Limited Submissions

About Limited Submission Opportunities

Many federal agencies and foundations offer grants, awards and fellowships that limit the number of applications that can come from one institution. In order to increase the chances of the UW succeeding in such “limited submission opportunity” applications, the Office of Research has established a procedure to peer review pre-proposals in a timely fashion.

The Review and Selection Process

For each limited submission opportunity, the Office of Research notifies, by e-mail listserv, Deans, Directors and Chairs of the opportunity details, deadlines and general directions and deadlines for internal submission of pre-proposals. Subscription to this listserv is open to all. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please email research@uw.edu.

After the deadline, the proposals that have been received are sent to members of the Office of Research Proposal Review Committee. The Committee reviews each pre-proposal and then meets to discuss the relative merits and limitations of each proposal, and then choose the proposal(s) that the Committee believes will have the greatest chance of being funded, and will have the greatest positive impact on the University if it is funded.

Selection Criteria

The Committee ensures that selected pre-proposals:

1. Meet all eligibility requirements specified by the funding organization RFA
2. Are scientifically and technically strong
3. Promote the greater University research mission

Most pre-proposals require a letter of support from the PI’s nominator, Dean or Chair. This letter of support signifies that the nominator, Dean or Chair has ensured that the nominee and application are likely to be of sufficient quality to be competitive nationally. Given the importance of the nominator’s letter, we encourage nominators to consult resources on how to write strong letters, such as: http://www.hhmi.org/sites/default/files/Educational%20Materials/Lab%20Management/letter.pdf.

Each pre-proposal is also carefully evaluated against the selection criteria provided by the sponsor. Once the decision as to which pre-proposal(s) will go forward has been made, all applicants are notified of the Committee’s decision. Occasionally, the Committee may provide feedback and recommendations to successful candidates in the hopes that the quality of the full proposal can be enhanced.

Inquiries and Contact Information

Investigators who identify a grant, award or fellowship program that restricts the number of applications that can be submitted from an Institution should immediately contact their Chairperson, Associate Dean for Research (or Dean, if no ADR) and the Office of Research (see below) if they intend to prepare a response. Failure to do so, or to meet the deadlines for submission of pre-proposal, will preclude submission of the application to the sponsor through the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP).

For an application that has been designated as UW’s limited submission to the sponsor, please note that internal deadlines for submission of an approved eGC1 to OSP, as set forth in GIM 19, apply. Waivers of the internal deadline requirements will only be considered under the circumstances described in GIM 19. In particular, waivers for a less-than-two-week announcement of the funding opportunity shall only be considered with respect to the timing of the sponsor’s announcement of the opportunity.

For general inquiries, or to request a listing of a limited submission opportunity that should be but is not already listed on this page, please email us at research@uw.edu