Once your research proposal is prepared, an Authorized Institutional Signing Official from the Office of Research and Technology Management (ORTM) must sign and submit the proposal to the funder.
The signing official is the only individual who may do so on behalf of Case Western Reserve University. Principal investigators (PIs) are not Authorized Institutional Signing Officials.
To ensure this process goes smoothly and ORTM has all information needed to submit your research proposal, please review the information below:
- All applicable forms and instructions from federal, state, and/or foundation sources should be downloaded directly from the sponsor’s website. To ensure use of the most up-to-date and correct forms, please use the appropriate online application system. CWRU prefers the use of SpartaGrants.
- PIs and their department administrators are responsible for developing a budget in accordance with the sponsor’s and CWRU’s internal guidelines. Learn more about the budget development process and guidelines.
- For complex proposals—such as ones including the use of a foreign entity, multiple subcontractors, or multiple funding sources—we ask that you submit your proposal at least ten (10) days in advance. This offers ORTM enough time for an adequate review, in an effort to increase your chances of receiving funding.
Required Proposal Submission Documentation
To review your proposal, the pre-award specialist will need a copy of proposal documentation, as detailed below. The following documentation must be uploaded to SpartaGrants for proposals directly submitted to sponsors by CWRU.
1. Full Final Proposal
For tips on preparing your proposal, visit ORTM's resources for proposal development.
2. Proposal Directions
This is required, unless submitted via system-to-system.
3. A Budget
This can be provided in different ways:
- The detailed budget that is part of the system-to-system submission; OR
- A summary budget that matches the detailed budget in the proposal. Below are guidelines for how to create a summary budget.
If Creating a Summary Budget
If you are using a summary budget in your proposal, please follow these steps:
- Include all key personnel and their efforts on the grant with no salaries noted.
- Add the total direct and indirect costs for the proposal so they match the submission. To do this, you should use the bottom line budget and equipment general cost types.
- A summary of all equipment should be on one line of the budget.
- For all costs that include indirect costs, add a bottom line budget with this amount and answer “Yes” to Question 5 (Include in indirect calculations?)
- For all costs that do not apply indirect costs add a second bottom line cost type, put in the amount of funds that do not include indirect costs and select “No” for Question 5.
4. All Required Subrecipient Paperwork
Each proposal that includes a subrecipient may have different requirements. In order to assist CWRU in ensuring we have all the appropriate documentation and approval from the subrecipient institution please use the CWRU Subrecipient Commitment Form.
If CWRU is the Subrecipient in the Proposal
For proposals in which CWRU will be the subrecipient, the following items must be included in the SpartaGrants funding proposal.
- Detailed budget in SpartaGrants, or a summary budget that matches the detailed budget in the proposal, following the directions outlined above under Proposal Submission Documentation Requirements.
- The subrecipient form or Letter of Intent to Enter Into a Consortium from the entity who will be subcontracting to CWRU and all the submission materials required by that entity. If the pass-through entity does not have a subrecipient form, you may use our form, so long as it is acceptable to all the entities. Typically the following will be required:
- Biosketches
- Other Support Pages (if required by the sponsor)
- Resources and Environment Pages
- Letter of Support
- Budget form and Budget Justification
- Documents for human subjects or animal research.
- Scope of Work
Next Steps
The pre-award services team will advise and support you as needed throughout the proposal process. Additionally, the pre-award services team will assist you in providing supplemental additional and Just-in-Time information to agencies as needed. Once your proposal has been officially submitted, the team waits to receive a Notice of Award (NOA). Upon receipt of a NOA, the pre-award team will begin to set up the awards, subawards and accounts necessary for the project to commence.