Proposal Submission FAQ

Follow these steps to ensure your grant proposal is complete, compliant, and competitive. Early communication and thorough preparation are key to a successful submission.

• Notify OSPRI Early: Contact the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Integrity (OSPRI) as soon as you identify a funding opportunity.
• Review the Funding Opportunity: Carefully read the sponsor’s guidelines, including eligibility requirements, budget limits and restrictions, required documents and formatting, and submission deadlines.
• Begin Cayuse Entry: Start entering your proposal in Cayuse, UCCS’s internal routing system. This is required for all proposals and must be completed before submission.
• Prepare Required Documents: These typically include project narrative or research plan, budget and budget justification, biosketches or CVs, facilities and resources, and letters of support or collaboration (if applicable).
• Complete COI Disclosure: Ensure you and all key personnel have a current Conflict of Interest (COI) form on file.

Principal Investigators (PIs) may include tenured and tenure-track faculty, Research Associates and Professors (Assistant, Associate, or Full), and Senior Research Associates. Individuals outside these categories—such Associate Teaching faculty, Staff, or teaching  retired or emeritus faculty—must obtain approval through a PI Eligibility Request, which must be supported by their academic unit and the appropriate dean or vice chancellor.

A Conflict of Interest (COI) form is required to disclose any personal, financial, or professional interests that could affect—or appear to affect—your judgment in carrying out university responsibilities including research. At UCCS, all employees involved in sponsored projects must complete a COI disclosure within 60 days of hire, annually between January 15 and March 31, and within 30 days of any changes that might impact actual or perceived conflicts. This ensures transparency and helps the university manage potential conflicts in areas such as research, instruction, and administration.

OSPRI will NOT submit any grant applications if the PI or other Key Personnel on the proposal have not yet completed their annual COI disclosure. 

As of July 1, 2024, all proposals must be routed through Cayuse. This system ensures that institutional approval is obtained before submission, budgets are reviewed and approved by the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), and all required signatures are collected. It is the Principal Investigator’s (PI) responsibility to enter accurate information and complete the routing process in Cayuse.

Routing for approvals may be delayed by special cases that require additional review or documentation. These include:

• Budgets exceeding $1 million,
• Cost Share
• Differential F&A Distribution Addendum
• Subawards or subcontracts,
• Curriculum changes,
• Student training or scholarship components,
• Research security compliance
• PI Eligibility

Each of these elements may require extra coordination and approvals, which can extend the routing timeline. Click on the following for links to OSPRI forms 

Only designated officials may sign proposals and related documents at UCCS. These officials include the OSP Executive Director, OSP Associate Director, Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and the Chancellor. PIs, deans, and department chairs are not authorized to sign on behalf of UCCS.

That is known as an Outgoing Subaward?

An outgoing subaward is an agreement with a third-party organization performing a significant portion of a UCCS research project or program. The terms of the relationship (subgrant/subcontract) are determined by the prime award received by UCCS. A subrecipient works collaboratively with the prime award recipient to carry out a significant portion of the prime award’s scope of work.

Just because another entity is involved in a sponsored project does not mean that a subrecipient relationship exists. It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between a subrecipient and a vendor and may be easy to confuse the two. Misclassifying the type of relationship can lead to problems managing a sponsored project so it is important to ascertain if the work to be carried out meets the definition of a “subaward” at the proposal stage.

If UCCS is the Lead Institution the PI must promptly notify OSPRI to allow time for OSPRI to coordinate with the other institution to obtain subrecipient commitment forms and incorporate subcontract costs into the budget. 

If UCCS is a subcontractor on another institution’s grant, the PI must indicate this in Cayuse and promptly coordinate with OSPRI to ensure timely completion of required documentation and budget forms between institutions.

A direct sponsor is the one giving the funds directly to UCCS.  A prime sponsor, or prime funding source, is the originating source of funds.  UCCS is often required to comply with both the direct sponsor’s terms and the prime sponsor’s terms, so it is important that all sources of funding are identified in proposals and agreements.

Example: UCCS receives a subaward from University of Michigan, that received an award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).  In this scenario, University of Michigan is UCCS’s direct sponsor, and NSF is UCCS’s prime sponsor.