Proposal Process

Process Overview

All external funding proposals must be reviewed, approved, and submitted by the Office for Research Administration (ORA). Your departmental finance office will help you submit to ORA and the sponsor.

To get started, visit research.iu.edu and review the existing scientific resources within O'Neill.

Notify the O'Neill Associate Dean of Research if your proposal includes any complex components such as course buy out, cost matching, CIMS routing, etc.

Complete and submit the intake form to notify the Contracts & Grants team of your upcoming funding application and initiate your proposal internally.

O'Neill Proposal Intake Form

Keep an eye on your email. After receiving your intake form, we will respond with templates to help you with the budgetary and administrative components and a list of upcoming internal deadlines.

Budgets are due to our office 2 weeks prior to the sponsor deadline.

If your proposal includes any subawards or pass-through entities, we will initiate contact with collaborating institutions' research offices to request financial agreement documents.

Once you have completed all non-scientific portions (budget, budget justification, cover page, bio-sketch, facilities and equipment, etc.), we will submit the draft proposal to ORA for institutional review a minimum of 6 business days before the sponsor deadline.

Following review and your final approval, ORA will submit the proposal to the sponsor on your behalf.

Best of luck! 

*Please note: external proposals that can be directly submitted by the PI must still be approved by ORA prior to submission.

Internal Proposal Deadlines

Dean's OfficeFinance OfficeORA

4 weeks
before sponsor
deadline

2 weeks
before sponsor
deadline

6 business days
before sponsor
deadline

2-4 business days
before sponsor
deadline

  • Submit draft of full proposal to department
  • The scientific narrative can still be edited
  • Implement revisions from ORA
  • Approve
  • Submit!

These major deadlines help ensure your proposal is submitted to the sponsor ahead of the due date and in compliance with all university and sponsor requirements.

Complex proposals including cost-share, subawards, CIMS routing, and other IU units or campuses will require additional time to process and should be submitted in advance, see policy SPA-11-025.

Get a personalized proposal timeline

For a detailed breakdown on each step and internal deadline, download the proposal timeline template and enter the sponsor's due date. The document will auto-populate internal deadlines specific to your proposal, accounting for weekends and holidays, to guide you each step of the way.

Proposal Submission Timeline Template.xlsx