UC San Diego is one of the top research universities in the country. The campus administration supports our researchers by staying up to date on requirements of the 1600+ entities from which we receive contracts or grants as well as changing state and federal requirements for these entities. To ensure researchers have the best chance of having their research projects funded, we need to ensure compliance with ever changing regulations and identify inaccuracies or errors that can be fixed before proposals are reviewed by funding agencies. For example, recently issues affecting foreign engagement, export control, data security and other high-risk events have jeopardized faculty funding and created reputational and financial risks for the faculty and the university.
Currently, the majority of proposals are received by the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) “last minute” or the day of the deadline. Proposals received by the SPO less than 5 business days tend to contain higher rates of inaccuracies that risk 1) submission to the sponsor, 2) rejection by the sponsor, or if funded, 3) delays in the PI's ability to spend funds due to the need to complete negotiations and resolve clearance of compliance requirements. That is why we are advising faculty and research administrators to adhere to the following:
- 14 business days before the submission deadline the Principal Investigator (PI) must notify research administrator of intent to submit a proposal and provide required information. Proposals must be created in Kuali Research by your administrative unit.
- 5 business days before the deadline proposals must be routed in Kuali Research with the required information to the SPO Officer for review.
- 2 business days or earlier final draft of the Research Plan must be uploaded to Kuali Research, with the final version of the Research Plan due 8am day of deadline.
Our goal is for each department to achieve 100% compliance by July 1, 2021. Currently, the campus-wide compliance rates are low, and we need to make changes or risk not having proposals submitted.
To help departments track progress in real-time, the Proposal Submission Timelines 14/5/2 Dashboard provides Deans, Directors, Department Business Officers, and research administrators a way to view success and month-by-month trends. The SPOs are working with academic research units to achieve these goals.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
