Guidelines for Preparation of Proposals to External Funding Agencies
A. Proposal Elements
Subject to the requirements of the sponsoring agency involved, the research proposal should, in general, contain the following elements:
1. UCF/OOR Proposal Transmittal Form
2. Multidisciplinary Research Participation Form (MDRP), if necessary
3. Request for Service Fee
4. Proposal summary or abstract (executive summary)
5. Project objective and scope
6. Project need, state-of-the-art background
7. Proposed research activity and methodology
8. Research results expected/deliverables
9. Succinct statement of work by phase
10. Project personnel, organization, and management
11. Project schedule
12. Project budget
13. Proposed treatment of intellectual properties, if applicable
Appendices:
1. Personnel vitae
2. UCF/CECS Information
B. Proposal Review Process
Research proposals prepared by engineering faculty are submitted to the CECS Research Office (Room 202) after they have been approved by the Department Chair and prior to submission to the Office of Research (OOR). Faculty are urged to work with their Chair/Director during the preparation of research proposals to ensure adequacy and appropriateness of:
1. Relationship of the research to program and college goals and objectives
2. Availability of laboratory space and equipment
3. Technician and secretarial support
4. Overhead distribution
5. Budget (including travel, student support, maintenance costs)
6. Other considerations as appropriate
C. Proposal Approval
Subject to the considerations cited above, the Dean for Research, Dr. Debra Reinhart, is authorized to approve research proposals for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Note that research proposals involving units outside CECS (e.g., CREOL, IST, non-engineering academic departments) must be approved by appropriate signatories for these units. In this case, overhead distribution and “credit” between all participating units and PI’s must be stipulated using the MDRP form. Proposals which deviate from normal CECS requirements (e.g., matching funds required, indirect costs reduced or waived, other than normal research space and equipment required, etc.) must be fully justified by the PI and approved by both the Department Chair and the Dean of Engineering & Computer Science. Normally, proposals include full indirect costs, with current rates specified on a Budget Information Sheet, available in the Research Office, Rm. 202. If fully justified, indirect costs for one-time grants (one per PI per grantee) may be reduced to a 5 percent service charge. These grants provide an excellent opportunity for new faculty as well as more experienced faculty to explore new interests.
Effective July 1st, 1988, Departments and Principal Investigators with overhead generating contracts or grants began to earn shares of overhead proceeds. The standard distribution of overhead for CECS projects is:
10% Principal Investigator(s)
17.5% Department(s)
17.5% College(s)
55% Office of Research
For Centers, AMPAC & FSI, overhead is:
10% Principal Investigator(s)
15% Center
10% Department
10% College
55% Office of Sponsored Research
When proposals include multiple investigators, departments, and/or colleges, a detailed distribution of overhead must be specified, consistent with the policy above or appropriate to the level of effort of the CECS faculty, staff, and/or students. The MDRP form is used to summarize this distribution and to show approvals.
D. Budget Considerations
Subject to the requirements of the sponsoring agency involved, the budget normally should include the following:
1. Salaries and Fringe Benefits
Research personnel (faculty, USPS support personnel). Also include reasonable anticipated needs for both secretarial and technical support if allowable. Please note that different fringe benefit rates apply for faculty/staff and for students.
2. Other Personnel Service (OPS)
Status Range of Pay ($/hour) BiWeekly (Contract) Clerical Professional Undergrad Assist 5.40-5.75 5.75-6.50 Post Bacc 6.00-7.50 7.50 Graduate Assist. 8.00-10.50 10.50-14.00 $500.00 Post M.S. 8.00-10.50 13.50 $520.00 Doctoral 8.00-14.00 15.00 $580.00-690.00
(For more information, see CECS- Student Pay Schedule)
3. Expense
Travel, expendable supplies, postage, communications, computer time, library searches, duplication, contractual services, etc.
4. Capital Equipment (OCO)
Non-expendable equipment (life greater than one year) with cost greater than $1,000.00, hard cover books, etc.
5. Indirect Costs
In general, budget requests for all projects should cover all the tangible direct costs of carrying out the project and full indirect costs. Please note that different indirect rates apply to federal agencies, state agencies, and other sponsors.
6. Cost Share Policy
- College match is equal to department/school match.
- Match is provided only when required (exception is federal proposals matched by OOR).
- Usually no college match is provided on grants that are not generating overhead.
- College match should be less than overhead returned to the College.
- Three-year average distribution of College match funds to units will be based on the relative distribution of research overhead generated.
7. Tuition
Faculty are strongly encouraged to include tuition payments in their budget where permitted.
Overhead Expenditures
The CECS Research Office will maintain records of overhead earned by departments and principal investigators (PIs). In order to maintain accountability and accurate records of expenditures, all overhead expenditures are routed through the CECS Research Office for posting to individual accounts.
Departmental and PI overhead is managed by the CECS Research Office under two separate department numbers, one for the departments and one for the PIs. The Research Office tracks both credits and expenditures for these department numbers. Expenditures should have documented research relevance. To spend funds earned by departments or the PIs, the following procedure is required:
Prepare the appropriate university paperwork for the expenditure: Purchase Requisition, Travel Authorization Request and/or Reimbursement, Personnel Action Form, etc. Leave the account number and account name blank. For departmental expenditures the chair of the department should sign the paperwork as the requester. For PI expenditures the PI should sign the paperwork as the requester. Only the department chair can authorize spending the department share and only the PI can authorize spending his/her share of the overhead return. Obtain authorized signatures from the CECS Research Office in ENGR II 202.
Only the Dean or the Associate Dean for Research can authorize spending of the college portion of the overhead.
The CECS Research Office will provide both credit and expenditure reports promptly to the chairs and PIs upon request.
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