Projects that involve collaboration with other organizations
When a proposed project involves investigators from two or more organizations, a collaborative proposal is submitted to the funding agency. Various funding agencies use different terms for describing collaborative projects. For instance, the National Institutes of Health award "Consortium Grants" and have formulated a set of guidelines for establishing such grants which must be acknowledged by the collaborating organizations. The National Science Foundation entertains "Collaborative Proposals". The terms "subcontractor", "subrecipient", "subgrantee", and "lower tier recipient" are often used interchangeably.
When a collaborative project is contemplated, submission of the proposal to the funding agency must be coordinated by the organization designated as the lead institution. The usual method for submitting a collaborative proposal is for the lead institution to prepare one proposal that includes the collaborating organization as a subcontractor or subgrantee. If an award results from the proposal, a single grant or contract is awarded to the lead organization, and the lead organization in turn, issues a subaward agreement to the collaborator. The subaward agreement will contain terms and conditions required by the lead institution as well as relevant terms and conditions of the funding agency. Most Federal agencies prefer this method since it makes one organization solely responsible to the agency for administration of and reporting on the project.
A second method for submitting a collaborative proposal, one that is sometimes encouraged by the National Science Foundation and some private foundations and non-government funding agencies, involves simultaneous submission of proposals from the collaborating organizations. If the project is selected for funding, separate grants are awarded to each organization, and each organization is responsible for administering its own funding. It is expected that the lead institution will work with the collaborators to coordinate reports and publications.
Prior to formulating the proposal, the lead organization should contact the appropriate program official of the funding agency to discuss the options. The method chosen is generally the program official's call. Procedures for both methods described above follow.
WHEN SUBMITTING A SINGLE PROPOSAL WITH SUBCONTRACTS
The lead organization is responsible for formulating and submitting the complete proposal to the funding agency. A section should be included in the project narrative that describes the role(s) of the collaborator(s). The lead organization must collect the following items from the collaborator(s) for inclusion in the proposal:
- A cover sheet (usually the funding agency's cover form) signed by the collaborator's principal investigator and authorized organizational representative. Collection of the fully-signed cover sheet is important because by signing this form, the collaborator makes a number of assurances and certifications that are required of a recipient of Federal funds. In addition, the signature of the authorized organizational representative indicates that appropriate officials of the collaborator have reviewed the proposal and have committed the organization to participating in the project.
- Assurances/Certifications if the funding agency has forms containing these separate from the cover sheet
- A budget (preferably on the funding agency's budget form) for each project year and a cumulative, including the collaborator's indirect costs.
- A current curriculum vitae for each of the collaborator's principal personnel.
- A list of current and pending support for each of the collaborator's principal personnel.
- A scope of work describing the role and tasks to be conducted by the collaborator. This should be included in the main project narrative. If an award results from the proposal, the collaborator's scope of work will be attached as an exhibit to the subaward agreement.
- The National Institutes of Health require, in addition to the items above, a completed checklist page containing the collaborator's indirect cost calculations and a letter of collaboration signed by the principal investigators and authorized organizational representatives of the lead and collaborating organization(s). The letter must include the following statement: "The appropriate programmatic and administrative personnel of each institution involved in this grant application are aware of the NIH consortium grant policy and are prepared to establish the necessary inter-institutional agreement(s) consistent with that policy." Specific instructions are included in a document called "NIH Grants Policy Statement" issued by NIH located at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps/ and available from SPA.
WHEN COLLABORATORS SUBMIT SEPARATE PROPOSALS SIMULTANEOUSLY To NSF
The National Science Foundation has established procedures for simultaneous submission of proposals by hardcopy and electronically by FastLane. The project title must begin with the words: "Collaborative Research:"
By Hardcopy:
The lead organization must submit a complete package to NSF which includes all of the required forms and sections (including cover sheets, biosketches, current and pending support pages, budgets, and facilities statements) for each organization, and the project summary, complete project narrative, and references cited. The lead organization submits the required number of copies of this complete package. Each collaborator submits only ONE complete copy of the proposal containing original signatures of its PIs and organizational representative. The lead organization should coordinate submission of the main proposal package and the collaborator's proposals to ensure they are mailed at roughly the same time and to ensure that the NSF program official is aware they have been mailed.
By FastLane:
The lead organization prepares in FastLane the complete proposal including all required forms for that organization (cover sheet, budgets and justification, current and pending support, facilities description, and biosketches) and the project summary, project description, and references cited. Each collaborator prepares in FastLane its own cover sheet, budget and justification, current and pending forms, facilities description, and biosketches. The collaborators do not include the project summary, project description, or references cited.
Before the lead organization transmits the proposal to NSF, each collaborator provides the FastLane Temporary Proposal ID number of their own proposal to the lead organization. The lead organization enters in the main proposal the Temporary Proposal ID number for each collaborator using the "Link Collaborative Proposals" function located on the "Form Preparation" screen. Once this has been accomplished, the lead organization and each collaborator may transmit their proposals to NSF. The main proposal and each collaborator proposal is assigned an "NSF Proposal Number" which appears in the upper right corner of the cover sheet following electronic transmission. Each collaborator should provide this number to the lead organization which will include a list of collaborators and their NSF Proposal Numbers with the hard copy of the original certification form that must be mailed to NSF within 5 days after electronic transmission of the proposal.