Pre-proposals, Letters of Intent, and White Paper Submissions

Note: The following applies ONLY to Pre-proposals, Letters of Intent, and White Paper Submissions. Final proposals of any kind, i.e. any submission that the sponsor could respond to with an award notice, are subject to all standard proposal processing guidelines.

The information being presented/requested by a sponsor will determine if a Pre-proposal, Letter of Intent (LOI) or White Paper needs to be routed through UFIRST, e-mailed to the Division of Sponsored Programs, or submitted directly by the PI. Use the flowchart below to choose the correct routing process.

• If a pre-proposal is required to route through UFIRST, then the UF/DSP internal deadline policy will apply.
• Institutional Signature means a signature from the Division of Sponsored Programs (DSP), which can include DSP submission in sponsor electronic systems such as Fastlane, NSPIRES, ProposalCentral etc.
• A line item budget or categorical breakdown DOES meet the definition of budget detail. Budget detail does NOT include a lump sum or a total dollar amount (i.e. $450,000) being submitted to the sponsor.
• Inclusion of explicit personnel effort commitments regardless if compensation is requested DOES meet the definition of budget detail. 
• If a subrecipient is included, the subrecipient’s Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) must provide an email approval or a signed letter of intent confirming the details provided, even if only a lump sum or total budget amount is being provided.

You can also download this as a pdf HERE.