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Proposal Submission Checklist

Sometimes finishing a grant application is so consuming it is easy to overlook some necessary factors buried in the fine print.

• Have you read every word of the RFP?
• When is the application due? Agencies use either receipt dates or postmarks. Postmarks require hand canceling and overnight parcels should be out by noon the previous day, if it absolutely, positively has to be there.
• Are there special requirement about fonts and margins? These usually are to accommodate scanning and if they specify 10 cpi and you use 10 pt your proposal will be thrown away.
• Did you add fringe benefits to salary and wages? They are calculated @ 24.1% except for faculty summer salary which is 19.46%.
• Did you add indirect costs? While there are often specific policies about what agencies will and will not pay, if no mention is made of them always add them @ 50% of wages and salaries.
• Figures and charts must be black and white. Even if multiple copies are required an agency may make additional copies. If a figure does not make sense without color it will not make sense to reviewers.
• Do you have appropriate administrative approval for matching/cost sharing funds? Don't wait until the last minute.
• Does your project use human subjects? The application for human subjects approval must be made at the proposal stage, not only if the project is funded.
• University endorsement must be done in sequence: chair, dean, sponsored operations, president.
• If there are consultants or subcontracts involved, letters of agreement must be contained in the application.
• Even if it is not required, pages should always be numbered and your name used as a header. Reviewers are often responsible for only one section of an application, so they unstaple them, mix them up and can't get them back together unless your name is on every page.
• Have you read every word of the RFP?