Principal Investigators,
The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) Pre-Award Services has made a few recent changes that you will need to know if you plan to submit a sponsored project proposal. This PI News post will cover these important changes. Please contact OSP Pre-Award Services at preaward@boisestate.edu if you have any questions or concerns about anything in this post.
Section 4.1 of Boise State University Policy Number 5030 was updated effective June 25, 2021. The updated policy requires all proposals to be routed through OSP Pre-Award Services prior to submission to the sponsor. To allow for the routing, review, and approval of all proposals, OSP Pre-Award must receive the final, complete proposal documents by no later than five (5) business days prior to the proposal submission deadline. With the exception of the final narrative, no further changes should occur to the proposal, including the budget, after the submission of the final documents. The final narrative must be submitted to your Pre-Award Research Administrator (RA) by three (3) business days prior to the submission. Pre-Award has developed the Proposal Document Submission Deadline Guide to help PIs determine whether certain proposal documents are narrative documents and may be submitted to Pre-Award in accordance with the three (3) business day rule.
If a Principal Investigator (PI) does not comply with the above requirements, the PI must send an email explaining the circumstances to the PI’s Chair, Dean (or equivalent), the Associate Vice President for Sponsored Programs, and the Vice President for Research and Economic Development and copy preaward@boisestate.edu. If approved by all parties, the Pre-Award RA will make best efforts to complete the review and finalize the submission by the sponsor’s deadline; however, late proposals will not receive priority over those complying with the required lead times. If an award is made based on a late submission, the PI and the college will be responsible for covering any costs incurred as a result of proposal errors such as unapproved cost sharing commitments, inaccurate rate calculations for indirect costs, or unallowable commitments of resources.
On occasion, there will be submission opportunities where the five (5) business day advance notification is not available. In those instances, the PI should inform the OSP Pre-Award Manager, Cara Greenlee, at 208-426-3618 or preaward@boisestate.edu if you are unable to comply with the requirement. If it is determined to be appropriate, Pre-Award Services will assist with the proposal without requiring the formal approval process for late documentation.
National Science Foundation (NSF) Proposal Portal Guidance
In preparation for the NSF transition from Fastlane to research.gov, OSP Pre-Award will be encouraging the use of research.gov for all NSF proposals. Proposals that are not available in research.gov will continue to be submitted in Fastlane. Your Pre-Award RA will identify which portal will apply to a proposal when the PI lets us know about a potential submission to NSF. Any questions about which portal will be used should be sent to your assigned Pre-Award RA. General questions about this transition may be sent to preaward@boisestate.edu.