Research@UIC > Grant & Contract Proposals > Submitting Proposals

Submitting Proposals

Processing a Proposal

• Basic Procedures
• Required Documents
• Suggested Deadlines
• Tips for Avoiding Delays

Preparing Your Budget

Standard Institutional Information

Looking Up Your CFDA Number

Guidelines for Agency Specific Proposals

• NIH Modular Grants
• NIH SNAP (non-competing continuations)
• NIH Requests for Prior Approval
• NIH Just-In-Time- Information (JIT)

Electronic Research Administration (ERA)

Electronic Research Administration (eRA), in the general sense, is simply doing research administration electronically. Essentially, eRA is the paperless transfer of extramural grant applications and administrative data to external funding agencies. eRA encompasses everything from searching for funding opportunities to submitting proposals electronically to tracking their progress.

Additionally, most federal agencies in response to a Congressional mandate requiring federal agencies to migrate from paper-based to electronic systems has significantly advanced this effort.

As a result, the University of Illinois in an effort to streamline the administration of sponsored projects and the submission of electronic proposals, it has chosen the InfoEd software suite to administer its pre-award eRA system. The project to deploy the pre-award system to the University community has been named UI eRA. To learn more about this system, please visit the following URL: http://research.uic.edu/proposals/submitting/UI_eRA.shtml

The following sponsors have electronic research administration (ERA) systems, which means they utilize email and the Internet for proposal submissions, award notices, funding opportunities, and online publications. Some require ORS to submit your proposal while others do not.

ORS Electronic Submission Required

For ALL online proposals, with the exception of NSF Fastlane and Grants.gov submissions, a Proposal Approval Form (PAF), budget and scope of work must be submitted to ORS five days PRIOR to the submission deadline. For more information regarding Grants.gov please visit the Grants.gov web site.

• NSF Fastlane
• NIH Commons - 5/26/05 eRA Commons Workshop Presentation
• Corporation for National Service eGrants
• U.S. Dept. of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
• U.S. Dept. of Energy Industry Interactive Procurement System
• U.S. Dept. of Education Institute for Educational Sciences (IES)
• Grants.gov
• Health Research Services Administration (HRSA) - Go to EHB
• Illinois State Board of Higher Education - Go to IWAS
• National Alliance for Autism Research - Go to NAAR
• National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) NSPIRES

Please note, many of the grant-making agencies require applicants to submit attachments as a Portable Document Format (PDF). The PDF file allows you to preserve the formatting of your document. There are several programs available for both PCs and Macs, along with web sites that will perform the conversion for you. Please refer to the list of vendors and vendor descriptions offering this service.

Note: ORS does not endorse any particular software. Please consult the vendor web sites for additional information. The web sites are listed in alphabetical order and the vendor descriptions were accurate as of July 2004.

ORS Electronic Submission Not Required

Proposals can be submitted directly to the following sponsors, however, a Proposal Approval Form (PAF), budget and scope of work must be submitted to ORS five days PRIOR to the sponsor submission deadline.

Be sure to use the appropriate institutional information on your proposal.

• U.S. Dept. of Justice
• U.S. Dept. of Education - E-Grants
• US Civilian Research & Development Foundation
• Susan G. Komen Foundation
• Kellogg Foundation
• Proposal CENTRAL
  • Alzheimer's Association
  • American Cancer Society
  • American Lung Association
  • Arthritis Foundation
  • Cancer Research Foundation of America
  • Cystic Fibrosis Foundation