Pre-Proposals

The information provided by a sponsor determines if a pre-proposal needs to be routed through Research & Sponsored Programs or may be submitted directly by the PI. In general, a pre-proposal, letter of intent or white paper must go through Research & Sponsored Programs if submission includes a detailed budget or calculated total and/or cost share commitment and/or institutional signature. A pre-proposal, letter of intent or white paper generally may be submitted directly by the Principal Investigator to the potential sponsor if there is no budget, cost share commitment, and/or institutional signature required.

Pre-proposal Routing Decision Matrix

Procedures for pre-proposals meeting the criteria for routing: All pre-proposals, letters of intent or white papers must be routed through respective Sponsored Programs Coordinators when detailed budgets or cost share commitments are a required component of the pre-application.

PI to submit pre-proposal package and sponsor guidelines/instructions in final form a minimum of 5 business days prior to the external deadline for final review (see matrix). The Sponsored Programs Coordinator will submit pre-proposals to the sponsor unless otherwise required by the sponsor guidelines/instructions.

Term Clarification:

Budget detail means a line-item budget or categorical breakdown with dollar amounts. This does not include a non-binding lump sum or total dollar amount being provided or when submitting to a program with a capped funding amount; in these cases, using the recommended statement above is highly advised. If invited for a full submission, the final budget is likely to deviate from the pre-proposal estimate.  

Cost sharing means any cost for the support of the proposed project, including salary, that is not funded by the sponsored award. NOTE: Cost share approvals are not required at pre-proposal stage; these internal approvals are required at the proposal stage.  

Institutional Signature means a signature by an authorized organizational representative.   

Pre-proposal can also be called Letter of Intent, concept paper, white paper, pre-application, or any other form of document that is not a binding proposal, but rather a document to gauge the level of interest from the sponsor in hopes of a formal solicitation for a subsequent full proposal.