Tips: November 1, 2019

Following are tips on using SPARCS -

Solicitations - It is incredibly important that you read through Solicitations. This is especially true if you have an unfamiliar or complicated solicitation; which is very common for submission to the DOD (DARPA, IARPA, NIJ, etc.). These solicitations can often have items that need to be addressed at proposal time. So it's REALLY important that you take some time to read through these complicated solicitations. 

Below are several examples of things you should look for and consult with OSP should you find in a solicitation:

• Security Clearances and/or Restrictions on Project Personnel
• Restricted Research
• Specific Compliance Requirements such as
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Organizational Conflict of Interest
  • Clinical Trials
  • sIRB
• Other special or unusual requirements

Is the project on-site, off-site or both? - This question appears on the General Proposal Information Smartform. We have noticed that many times this question is marked as "On-Site" but the submitting department and/or F&A rate being selected do not coincide with the selection. Please remember to select the appropriate answer. Below are the definitions of each of these options:

• On-Site - Sponsored research, sponsored instruction or other sponsored projects that is conducted at CMU's Pittsburgh Campus, in a CMU owned building/location.
• Off-Site - Sponsored research, sponsored instruction or other sponsored projects that is conducted at a location other than the CMU Pittsburgh Campus which includes: Qatar, Silicon Valley and various other locations near the Pittsburgh Campus such as NREC, WQED, GATF and many others.
• Both - This option should be selected for ANY combination of these regardless if the submitting department is on-site or off-site. If both on-site and off-site locations are involved in the sponsored project, be sure to use this BOTH option.

SYSTEM DOWNTIME REMINDER:

• Emergency Downtime - On very rare occasions the SPARCS Help Desk is notified of critical issues that have occurred within the system that require immediate correction. In these situations, we do not have time to give the Research Community advance notice that the system will need to be taken offline for a short period of time. We appreciate your patience with us while we make these corrections and stabilize the system.
• Scheduled Downtime - SPARCS will be unavailable every Wednesday from 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM for maintenance.