Proposal Submission Documentation Requirements

The following documentation is required to be uploaded to SpartaGrants for proposals directly submitted to sponsors by CWRU. 

1. The FULL FINAL PROPOSAL;
2. PROPOSAL DIRECTIONS (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.
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. 

Summary Budget Guidelines

1. Include all key personnel and their effort on the grant with no salary. 
2. 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 click “No” for Question 5.

Guidelines for Subrecipient Proposals

For proposals in which CWRU will be the subrecipient, the following items must be included in the SpartaGrants funding proposal (FP).

1. 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.
2. 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 entity. 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

Proposal Tips and Tricks

The Office of Pre-Award Services and Agreements (PASA) reviewers have noticed several common mistakes in the proposals that we would like to bring to your attention. Before submitting your proposal for final review and submissions, please make sure to double check the following common mistakes:

1. Misuse of Hyperlinks/URLs in Biosketches
   • Permitted: Links that go directly to an investigator’s my NCBI page (a .gov link) are generally allowed.
   • Not accepted: Do not include github links in your biosketch. The visitor-tracking capabilities of github and other applications raise confidentiality concerns for the government. Proposals that include such links are therefore not able to be reviewed and will be automatically denied. An example of an unallowed link is linking to Google Scholar. 
   • Not accepted: Hyperlinks and/or URLs that are included without specified approval in the funding opportunity announcement.
2. Improper font type and size
   • Permissible fonts include: Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia in size 11.
   • No more than six (6) lines of type may be within a vertical inch.
   • Figures, charts, tables, figure legends, and footnotes may not be smaller in size, but must still be legible (meaning no smaller than size 10)

SpartaGrants Naming Convention Guidelines

In an effort to standardize how everyone uses Sparta, we’ve established standard naming conventions that we expect all departments and schools to follow. These are to be followed by all departments and schools for attachments. These conventions are also applicable to NON-COMPETING CONTINUATIONS, MODIFICATION REQUEST and AMENDMENTS. All names shall remain the same, except for each of the additions to be made to beginning of the name:

• For Non-Competing Continuations: Add CONT_YR#
  • Ex: CONT_YR3Budget_Baughman_State Opioid and Stimulant
• For Modification Requests: Add AMR####_This number should match the AMR number that appears when you choose a modification request. 
  • Ex: AMR####_ Budget_Baughman_State Opioid and Stimulant
• For Amendments: Add AMEND-#
  • Ex: AMEND_2_ Budget_Baughman_State Opioid and Stimulant

Guidelines for Titles

• Proposal Titles:
  • Full Title: Must be exactly the same on all related documents asking for full title.
  • Short Title: Should be within 30-40 characters. Please use the first 3-4 descriptive words of the title and the principal investigator (PI)’s name. 
    • Ex:
      • Full Title: State Opioid and Stimulant Response (SOS 3.0) Evaluation, Training, Data Collection, and Reporting.
      • Short Title: State Opioid and Stimulant (Baughman) 38 characters with spaces included.
• Sparta Attachment (s) Titles:
  • Budgets should be marked as “Budget_PI name_Short Title”
  • Budget Justification should be marked as Budget Justification_PI name_Short Title”
  • Full Proposal should be marked as Full Proposal_SPONSOR_PI name”
  • Biosketches should be marked as Biosketch_PI name_Short Title
  • Other Support Pages need to be titled as exactly what they are, with PI name and Short Title
    • Ex: COC_Baughman_State Opioid and Stimulant