Carnegie Mellon University

 department intiates proposal department prepars proposal department reviews proposal osp reviews proposal department releases electronic application to osp osp reviews electronic application osp submits electronic application to sponsor pending sponsor review

Department Releases Electronic Application to OSP

If the sponsor has an electronic application process that requires and Authorized Official to submit, the department should notify the OSP Specialist when the application is ready for submission.

There are various types of electronic systems sponsors may use:

•  SPONSOR ONLINE SYSTEM
Some systems will notify the OSP Specialist directly when the proposal has been released and is ready for review (i.e. FastLane). Please confirm with the OSP Specialist the released proposal is ready for submission by calling your OSP Specialist or sending an email using the Email Specialist activity on the Funding Proposal workspace.

•  SPONSOR FORMS
Other systems require forms to be uploaded by the specialist within the application itself. In these situations, the application form needs to be sent to the OSP Specialist for review and submission using the Email Specialist activity on the Funding Proposal workspace.

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Review of the Electronic Application

The OSP Specialist provides an administrative review of electronic applications and forms, with emphasis on CMU specific information (i.e. negotiated rates, assurance numbers, CMU policies, etc.). A detailed description of the items that will be reviewed can be found on the Proposal Review Guidelines.

If a proposal is sent to OSP with less than 3 full business days before the deadline, the Proposal Team will provide the best possible review with the time and resources available.

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Submission of Electronic Application to Sponsor

Once the electronic application has been submitted by OSP to the sponsor, the OSP Specialist will provide confirmation via email within the Funding Proposal the application was submitted successfully.

Some sponsors have multiple levels of validations, so be sure that the PI (or someone knowledgeable of the application) is available to make any required changes until you are notified of the transmission to the agency.

It is also recommended if the sponsor provides the ability to review the submitted application (NSF, NIH, NASA, etc.) that you view the completed application from the sponsor's website to ensure the application has been transmitted correctly.

Errors/Warnings

If an application receives an error or warning, the OSP Specialist will notify the PI and the department as soon as possible to correct any issues.

  • An Error in most cases will not allow the application to be accepted by the sponsor's system. Errors must be fixed in order for the application to be received.
  • A Warning will not prevent the application from being accepted by the sponsor's system. However, a warning may cause a non-compliance issue that has the potential to cause the application to not be reviewed or rejected during the review.

AGENCY SPECIFIC:

NSF (FastLane)
Corrections or Updates can be made until the solicitation deadline via the proposal file update function.

NIH (eRA Commons)
Corrections or Changes can be made within 2 business days of submission or until the application deadline (whichever comes first).
    •  Example: The application due date is Friday, February 5th at 5:00PM
    • If the application is submitted at 1:00PM on Monday, February 1st, you would have until 1:00PM on Wednesday, February 3rd to make corrections.
    • If the application is submitted at 1:00PM on Thursday, February 4th, you would have until 5:00 PM on February 5th to make corrections.
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