Pre-Award | Abilene Christian University

Pre-Award Life Cycle

Step 1: Identify Funding Opportunity

Funding opportunities can be identified through grants.gov, agencies and societies’ listservs, or through GrantForward. For assistance in identifying funding opportunities, please contact the Office for Research Development at research@acu.edu.

Once a funding opportunity has been identified, please review the eligibility criteria and the requirements of the opportunity to ensure that it is a good fit for you. If you are unsure, please contact the Office of Research Development at research@acu.edu. Additionally, investigators are encouraged to discuss their intent to pursue external funding with their department chair, supervisor, dean, or other appropriate unit leadership, as applicable, to ensure alignment with unit priorities, workload expectations, and available resources.

Step 2: Submit Proposal Notification Form

When you have identified a funding opportunity and determined it is a good fit, submit a Proposal Notification Form to the Division of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities. We request that you submit this form at least four (4) weeks prior to the sponsor’s submission deadline.

Once notified, our pre-award research administration and research development staff will schedule a proposal planning meeting with you to go over all the materials needed for the proposal, timelines and areas where we can further support the development of your proposal.

Steps 3-5: Prepare Proposal and Budget and Submit for Internal Approval

Preparing a proposal involves developing the project narrative, scope of work, and supporting documents in accordance with sponsor guidelines. During this stage, several offices within the Division of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities will be available to assist in developing the budget, proposal development, graphic designs, compiling supporting documents, obtaining the required institutional approvals, and ensuring all administrative and regulatory requirements are met before submission.

Once you have a preliminary budget, budget justification, and a summary of the work that will be conducted (e.g. Scope of Work), our pre-award research administration staff will upload this information to Cayuse to be routed to the appropriate university officials for approval. Internal routing through Cayuse should begin at least two (2) weeks prior to the sponsor’s deadline.

Proposals that include subrecipient(s), institutional commitments, cost share, or complex compliance components may require 4–6 weeks of advance notice to ensure adequate preparation, review, and institutional approvals.

For templates and resources, please refer to the Resources page.

Steps 6-7: Complete All Documents

At least seven (7) business days prior to the sponsor’s deadline, you will need to submit all the supporting documents to the Office of Sponsored Programs Administration for review. Examples of these documents include biosketches, current & pending, conflicts of interest, collaborations and co-authors, lobbying disclosures, etc.

At least five (5) business days prior to the sponsor’s submission deadline, all final documents (including the narrative) must be provided to the Office of Sponsored Programs Administration for final review. Documents provided in less than five (5) days prior to submission are at risk of not being submitted.

Steps 8-9: Proposal Submission

Proposals are submitted in accordance with sponsor requirements, which may include email submission or use of designated platforms such as Grants.gov, Research.gov, or Proposal Central. While some funding opportunities allow PI submission, no proposal may be submitted without written approval from the Division of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities.

Proposals are generally submitted up to two (2) business days prior to the sponsor’s deadline whenever possible. Early submission provides time to address unexpected technical issues, correct system validation errors, accommodate sponsor system outages or heavy submission traffic, and respond to any issues identified during the final submission process. Submitting in advance helps ensure proposals are received by the sponsor on time and reduces the risk of avoidable delays that could jeopardize submission.

Time Before Sponsor’s Deadline	Milestone
4+ Weeks	Proposal Notification Form Submitted
2+ Weeks	Budget, budget justification, and scope of work are completed and Cayuse routing initiated
7 business days	Supporting documents submitted to OSPA
5 business days	Final proposal package due to OSPA
2 business days	Proposal submitted to sponsor

Proposal Development and Submission Support

Division of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities