Sponsored Programs Support Services

The CEHS Research and Graduate Studies Office assists faculty and students in the identification of funding opportunities, proposal development and submission, and post award support. 

Pre-Award Support

Our office provides support and guidance for preparation of applications for external funds to support research.

Please note: An individual faculty may not directly submit a proposal to a funding agency. All funding from outside sources must go through the university's sponsored programs routing process.

INTERNAL PROPOSAL DEADLINES (effective 10/16/2023):

1. Faculty must submit a Proposal Request Form (PRF)  at least one month before the submission deadline. This timeline gives our Sponsored Programs staff sufficient time to address budget-related concerns and collaborate with sub-awards and partners to complete all necessary forms. If the Proposal Request Form is submitted later than one month before the submission deadline, approval will be required from the School/Department Head and the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies.
   
   
2. Draft Budget Documents: We request that a draft of the project budget and budget justification be provided to Sponsored Programs staff no later than three weeks before the submission deadline. Following this timeline allows our Sponsored Programs staff to work with you to ensure that your budget documents accurately reflect your intentions and that your budget complies with university and sponsor requirements.
   
   
3. Final Budget, Budget Justification, and Abstract: All required routing documents, including the final budget, budget justification, and abstract, must be received two weeks before the proposal submission deadline. Please be aware that documents such as the project narrative and biosketch are not necessary for routing purposes. After this point, no further changes to the budget or budget justification will be accepted.
   
   
4. Proposal Submission: To ensure timely submission and acceptance by funding agencies, all final proposal documents must be submitted three days before the official application submission deadline. These three days are crucial for our Sponsored Programs staff to accurately enter the required application information, upload all application documents, and make any necessary corrections. Any documents received after this deadline will only be accepted with approval by the School/Department Head and the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies.

• Proposal Preparation

  1.     PI submits the Proposal Request Form

   

  2.     RGS Office reviews sponsor’s RFP and prepares forms with university and college information

   

  3.     RGS Office works with PI to develop budget, providing the budget template and budget justification

   

  4.     PI provides RGS Office with budget, budget justification, and Statement of Work for project

   

  5.     RGS Office routes the proposal through Cayuse for necessary college and university approvals

   

  6.     PI supplies RGS Office with any submission documents no later than 3 days before submission deadline

   

  7.      RGS Office will submit the proposal and forward you any confirmation

   

  PI Responsibilities:

  • Identify the most likely sponsor/funding agency
  • Make submission intent known to the Research and Graduate Studies Office by submitting the required intent form
  • Prepare the proposal content

   

  Research and Graduate Studies Support:

  • Provide information on potential sponsors and funding opportunities
  • Prepare agency forms and provide university information as required by the sponsor
  • Assist PI with preparing the budget according to sponsor and university requirements
  • Route for necessary approvals within the college and university
  • Review final proposal documents
  • Submit the proposal
• Budget Development

  Once you have filled out a Proposal Request Form, a staff member from the RGS Office will create a both a Budget template and a Budget Justification template that fits the requirements for your particular application. Often, finalizing the budget documents is a back-and-forth process between our staff and the PI, so we ask to see draft budget documents at least 3 weeks before the application submission deadline.

   

  Current Rates Used in Budgets

• Proposal Routing

  All proposals are routed through Cayuse and this process requires that these items be routed NO LESS THAN TWO WEEKS before the grant submission deadline:

   

  1. Final budget
  2. Final budget justification/narrative
  3. Statement of Work/Abstract
  4. All subaward documents
     1. 1. Subaward Budget
        2. Subaward Budget Justification
        3. Subaward Statement/Scope of Work
        4. Signed Subrecipient Commitment Form (provided by our office)
  5. Any documents that need VPR signature.

   

  No edits to the budget or budget justification may be made once routing has begun. 

• Proposal Submission

  Proposals for external research funding are submitted by OSU (via the college’s Research and Graduate Studies Office), not by the PI. Oklahoma State University requires that all proposals receive institutional approval prior to formal submission. The RGS Office facilitates this approval process in Cayuse. Faculty must submit all proposals and awards through the college's Research and Graduate Studies Office to avoid contractual and budget problems prior to submission.

Post-Award Support

Post-award administration of a sponsored project typically involves financial management, allowable costs, cost sharing, sub-award agreements, audits, and project close out procedures.

The Research and Graduate Studies Office works alongside accounting staff in the CEHS Business Operations Office to provide support with your expenditures and any administrative tasks, such as budget modifications or clarification on allowability of a cost.

The university's Grants and Contracts Financial Administration (commonly shortened to GCFA) handles all sponsor invoicing, audits, and financial reporting for your awards.

• Responsibilities and Support Offered

  PI Responsibilities:

  • Meet the ethical and regulatory requirements for the responsible conduct of research.
  • Obtain necessary certifications and assurances (e.g., human subjects protection, animal care, hazardous chemicals, biological safety protections, laser safety, and x-ray) to conduct the research.
  • Adhere to university, state, and sponsoring agency policies regarding the administration of the research.
  • Notify the department/school any time there is a change in personnel so that appropriate forms can be processed.
  • Verify personnel time and effort (monthly).
  • Review monthly financial statements for verification of expenses.
  • Complete reports (e.g., progress, final) required by agency.

   

  Department/School Accountant Support:

  The CEHS Business Operations Office provides:

  • oversight for allowable (vs. unallowable) charges given agency and budget requirements
  • Maintain financial records of project expenditures and fund code balances.
  • Monitor all project expenditures to avoid deficit spending and to ensure expenditures are appropriate.
  • Answer budget questions.
  • Issue monthly financial statements to the project PI.

   

  Research and Graduate Studies Support:

  • New Fund Code Creation: When a proposal is funded, the Research and Graduate Studies Office will route your new award. Once routing is complete, OSU’s Grants and Contracts Financial Administration (GCFA) will establish a fund code for your award. The CEHS Research and Graduate Studies office [WKA1] will provide the PI an assigned fund code number as soon as it is made available. After receiving this fund code, the investigators can make charges on the project by coordinating with their department accountants and assistants.
  • Subcontract Negotiations: If your project includes subcontracted services to an outside entity, the Research and Graduate Studies Office will help with subcontract negotiations.
  • Project Changes: If the PI determines that project revisions are necessary (e.g., revised statement of work, budget modifications, time extensions), the Research and Graduate Studies Office will assist with contract modifications and extensions.
  • Audits of Project Accounts: If a project is audited, the Research and Graduate Studies Office will facilitate and serve as a liaison between the university’s Grants and Contracts Financial Administration (GCFA) Office and the auditing agency.
  • Progress and Final Reports to Funding Agency: The Research and Graduate Studies Office can assist you with submission of technical progress/final reports. All financial reporting is handled by OSU’s Grants and Contracts Financial Administration (GCFA).
  • Project Closeout Procedures: The Research and Graduate Studies Office facilitates project closeout issues between the PI and the university’s Grants and Contracts Financial Administration (GCFA) Office, who handles all project closeout procedures.
• Post-Award Policies

  Pertinent university policies regarding research and sponsored research are given below.  Please refer to the OSU Grants and Contracts Financial Administration (GCFA) Office for additional university policies related to post-award sponsored program policies.

   

  OSU Policy Number	Description
  1-0113	Cost Sharing in Sponsored Research and Service Projects
  1-0116	Transfer or Termination of Sponsored Research and Service Projects
  1-0305	Routing System for Proposals, Contracts, Grants, Agreements
  1-0505	Use and Maintenance of Laboratory Animals
  2-0111	Guidelines to Govern Overload Assignments, Outside Professional Activities, and Other Outside Activities of Faculty Members
  3-0146	Purchasing Equipment on Sponsored Agreements
  3-0321	Monthly Time and Effort Confirmation in Compliance with OMB Circular A-21
  3-0420	Purchase of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages on Sponsored Project Funding
  4-0105	University Research
  4-0115	Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects in Research
  4-0120	Rights to Results of Sponsored Research Projects or Programs
  4-0125	Complaints of Research Misconduct
  4-0130	Conflict of Interest
  4-0135	Costing Practices for Sponsored Research and Service Projects
  4-0401	Compensation to Human Subjects

Research Support – General

We facilitate and provide administrative oversight for research and grant issues.

• Conflict of Interest Disclosure

  Conflict of Interest (COI) disclosures need to be submitted yearly for all faculty, and the college's Research and Graduate Studies Office facilitates the process. The university's COI policy and required forms are available here.

• Research Compliance (IRB, IACUC, biological safety protections, laser safety, and x-ray)

  Institutional Review Board (IRB): For research involving human subjects, please refer to the IRB Office for information regarding required investigator training and application forms. An electronic signature is required on the application for the main PI. (If the PI is a student, then the electronic signature of the advisor is also required.) Electronic signatures are created using your Okey credentials.

   

  Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC): All animal research, teaching, research training, and testing must be approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).  Please refer to the IACUC Office for information regarding required investigator training and application forms.

   

  Research Compliance also includes necessary certifications an assurances including biological safety protections, laser safety, and x-ray. Click here for more information.

• Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)

  Oklahoma State University has a policy requiring degree-seeking graduate students, postdoctoral fellows/ associates, and undergraduate students who are engaged in research to receive appropriate, institutionally-endorsed education and training in the responsible conduct of research.  For additional information on the university policy please refer to the university’s RCR website.  In addition to the university policy, in recent years funding agencies (e.g., NSF, USDA-NIFA) have enacted new policies that require everyone conducting research to receive training in core areas of RCR.  An online RCR training course (provided by CITI) is available to OSU faculty, students and staff.

• Collected F&A Distribution

  The university’s federal agency for F&A rate negotiation and agreement is the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

   

  Please refer to the College of Education and Human Sciences Guidelines for F&A Distribution and Uses for specific information.

• Human Subject Payments

  The college's Business Operations Office facilitates payments to participants in human subjects research.  Please refer to the Guide to Compensating Human Subject Research Participants for information regarding college procedures.

Helpful Links

• College Proposal Request Form
• Education and Human Sciences Technology
• Qualtrics User Account Request
• OSU Central Sponsored Programs Administration
• OSU Research Compliance Office
• OSU Vice President for Research
• OSU Proposal Development Resources
• OSU Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC)