Proposal Preparation

WHO WE ARE

The Pre-Award team is a division of the Office of Extramural Support (OES), a central service area within the Semel Institute. Our team provides local contract and grant proposal support, ensures department policy compliance and coordinates institutional approval prior to submission to the sponsor.

CONTACTS
Office Name & Contacts Pre-Award Role Contacts

Department Office

Semel Institute OES Pre-Award Team

oes_logo_who_we_are

First contact for general proposal questions, access requests and intent to submit notices

Pre-reviews all proposals before submission to institutional office for final approval

Submits NIH proposals with annual budgets less than $500K direct costs and JIT requests

General Inquiries:

preaward@mednet.ucla.edu

Team Supervisor
Liz Lizaola

Pre-Award Manager
Sarah Klein

Clinical Trial Consultant
Mary Moried

Pre-Award Analyst
Judy Sharinger

UCLA Institutional/Central Offices

  1. Office of Contract & Grant Administration

Submits non-industry sponsored proposals (Federal, State, Non-profit sponsors)

Submits NIH proposals with annual budgets greater than $500K direct costs & JIT

Grant, Cooperative Agreement, Contract and Incoming Subaward Assignments
  1. Technology Development Group

Submits industry-sponsored non-clinical trial contract and grant agreements

Reviews material transfer agreements (MTAs) except those used in industry-sponsored human clinical trial testing Online MTA Website

Industry sponsored research and MTA Staff
  1. Clinical Trial Contracting & Strategic Relations

Submits industry-sponsored, UCLA defined clinical trial contracts.

Reviews material transfer agreements from industry sponsors that will be used in testing in a clinical trial on humans.

CTC & SR Contract Assignments
PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND REVIEW POLICY

The Semel Institute Proposal Preparation and Review Policy details procedural expectations for our investigators and administrators to ensure successful submissions. Defined procedural expectations help to mitigate the challenges of coordinating a proposal.

Semel Institute Proposal Preparation and Review Policy v. 2021

REVIEW STEPS AND TIMELINE

Because awards are made to UCLA and not an individual PI, investigators must comply with the review process and timeline below. Sufficient time is necessary to verify a proposal’s compliance with UCLA & Sponsor policy and troubleshoot challenges that are beyond the control of UCLA such as technical issues with submission portals. Non-compliant proposals risk rejection, award processing delays and non-acceptance.

STEP 1: Alert the Department of your Intent to Submit
    • ASAP, usually 30-60 days before sponsor due date send an intent to submit notification via email to preaward@mednet.ucla.edu. Include the PI Name(s), guidelines, due date, approximate annual direct costs, and whether or not there are plans to include subrecipients

The OES Pre-Award Team will then add the proposal to the department’s review calendar and provide a review schedule with internal due dates and a list of required documents.

STEP 2: Submit your Proposal Materials to the Department

Eight-business days prior to the sponsor deadline, email proposal materials for Dept Review

STEP 3: Department sends your proposal to a UCLA Central Office

Five-business days prior to the sponsor deadline, the Department will forward the proposal to the Central UCLA contract and grant office for final review and submission to the sponsor

TOOLS FOR CREATING COMPLETE AND COMPLIANT PROPOSALS

A complete proposal includes Institutional (UCLA) and Sponsor required components. This website provides helpful hyperlinks, checklists, tip sheets and videos – aka “tools” for creating complete and compliant proposals. Tools are organized below by Institutional vs. Sponsor; sponsor tools are further delineated by sponsor type: Federal, Non-Profit, State or Industry.

INSTITUTIONAL FORMS

Also known as “internal forms” these UCLA-required documents are completed by the PI and submitted along with the sponsor-required components for review.

NAMES AND DESCRIPTIONS
EPASS “Extramural Proposal & Submission Summary”

The EPASS form is an administrative, regulatory and budgetary snapshot of the proposal. PI and Chair sign electronically.

Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) Disclosures
  • A FCOI refers to any situation in which an Investigator’s financial interest(s) have the potential to bias a research project.
  • 1. Identify which COI disclosure is required for your proposal. Disclosure format is determined by sponsor (s) type
  • UCLA Conflict of Interest Overview
  • 2. Obtain signatures or E-certifications from UCLA key personnel named on your proposal (refer to disclosure types A-C)
Principal Investigator (PI) Exception
Employees with titles that do not meet UCLA Policy 900 eligibility requirements must obtain exceptional approval to serve as PI, Co-PI or Multi-PI.
Subrecipient Forms
UCLA proposals that include subrecipients must obtain a subaward package from each entity.
E-SYSTEMS & ACCESS

Proposals are regularly submitted through sponsor web platforms. Request forms and training resources for common e-systems are provided below.

System Access Forms Training Resources
Cayuse / S2S Grants
UCLA’s custom portal for Federal Proposals
Cayuse Access Request Form* UCLA OCGA Training Slides
eRA Commons
NIH communication platform with applicants and awardees
eRA Account Request Form* eRA Commons User Guides
eRA Commons Video Training
Linking ORCID ID & eRA
ASSIST
System for submitting NIH Center Grants and Supplements
No Form;
Access to proposals in ASSIST granted within system
NIH ASSIST User Guide
NIH ASSIST Video Training
Proposal Central
A web platform used by some non-profits and government entities to accept proposals and track awards
No Form;
Create login directly from Proposal Central website
UCLA OCGA delegations
UCLA Other Support Tool
UCLA created an interim tool in the ORA portal to help investigators comply with updated OS formats
No Form;
Access is approved by the Chair on a case by case basis. Email preaward@mednet.ucla.edu to request access
UCLA OS Tool Overview
 
Approved users may access UCLA OS Tools via the Pre-Award tab of the ORA Portal
DocuSign for Other Support
UCLA Investigators use DocuSign to certify Other Support and should work with their home department to obtain a DocuSign Account
Submit a DocuSign Access Request Form to Semel IT to obtain a DocuSign Account Once you have an account, follow these steps to certify your Other Support using DocuSign
SciENcv
SciENcv is a utility within myNCBI to help researchers assemble professional information for their Biosketch and (soon) Other Support documents
Access SciENcv via the NCBI’s My NCBI portal, or by going to PubMed and selecting the “Sign into NCBI” link at the top right of the screen. Use your eRA Commons credentials to login. If you do not have an eRA Commons account, please request one first by completing an eRA Request Form

Create SciENcv Biosketches
Create and manage Delegates
SciENcv FAQs
NCBI SciENcv Video

* Cayuse and eRA Commons require a UCLA official to provide system access

FEDERAL SPONSORS

Tools are provided below to assist PI’s and preparers with preparing applications to
Common federal sponsors.

State/Local Government

Coming Soon!

Non-Profit

Submitting a Proposal to a Non-Profit, Non-Government Sponsor?

Non-profits have their own guidelines, budget requirements and submission methods.

Step 1: Determine Eligibility per Sponsor Guidelines

    • Principal Investigator Eligibility: Does PI hold the required level of education, degree, experience, and UCLA academic title described by the sponsor?
    • UCLA Eligibility: Does the sponsor have any institutional eligibility requirements? UCLA is a public, nonprofit, educational institution exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code.

Step 2: Figure out the Who/What/When of proposal submission

    • If submission is required through a sponsor website:
      1. PI must request access to the system
      2. Log in right away, review the submission screens and compare screens to the guidelines. Some sponsors include additional instructions in their e-system that are not included in the guidelines.
      3. Who needs to submit the application through the website? The PI or an Authorized Institutional Official? If the guidelines are unclear, review the application screens to determine who has the authority to submit. Email preaward@mednet.ucla.edu if submission by Authorized Institutional official is required.
    • Confirm due date and time:
      1. If due date is on a holiday, does the sponsor allow next-business day submission?
      2. If proposal must be submitted by an Authorized Institutional Official, the deadline will be 5pm PST regardless of the sponsor due time (UCLA closes at 5pm).

Step 3: Create Proposal following Sponsor Policy

    • Formatting Requirements and/or Sponsor Templates
    • Budget Policies: Does the sponsor specify an annual cost limit, salary cap, indirect cost policy, allowable / unallowable costs?
    • Detailed Budget and Justification: Per UCLA policy, prepare a detailed budget and budget justification even if the sponsor does not require you to do so.

Industry Clinical Trial

Coming Soon!

Industry Non-Clinical Trial

Coming Soon!

Outgoing Subawards

Including a subaward on your UCLA proposal?

  • In order to include a subaward on your UCLA application, you must provide a complete Subaward Package for each proposed subrecipient.
  • It is the responsibility of the UCLA PI/Preparer to work with the subrecipient to obtain a complete package.
  • The subaward package will be provided to the OES preaward team with your application for review (preaward@mednet.ucla.edu).

How to prepare the subaward package

STEP 1: Review the List of Subaward Form Requirements to determine what documents are needed and who is responsible for completing them

STEP 2: UCLA PI completes, signs and dates the UCLA Subrecipient vs. Contractor form

  • If proposed entity meets the criteria for a subaward, move to STEP 3
  • If proposed entity meets the criteria for a contractor/vendor do not collect a subaward package

STEP 3: Set timeline to receive completed subaward package

  • It is recommended that subrecipients be given a deadline of 2 weeks prior to the sponsor deadline. This will allow the UCLA PI/Preparer to incorporate the subaward package into the overall proposal in time to meet the 8-business day deadline to the Semel Pre-Award Team (preaward@mednet.ucla.edu)

STEP 4: Communicate Subaward Package Information to Subrecipient PI

  • UCLA PI/Preparer send email to Sub PI/Sub Preparer with instructions, timeline and form attachments. Include relevant proposal details such as: Sponsor Name, Funding Opportunity Announcement, Title of UCLA application, Project Period, List of required items from subrecipient for Subaward Package (see list in step 1) and any additional information (budget limits, salary cap reminders)
  • Review Sample Email Language here

STEP 5: Manage Subaward Timeline and Review Subaward Package

  • UCLA PI/Preparer must stay in regular communication with Sub PI/Sub Preparer in order to meet requested deadlines
  • Send reminders, and review documents for correctness/completeness ASAP (edits may be required)

STEP 6: Before Sending Subaward Package for Review, organize files into a Single Subaward Package File

  • UCLA Preparer will generate a single PDF of the Subaward Package (one PDF for each subrecipient) in the following order:
    1. UCLA Subrecipient vs. Contractor Form – signed by UCLA PI
    2. Subrecipient Commitment Form –signed by Subaward Institutional Official
    3. Scope of Work
    4. Detailed Budget and Justification
    5. Other requested documents
  • Name each Subaward Package PDF File using the same naming convention (Subaward 1_Duke, Subaward 2_UCSD)

STEP 7: If UCLA Proposal is submitted via Cayuse Only:

  • Upload Subaward Packages under the UCLA Proposal Summary / Supporting Documents section rather than the individual subaward Proposal Summary option. It is easier to review internal forms if they are housed in one place

Supporting Documents Summary


Commonly Used Forms

Dowloading NIH Forms
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