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Revisions to Proposals After Internal Routing but Prior to Submission


When a Department/College approves a proposal, they are certifying that the resources disclosed in the proposal are appropriate for the faculty and the Department/College. Resources include but are not limited to the budget, time/effort, cost share, facilities, equipment, and any other commitments. If there needs to be a change to a proposal after any approvals have been obtained but prior to DSP submission to the sponsor, the following guidance will determine what reviews are required.

Major changes for which Unit (Department, Director, and/or College) Approvals need to be re-captured

Definition: Major changes are:

1. those that have a significant impact on the proposal reviews that have occurred, and re-capturing approvals allows the Unit to re-certify they are amenable to the changes (see examples below);

a. If during proposal review, DSP determines that UFIRST re-approval(s) or ad hoc approval(s) are needed, DSP WILL NOT submit to the sponsor before the approvals are executed.

OR

2. any time the PI or unit research administrator requests the UFIRST proposal to be returned after it arrives in the Core Office (DSP).

a. You must have the proposal returned through UFIRST’S full approval process before 9AM the business day before the deadline to meet UF’s Proposal Deadline Policy

b. Note: The PI or unit can ask for minor corrections without requesting the UFIRST proposal be returned and triggering the major change process.

Process:

1. If the change requires update of major fields (see examples below), within the UFIRST SmartForms the proposal requires a full re-approval via DSP executing the “RESET APPROVERS” activity.  The first level approver(s) listed in UFIRST will be responsible for returning the proposal to the PI or unit research administrator for updates by using the “REQUEST CHANGES” activity.

Note: UFIRST does not currently have the functionality for the proposal to be returned to a Draft state directly from Core Office Review. DSP is actively working on this, however, for now the proposal will be returned to the PI or unit research administrator via the method outlined above.

2. If the change doesn’t require update of UFIRST SmartForm fields but is still classified as major, DSP will execute the “RESET APPROVERS” activity or will execute the “Request Ad Hoc Review” activity to individual approver(s) as appropriate.

Examples of major changes include but are not limited to:

a. Routing a proposal to Core Office without submission documents attached or without granting DSP access to the proposal in the sponsor’s submission portal
b. Scope change (e.g. adding or removing specific aims, adding or removing engagement of human subjects or use of animals)
c. Changes to the appointment section of UF key person’s biographical sketches
d. Changes to content of facilities and other resources committed in submission documents
e. Updates to proposal descriptor questions in UFIRST SmartForms Page 3.0 Questions 1.0 (humans/animals), 3.0 (global) and/or 5.0 (institutional commitments)
f. Adding or removing UF key personnel or re-categorization of UF person between key and non-key status
g. Changes to the budget by more than 5% or $10,000 (whichever is less) from the Unit approved TOTAL proposal budget, or variances between the UFIRST SmartForms and submission documents by more than 5% or $10,000 (whichever is less).
h. Other changes to the budget (UFIRST SmartForms and/or submission docs)

i. Addition of cost sharing
ii. Changes to the level of effort (paid or unpaid) for any UF key person
iii. Re-categorization of a third party’s involvement from subrecipient to vendor or vice versa
iv. Shift between categories that affect the F&A budget (moving from a category that does not incur F&A to one which does incur F&A or vice versa)
v. Changes to the F&A rate or F&A base (other than incorrect selection of base which does not affect the calculated F&A costs)

Minor changes for which Unit (Department, Director, and/or College) Approvals do NOT need to be re-captured

Definition: Minor changes are those that do not generally impact the content of reviews that have occurred.

Process: If updates are needed to the UFIRST SmartForms, DSP will make them upon written confirmation from the PI or unit research administrator. UFIRST proposals will not be returned to the PI or research administrator to make these changes and resetting approvals will not be necessary. PI or unit research administrator is responsible for making corresponding changes, if necessary, within the submission documents.

Examples of minor changes include but are not limited to:

a. Title change
b. Start/end date discrepancy between the UFIRST SmartForms and submission documents
c. Non-UF personnel or third party collaborator missing from the UFIRST SmartForms
d. Senior/key personnel role (e.g. Co-PI to Co-Investigator or Co-Investigator to Co-PI) update in the UFIRST SmartForms
e. Incorrect sponsor or prime sponsor in the UFIRST SmartForms
f. Missing or incorrect solicitation number and/or solicitation document in the UFIRST SmartForms
g. Budget

i. Changes to the budget that causes the TOTAL proposal budget to change by less than 5% or $10,000 (whichever is less)
ii. Variances between UFIRST and submission documents (submission documents must be accurate but no change to UFIRST is necessary as long as no major change under “h” above has occurred)

Shift between cost categories on the General Costs Page in the UFIRST Budget SmartForm that incur the same F&A rate (e.g. Materials & Supplies, Other, Publications)

Please find a pdf version of this page HERE.