Pre-Award Administration
The Engineering Pre-Award Team supports faculty with proposals, including budget development, and handles submissions to sponsors. The Pre-Award Team can also assist with just-in-time requests or proposal revisions. Please contact ena-opra@virginia.edu for assistance.
How to Submit a Proposal
To pursue external funding, please email ena-opra@virginia.edu as early as possible.
NOTE: Please see SEAS Deadline Policy below. The SEAS Pre-Award Team will assist you throughout the process. Please include as much of the following information as possible in your email:
- PI and Co-PI names:
- Lead submitting Department:
- Due Date(or target submission date if no due date is specified):
- Solicitation or RFP number (please attach PDF or Word doc if available):
- Sponsor information:
- Proposal Title:
- Project Period of Performance:
- Collaborator/subcontractor names and contact information:
- Status of Proposal (New/Renewal/Supplement) - If Supplement or Renewal please give previous proposal information:
- Budget Information - Basic budgetary details to draft a budget including:
- PI's effort in person months
- Graduate Research Assistant (GRA)
- Material and Supplies
- Travel
- Equipment
- Subcontractor
- Other research-related categories
SEAS Proposal Deadline Policy
The final Administrative Components of a grant application are due to SEAS Office of Pre-Award Research Administration (OPRA - ena-opra@virginia.edu) no less than five business days prior to the sponsor’s deadline. The final Technical Components of the application are then due no less than two business days prior to the sponsor’s deadline. These components are described below.
Compliance with this policy assumes that all submitted Components are final and complete except for changes requested by Grants and Contracts staff. Applications that fail to meet these requirements will require written permission from the Associate Dean for Research or designee for the proposal to be reviewed and submitted by OPRA.
To request an exception for submitting a late proposal, the PI shall send an email to the Director of Engineering Research Administration, Stephen Cornelison, copying the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs, Brian Smith, his/her department chair and OPRA (ena-opra@virginia.edu). The Subject Line shall read: “URGENT: Late Proposal Exception Needed.” In the body of the email, please provide a detailed justification for the request for an exception along with a brief description of the proposal (title, sponsor, amount requested, importance, list of participants). Generally, exceptions will be granted for extraordinary circumstances, such as illness or family emergencies.
- Title (Final)
- Project Summary Overview or Abstract (Draft)
- Detailed budget and justification (Final)
- Biosketches
- Current & Pending (if applicable)
- Collaborators and Other Affiliations Template (NSF Specific)
- Appropriate Administrative documents for all external participating institutions:
- Consortium Agreement signed by the Consortium Institution’s Authorized Official
- Statement of Work
- Budget
- Budget Justification
- Institutional Letters of Support
- Completed, approved UVA Proposal Routing Form (in ResearchUVA Powered by Huron )
- Completed sponsor application package (except for the Technical Components defined below)
- Final Project Summary / Abstract
- Complete Final Project Description / Research Plan
- Complete Final References
- Any additional specific technical sections for the particular program (for example, some require a 1 slide technical overview)
Letters of Intent and Pre-Proposals
When should Letters of Intent/Pre-Proposals be sent to SEAS Pre-Award?
For clarification, Letters of Intent and Pre-Proposals that have the following characteristics should always be sent to SEAS Pre-Award (ena-opra@virginia.edu) in advance of being sent to the sponsor:
- if institutional signature is required
- if there is a budget required
- if there are potential COI or IP issues
- if the sponsor is a new foreign organization, which may require more vetting
- if cost share is required
Limited Submission
If you are interested in pursuing a proposal opportunity that only allows for limited submissions per institution, please notify VPR's limited submission office immediately so they can launch and manage through their normal limited submission process:
https://research.virginia.edu/research-development/Limited-Submission-Opportunities
Just-In-Time/Proposal Revisions
Please contact ena-opra@virginia.edu for any just-in-time requests or proposal revisions.
SciENcv
Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae
SciENcv is a researcher profile system for individuals applying for, receiving, or associated with research investments from federal agencies. Available through My NCBI, SciENcv is essential for developing Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending for both National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institute of Health (NIH) proposal submissions. Other sponsors are increasingly adopting SciENcv requirements as well.
How to Use SciENcv:
1. Create a SciENcv Account and Login to your account
2. Delegate Access to Preaward Team member:
- Go to Account Settings.
- Scroll down to Delegates.
- Add Seas Preaward team member as your delegate.
- SEAS Preaward team member will receive an email from SciENcv (NCBI) to accept the delegation.
- SEAS Preaward team member will update your Current and Pending (Other Support) accordingly
- Once documents are completed, Preaward team member will notify you;
- You will need to review, certify, and generate a PDF of each document. This certification is now required by NIH and NSF.
For any questions about SciENcv, please contact ena-opra@virginia.edu
Cost Share
What is Cost Share or Matching Funds? The portion of a sponsored project's costs that are not borne by sponsors.
| Cost Share Type | Description | Requirements |
| Mandatory | Required by sponsor solicitation, RFP, or terms and conditions Proposed by university; once awarded | Documented/tracked/ reported |
| Voluntary -- Committed | Proposed by university; once awarded, included as binding term in award agreement | Documented/tracked/ reported |
| Voluntary -- Uncommitted | Not proposed; provided after-the-fact | Documented, Not tracked or reported |
UVA Policy FIN-051: https://uvapolicy.virginia.edu/policy/FIN-051
The University generally discourages but does not prohibit voluntary committed cost sharing. Requirements have been established to comply with University expectations on committing to share research costs. The SEAS cost share approval matrix is available at this link (accessing the document requires NetBadge login).
Meet Our Team
Na Ren
Patricia Ashley
Rebecca Vann
Neda Burtman
Jodi Frederiksen
Raynor Sebring
Denise Winchester
Frequently Asked Questions
Please reach out to your post-award administrator for support in gathering the required compliance documents and developing the required justification. Minimum requirements are: sponsor confirmation of forthcoming award and backup non-sponsored worktags.
Grants and contracts are typically agreements between UVA and the sponsoring agency or foundation. OSP is the authorized unit to sign off on behalf of the university for any agreements related to research. If you are unsure about whether you can sign a document, please reach out to ena-opra@virginia.edu.
UVA's Policy on Signature Authority for Contracts
https://uvapolicy.virginia.edu/policy/FIN-036
UVA’s policy on distinguishing gifts from sponsored projects is here: https://uvapolicy.virginia.edu/policy/FIN-001 If you’ve received funding and aren’t sure if it’s a grant, a gift, or some other type of funding mechanism please reach out to ena-opra@virginia.edu and we will assist in making a determination.
Please contact your post-award administrator with a copy of the NOA. They will follow up with OSP to confirm when worktags will be available, and will send a new award overview message to the PI and department manager once it has been activated in Huron and Workday.
Sponsors have different processes for transferring grants between institutions. Please contact ena-opra@virginia.edu as soon as possible to discuss the grant transfer process. We look forward to assisting you with this process.
The UVA Health Sciences Library has a great repository of resources relating to the NIH Data Management Plan requirements.