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Preapplications, Preproposals, Letters of Inquiry, or White Papers Requiring a Proposal Approval Form (PAF)
More and more, funding agencies are asking for preproposals to triage potential applicants. A Proposal Approval Form (PAF) may be required for these preliminary submissions.
Preproposals may take many forms, but typically the agencies request a brief summary of the project, personnel, and budget. The agencies review these summaries and some applicants are invited to submit formal applications.
A PAF should be prepared and routed when any of the following conditions apply:
- The agency requires that the preproposal be signed or electronically routed by an authorized official on behalf of the applicant institution.
An exception to this rule is made when Grants.gov is used for the submission. Some agencies are using Grants.gov to collect pre-applications. Typically, all that is required for this is the Form 424(R&R) and an attached statement of proposed work.
If this is all that is needed, and there is no aspect of the pre-application as noted below, then DRDA will not require a PAF, even though such a submission is then electronically routed. The pre-application can be uploaded by the PI/research staff to the DRDA DropBox, at least four (4) business days prior to its due date. The pre-application will not be given a DRDA number nor will a paper copy be saved. Please notify the appropriate DRDA project representative via email that the pre-application is being uploaded.
- The preproposal includes a detailed budget rather than an overall cost estimate.
- The preproposal includes institutional commitments such as cost sharing, faculty, space use, renovations or third party commitments, such as partnerships with industry, public schools or universities
- The preproposal obligates the University to accept terms and conditions if the proposal is ultimately awarded.
- The number of preproposals from the institution is limited, such as, "two per institution".
- The preproposal solicitation obligates the University to submit a full proposal if selected.
The preproposal will receive a DRDA Proposal Number. The full/final application submitted after the preproposal will use the same DRDA number but may require a revised PAF per standard DRDA requirements in situations where the proposal is significantly changed; for example, the proposed budget is increased, cost sharing is changed.
Preproposals should be sent to all relevant departmental research administration offices for review and approval prior to submission to the sponsor, and copies should be sent to DRDA.
Feel free to contact your project representative at DRDA if there are questions regarding the method of submissions for preproposals, preapplications, or letters of inquiry.