Proposal Review

If applying for a grant through Grants.gov, please see the Grants.Gov @ HMS section of this web site.

This page includes information about the proposal review process and basic roles and responsibilities. It also includes important reminders regarding the SPA delivery deadlines and how to submit your completed proposal to the sponsor.

Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA) serves to support faculty and research programs by facilitating applications for external funding and management of awards. As the designated authorized institutional official, Harvard Medical School reviews and approves all proposals on behalf of the Principal Investigator.

The proposal review process serves complementary functions of ensuring a complete and accurate proposal and compliance with sponsor and institutional policies. The review process represents collaboration between the faculty member, Department Chair, Department Administrator, SPA staff and other offices that ensure compliance with policies and regulations. Each party in the review process assumes an important responsibility to ensure that all aspects of the proposal have been thoroughly addressed.

Roles and Responsibilities

We encourage faculty who are developing grant proposals to seek input from each of the individuals described below throughout the proposal development process and to solicit their required approvals in a timely fashion.

To learn more about roles and responsibilities in regards to grants preparation and management, view the Roles & Responsibilities Matrix.

Delivery to SPA

The proposal and administrative forms must be delivered to SPA by 9:00 am at least five (5) business days prior to the sponsor deadline for paper applications, and seven (7) days for electronic submissions. For a list of documents to include with your proposal and some general hints, see the Proposal Preparation Guide.

Why is the SPA deadline necessary?

Our deadline is the only way we can:

• Provide a thorough review of every proposal;
• Ensure compliance with HMS, HU and sponsor policies;
• Suggest, where appropriate, changes that would enhance funding success;
• For proposals submitted electronically, it allows for an important cushion of time in case of technical problems.

Failure to meet this deadline will jeopardize the submission of the proposal. If unable to meet the SPA deadline due to extenuating circumstances, you should contact your SPA Representative at least 5 days before the sponsor deadline to discuss a solution.

Submission to Sponsor

Once the required documents have been submitted to SPA, the SPA rep will work cooperatively and efficiently with the Principal Investigator or department administrator to resolve questions and to recommend changes. Where feasible and efficient, SPA staff will make edits. However, substantial changes may necessitate that the proposal be returned to the department for edits. To ensure there is no version confusion SPA will always ask that the PI or department make any necessary changes to .xfd files for submission via Grants.Gov.

Once the review is complete, the Department or faculty member will receive the signed proposal back from SPA to send to sponsor, except in the case of Grants.Gov applications where only the institutional AOR (Deborah Good) can electronically submit the application to sponsor. Changes to the proposal, other than final editing of the research plan that does not impact the key areas listed above, should not be made by the department or PI after the proposal has been signed by SPA. No changes to the face page, budget pages, budget justification, resources page or checklist page can be made without SPA review and approval. If the PI identifies areas of the proposal that need to be altered after signature, the proposal must be re-reviewed and approved by SPA. SPA will monitor this process closely to ensure the compliance with all relevant policies.

If the PI desires that SPA mail the proposal to the Sponsor, the PI must deliver to SPA a signed and finalized proposal including final research plan with all of the necessary corrections made and all copies required by the sponsor plus one additional copy for SPA by 9:00 am at least one day prior to the submission deadline.