Proposal information/documentation required for review
Follow funding opportunity guidelines and/or application instructions. If none exist, the Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA) office requires at a minimum these basic proposal elements:
- Detailed budget with justification and applicable indirect costs (see the Statement of Harvard University Principles for the Application of Indirect Costs to Non-federal Sponsored Awards)
- Research Plan or Statement of Work
- Sponsor application guidelines or funding opportunity announcement
- Internal (Harvard) forms
- Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HMS/HSDM) requires that Financial Disclosure Statements be submitted to SPA for all “key personnel” on each proposal, regardless of sponsor. See HMS/HSDM conflict of interest (COI) policy
- Approval status from the following committees if human subjects, vertebrate animals, or human embryonic stem cells will be used:
- Institutional Review Board (IRB)
- Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)
- Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight (ESCRO) Committee
More information on approvals, including animal/human subjects, biohazards and stem cells
Please see the Proposal Review Checklist (HSPH) tool to help ensure that all proposal requirements have been verified.
If the proposal includes a subaward to another institution (see Subawards for help in identifying a subaward versus a consultancy or a service contract) also include from each institution:
- All documentation listed above
- Institutional authorization (signature)
Each School has its own review process and time frame(HMS/HSDM) (HSPH). The deadlines have been established to factor in time to asses and address the relevance of the Provost review criteria.
If the proposal includes subawards, it is advisable to set a deadline for receipt of subaward documentation well in advance of the School’s deadline.
| HMS/HSDM | HSPH |
|---|---|
| In most cases, electronic or scanned versions of the documents may be emailed to SPA or uploaded into Harvard’s Grants Management Application Suite (GMAS) for review and authorization. The exception is any time the sponsor requires paper copies with original signatures. In those cases, the preferred method is to mail or hand deliver to SPA only the signature page(s). | Proposal documents should be uploaded into the GMAS request record for review and authorization. If the sponsor requires paper copies with original signatures, please mail or hand deliver to SPA only the signature page(s). If submitting a proposal electronically, please ensure all required system registrations are in place in advance of the deadline. |