Want to start a grant proposal?
THE (only) WAY TO GET A PROPOSAL STARTED IN OUR OFFICE IS TO COMPLETE THE "PROPOSAL INITIATION FORM" ("PIF").
CLICK ON THE PIF BUTTON BELOW TO OPEN THE FORM. IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE SENT TO THE OFFICE THAT WILL BE HANDLING YOUR PROPOSAL.
ALSO: PLEASE READ THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION BELOW THE PIF BUTTON.
WE HAVE ESTABLISHED A SCHEDULE OF MILESTONE DATES FOR OUR PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.
THESE MILESTONE DATES FORMALIZE THE PROPOSAL PROCESS OVER AN EXTENDED TIME.
We will provide a clear schedule of milestones after you initiate a proposal with us.
Meeting these milestones is the responsibility of the PI.
IF MILESTONES ARE NOT MET, DEADLINE-DRIVEN PROPOSALS WILL FALL OFF THE LIST AND NOT BE SUBMITTED.
MILESTONE SCHEDULE
Please note: The submission deadline days are NOT included when calculating the working days.
Milestone #1 – As soon as the opportunity is identified: Submission of Proposal Initiation Form (found on the preaward.calpoly.edu website)
Milestone #2 – 8 AM on 20 working days in advance of the submission deadline date or target submission date: Confirmation of proposal details
Milestone #3 - 8 AM on 15 working days in advance of the submission deadline date or target submission date: Budget wishlist/framework
Milestone #4 - 8 AM on 10 working days in advance of the submission deadline date or target submission date: Complete budget draft, budget justification draft (if required)
Milestone #5 - ROUTING DEADLINE – 8 am on the day that is 7 working days in advance of the submission deadline date or target submission date: Final ready-to-route budget, budget justification (if required), proposal summary, facilities use, and other campus commitments statement.
Milestone #6 – FINAL DEADLINE: 8 am on the day that is 2 working days in advance of the submission deadline date or target submission date: Final ready-to-submit documents in the sponsor-required format and using the sponsor-required file-naming conventions to avoid confusion and better facilitate a sponsor-compliant submission.
Proposals will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis, based on the receipt of the Proposal Initiation Form available from the pre-award website.
Proposals without deadlines will be assigned a target submission date that aligns with the milestones above and availability in the pre-award queue at the time of receipt of the Proposal Initiation Form. The target date will be discussed with the PI during the initial intake process to confirm readiness to meet the milestones and the target deadline.
For proposals without formal deadlines, missing a milestone will cause the proposal to be placed at the end of the queue with the target dates reset once it has been confirmed that the PI commits to submitting under the new timeline.
NEW MILESTONE TIMELINE EXAMPLE:
| Sponsor deadline | Sponsor proposal submission deadline |
Wednesday, August 31 |
| Milestone 1 | As soon as the opportunity is identified: Submission of Proposal Initiation Form (found on the preaward.calpoly.edu website) | ASAP |
| Milestone 2 | At 8 AM on 20 working days in advance of the submission deadline date or target submission date: Confirmation of proposal details | 8 AM on Wednesday, August 3 |
| Milestone 3 | At 8 AM on 15 working days in advance of the submission deadline date or target submission date: Budget wishlist/framework | 8 AM on Wednesday, August 10 |
| Milestone 4 | At 8 AM on 10 working days in advance of the submission deadline date or target submission date: Complete budget draft, budget justification draft (if required) | 8 AM on Wednesday, August 17 |
| Milestone 5 |
ROUTING DEADLINE – 8 am on the day that is 7 working days in advance of the submission deadline date or target submission date: Final ready-to-route budget, budget justification (if required), proposal summary, facilities use and other campus commitments statement. |
8 AM on Monday, August 22 |
| Milestone 6 |
FINAL DEADLINE - 8 am on the day that is 2 working days in advance of the submission deadline date or target submission date: Final ready-to-submit documents in the sponsor-required format and using the sponsor-required document-naming conventions. |
8 am on Monday, August 29 |
Each milestone date is a go/no-go point. Missing any of the deadlines will prevent the proposal or augmentation from being submitted to the sponsor.