitted through our listserve email address, see below.

The proposal is utilizing a web-based document warehousing site to coordinate the pieces of the proposal. The site has

restricted access to folders, so that information uploaded by organizations is not visible to other organizations, but is visible to ASU’s team for review.

You have been assigned an ASURITE ID that will serve as a logon to that site. However, you must first change your password.

To do this, go to https://changepassword.asu.edu and use your new ASURITE ID, which is “XXX” to change your password, which is currently ‘XXXX’. Once this is done, you can use this logon and password to access the site: http://project.asu.edu.

Due to the nature of the system, an ASU email address will be created for you, but this email will automatically forward to

the email you provided our team. Shortly, we will be sending out clarifying information regarding the documents required from each of our partner

organizations. Your name has been provided as a contact for your organization and PI. We will be sending this information to you and cc’ing the PI.

If you have concerns regarding the site, please feel free to contact the proposal support staff using our email address:

project@asu.edu. We will address any concern you have within 1 business day. We are looking forward to working with you. Sincerely, (Insert Contact Name and Information)

Challenges faced– Revision to funding opportunity– Subcontractor timeline compliance– Administrative personnel availability– Agreement on allocations distribution between

departments– Large scope or budget changes– Co-Investigator additions or cuts

Orchestrating Budget management• Start early• Is there cost share?• If you have subs, provide them with a specific

dollar amount and stick to that amount• Have a “user” friendly budget template• Set a deadline for final budget

Orchestrating Science content management• Develop “Red Team” for science review• Assign each science section to a team lead• Set up meeting schedule early to discuss progress

and key terms and words to use (lead, manage, etc) Make sure all team members agree or have lead PI as final say if needed

Successful submission strategies..aka “getting it out the door”

• Put PI on plane with proposal…well maybe not • Check proposal package for size (after all

attachments are included). Reduction in pdf size may be necessary to electronically submit

• Stick to internal deadlines• Submit early to avoid potential problems - site going

down, weather causing closures, errors, etc

Successful submission strategies..aka “getting it out the door” cont’d

• Submit early to avoid potential problems – submission site going down, weather related issues i.e. road closures, lines down, system errors/glitches, etc

• Have a lessons learned session…debrief with all team members about successful actions taken and what didn’t work.

• How to avoid being on this scary list ???

Recap• Plan, plan, plan• Communicate, communicate, communicate• Set internal deadlines in middle of week to

avoid Friday night creep

Questions?