Hello Vibeke,
Our institution has a great centralized process for Contracts, Proposals, and any LOIs or MOUs that would require institutional commitment or resources. We also like to track any submission under a limited submission scenario. Our central office usually sends out a Limited Submission notification to campus in that case.
Regarding contracts, specifically the local or state contracts, we have had some similar iterative process issues with our PIs. They have developed some solid collaborative relationships with the local departments and state agencies. They often hear of funding opportunities that are not always put out for a bid or published. These are sometimes designed to be turned over through a quick iterative process between the PI and the project coordinator through a series of meetings. They typically will meet a few times, discuss the project, and agree upon a scope of work and budget. Then come back to us and want to rush through the contracting process.
In the past, this was very cumbersome and often led to unrealistic budgets and or deliverables. Especially with inexperienced PIs. We helped alleviate this issue by establishing closer relationships with our PIs and encouraging them to include our office in these development meetings. We created templated budgets and scopes for them for reoccurring projects to help them with the conversations with their project coordinators. Our office has now also developed relationships with the community project coordinators, so now they include us in the planning process. This has taken much of the pressure off when it comes time to route the contract for services.
Developing these relationships has taken some time, but the effort has been worth it.
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Michelle Davis, M.Ed.
Research Administrator, Office of Research
College of Health Sciences, Boise State University
michelledavis3@boisestate.edu------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 07-20-2021 05:16
From: Vibeke Svensson
Subject: Routing of Contracts, LOI vs. Full Grant Proposals
Hello,
I was wondering if you treat routing differently for Contracts, LOIs vs. Grant Proposals. We only require LOIs to be routed if they require institutional endorsement, submission or if a limited submission. All other funding regarding type goes through the same routing process and follows the same review timeline. We have PIs who are moving into the space of unsolicited contracts and they are asking that we adapt the contract review/routing to better match the purpose of a contract. The proposal is going through several iterations and the PIs do not want to route all of the versions thus it often ends up on our desk when a contract has been issued and it becomes a rush and little leverage to negotiate.
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Vibeke Svensson
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
American University
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