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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Date: January
20, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>From: Charles
F. Louis<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:#1F497D'>Vice Chancellor for Research<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:#1F497D'>Bruce Morgan<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:#1F497D'>Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>To: UCR
Researchers & Unit Contract and Grant Analysts<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Please broadly
disseminate this message (or the attached memo) within your unit to Principal
Investigators and those individuals involved in the development, approval
routing and submission of extramural proposals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>On several
occasions in December and earlier this month, proposals to the federal
government were received in the Office of Research (OR) on the same day as the
sponsors’ published deadlines. When OR attempted to submit these
proposals via Grants.gov, we encountered a variety of technical issues that
resulted in the proposals being submitted after their respective
deadlines. In several cases, the Grants.gov system was simply overwhelmed
by the volume of traffic throughout the deadline day. In one instance, OR
first attempted to submit a proposal shortly after 12pm. However, the
proposal was not accepted by Grants.gov and successfully submitted until
approximately 20 minutes after the deadline, despite five hours of continuous
submission attempts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Due to the
extraordinary efforts of the Contract and Grant Officers in Sponsored Programs
Administration, <b>approximately half of the late proposals were accepted by
the sponsors</b>. These efforts included spending hours in phone queues
to speak with both sponsor and Grants.gov help desk representatives to document
the technical problems we were experiencing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>An increasing
number of sponsors are utilizing electronic proposal submission and there is
little commonality between these systems. Therefore, we encourage all
researchers to carefully plan for the preparation and submission of their
proposals. It is important to note that in those instances when OR
received proposals in accordance with UCR’s <a
href="http://or.ucr.edu/SP/Lifecycle/Prepare/Endorsement.aspx#LeadTimes"
title="http://or.ucr.edu/SP/Lifecycle/Prepare/Endorsement.aspx#LeadTimes">long-standing
lead times</a> and we encountered systems difficulties and/or other issues/complications,
there was sufficient time for OR to resolve the problems and submit the
proposals in advance of the proposal deadlines.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>We encourage
all Principal Investigators and unit staff involved in the preparation and
submission of proposals to re-review UCR’s campus policy regarding the
review, approval and submission of proposals, which is available on the OR
website at <a href="http://or.ucr.edu/policies/policies.aspx?k=8"
title="http://or.ucr.edu/policies/policies.aspx?k=8">http://or.ucr.edu/policies/policies.aspx?k=8</a>.
The policy contains information on the three business-day lead time for
standard proposals, the seven business-day lead time for non-standard
proposals, and lists the criteria for determining whether a proposal is
standard or non-standard. Additional information regarding proposal
preparation and submission can also be found on the OR website at <a
href="http://or.ucr.edu/SP/Lifecycle/Prepare/index.aspx"
title="http://or.ucr.edu/SP/Lifecycle/Prepare/index.aspx">http://or.ucr.edu/SP/Lifecycle/Prepare/index.aspx</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>Please note
that the <a href="http://or.ucr.edu/home/Staff.aspx?t=3"
title="http://or.ucr.edu/home/Staff.aspx?t=3">Contract and Grant Officer
assigned to your unit</a> is available to answer your questions regarding
sponsor electronic proposal submission systems, technical problems and
administrative challenges associated with such systems, and campus proposal
submission policy and procedure. In addition, your Contract and Grant
Officer is also available to meet individually or with groups of researchers
and/or administrators within a unit to address their proposal-related
questions, as well as provide guidance and advice regarding strategies and good
practices for planning proposal submissions and avoiding known technical
challenges with sponsor electronic proposal submission systems.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'>The one take
away is that the ever increasing use of electronic proposal submission systems
have clearly added a level of complexity to, and have increased the difficulty
of, the process of submitting proposals to many of our extramural
sponsors.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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