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  1. OSP Teams
  2. Federal Contract

Prepare Proposals

The Federal Contract Services Team (FC Team) is responsible for the review and approval of sponsored research proposals when the prime source of funding is or could be a federal contract or Other Transaction. The preparation of a well-organized, thoroughly reviewed proposal is critical to the successful submission of an application for funding. If your proposal may result in federal contract or Other Transaction funding, please notify the FC Team by emailing a copy of the solicitation or request for proposal and the due date to fedcon@pitt.edu.
 
Proposals must be routed to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) for review and endorsement via the PERIS™ MyFunding module. The FC Team deadline for proposal submission is five full business days before the sponsor’s deadline.
 
The process for submitting a proposal for federal contract or Other Transaction funding is very similar to the process for submitting a proposal for a grant or cooperative agreement with the following exception: the Principal Investigator (PI) or department administrator is typically responsible for submitting the final proposal (including the signed Endorsement Letter provided by OSP) to the sponsor after OSP has approved the MyFunding Funding Proposal (FP) record. OSP typically only submits proposals for federal contract or Other Transaction funding to the sponsor if submission is via an online portal requiring an authorized official account.
 
After the FP record is approved and OSP has provided the signed Endorsement Letter, the PI / department administrator should:
  • Copy fedcon@pitt.edu on the email submission to the sponsor; and
  • Upload to the FP record a final copy of the complete proposal submitted to the sponsor.

 

Please use the links in the side menu to find further information on topics related to proposals, including:

 

Frequently Asked Questions

If it is unclear at the proposal stage whether the funding will come to the University in the form of grant or a contract, which OSP team will I work with? 

When a solicitation states that the proposal may be awarded as either a grant, cooperative agreement, or procurement contract, you will work with your designated Grants and Contracts Officer if:

  1. The solicitation has a CFDA number, and
  2. The solicitation does not include FAR clauses or provisions

However, if the solicitation states that the proposal may be awarded as an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), you will always work with your designated Federal Contracts Officer.

Once I submit a proposal for a competitively awarded federal contract, what happens next?

Once the proposal is submitted, the sponsor will evaluate your proposal and consider whether or not it will fund your work. If the sponsor is interested in funding your project, you will enter into “negotiations” regarding the scope and price of the agreement. This will usually involve several rounds of discussions with the funding agency. This is called the Pre-Award Revisions stage.

Please note that it is possible for the government to award a federal contract without these types of negotiations. As such, it is extremely important that each proposal submitted to the government be your best and final proposal with accurate budgetary information and detailed plans for your work. It may be awarded unilaterally without an opportunity to update the budget.

When the final agreement is received, as with any research agreement, the terms and conditions of that agreement will be fully reviewed and negotiated by the Office of Sponsored Programs with input from the Principal Investigator, project team, and Departmental Administrator, as needed. It is important to note that only certain staff members within the Office of Sponsored Programs have the authority to sign agreements committing University staff and resources to an externally funded research project.