What are some Proposal Reminders to help streamline submission?

Here are some proposal reminders and tips to help make your proposal submissions successful.

Draft Proposal Review – 7 day GIM 19 Deadline

Route draft proposals to OSP for initial review by seven business days before the sponsor deadline. Routing draft proposals for initial review can vastly improve the review process for everyone.

In particular, all draft proposal eGC1s for federal Contract and Other Transaction Agreements (OTA) should be in OSP for initial review no later than 7 business days before the sponsor deadline. See: Why should I route an eGC1 for Contracts & Other Transactions to OSP ASAP?

Route to OSP for initial review. OSP will review and provide reviewer comments, as applicable.

These draft proposals should include complete business and administrative components of a proposal. Scientific/programmatic portions can be draft versions.

Ready to Submit by the 3 day GIM 19 Deadline

All proposals that are In OSP by the three business day GIM 19 deadline must be Ready to Submit. This should not be the first time OSP has seen the proposal. It is expected that OSP carried out an earlier review of the draft proposal.

Ready to Submit (RTS) means that the eGC1 has a complete proposal in final format, ready for submission to the sponsor.

RTS proposals must have or show that:

  • Final documents attached in the order required by the sponsor
  • All investigators completed their Significant Financial Interest Disclosures
  • Proposals in sponsor systems need to be ready to submit, for example:
    • NIH multi-component applications such as PF5 involve two steps, first “All Components Final”, then “Ready for Submission”
    • AOR-signed documents uploaded in sponsor system
  • Ready to Submit question on the eGC1 is marked “Yes”
  • The eGC1 is “In OSP” status before 5 p.m. Pacific time
  • The PI has given OSP access to the proposal in the sponsor system, if applicable

TIPS

Many federal sponsors require applicants to use the Common Forms for the biographical sketch and current and pending (other) support. 

Some sponsors, like NSF & NIH, require applicants to use SciENcv to prepare these forms. Using ORCID connected to SciENcv will help keep biographical sketches and current and pending (other) support forms up to date.

Use project management tools and incorporate steps into the process to help ensure:

  • Investigators are available and have access in UW systems, such as the Financial Interest Disclosure System (FIDS)
  • Sponsor system accesses/permissions are obtained
  • Common Forms are up to date and complete
  • As applicable, confirm:

Refer to the Institutional Facts & Rates page for authorized official contact information that must be listed on proposal cover pages.

Understand who is reviewing what on the eGC1, as it routes. OSP uses GIM 1 criteria for review once it arrives in OSP.

Run any sponsor system validations or error checking for the draft proposal. This will help “clean up” formatting and other requirements that sponsor systems are designed to catch.

All proposals to external entities need to undergo institutional review, which takes time. Do not route a proposal to OSP for the first time on the 3 day GIM 19 deadline.

Format Reminders

Incorrect formatting can prevent proposal submission to Grants.gov and other sponsor systems. Carefully review sponsor format guidance. Avoid using hyperlinks and flatten PDF files to remove incompatible file formatting, except for SciENcv documents that require specific formatting for validation.

More from Grants.gov: Submitting Special Characters

More from NIH:

More from NSF:

UW Resources

5/06/2026- page reviewed & updated