The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) at Temple University provides overarching policies, procedures, and guidance for submitting proposals to external sponsors. These policies ensure that Temple’s research community complies with institutional, state, and federal requirements while following specific sponsor guidelines.

A key component is the Waiver Policy, which sets an internal deadline for proposal processing. This deadline allows central Pre Award staff sufficient time for a comprehensive review, ensuring proposals meet all administrative and regulatory compliance requirements prior to submission.

To manage the proposal submission process, Temple University, in collaboration with the Pre Award Office, uses an Electronic Research Administration (ERA) system for preparing, routing, and submitting proposals.

Purpose of the Policy

The purpose of this policy is to establish clear standards and practices that guarantee proposals meet both Temple University’s internal guidelines and the sponsor's submission requirements and deadlines. Temple University operates under a complex set of compliance obligations, which include specific sponsor solicitations and guidelines, federal regulations such as those outlined in 2 CFR 200 Uniform Guidance, Pennsylvania statutes, and Temple’s own institutional policies. A sufficient review period is essential to allow Pre-Award staff to verify each proposal's adherence to these requirements. Additionally, this review ensures the overall quality of submissions, minimizing the risk of non-compliance or errors that could jeopardize funding opportunities.

Submission Deadline Policy

The submission policy for Temple University is that all proposals, along with their supporting documentation, must reach a status of “In Review” no later than 8 a.m. three (3) full business days before the sponsor's submission deadline. This internal deadline ensures that proposals have been reviewed and approved by all relevant departments, colleges, or schools prior to final review by Pre-Award staff. This means that three (3) full business days prior to the sponsor’s deadline, all proposals must have been routed via Preliminary Approval Routing to your Colleges/Schools, and the “Submit for final review” button found in the Finalized tab must have been clicked.

For NIH Proposals

The following routing steps must occur before the 3-day deadline:

NIH grant applications must pass all validations in ERA before clicking the "Submit for final review." This will require that your entire proposal is built within the Finalized tab within ERA. If the Complete Final, Error Free Proposal is received by Pre Award Specialist without "All Validations Passed," this will result in the submission being considered incomplete. If resubmission of the application falls outside of the required time frame mentioned above, the application will be treated as late and will not be eligible for review unless a waiver is granted.

Proposals that fail to meet this internal deadline, either due to incomplete documentation or delayed submissions, will not be accepted for review or forwarded to the sponsor. Exceptions to this policy will only be granted through an approved waiver process. This waiver process provides a formal mechanism to request deviations from the established deadline, ensuring that exceptions are evaluated and documented in a manner consistent with Temple’s policies and the operational needs of the Pre-Award office.

In rare instances, there is an exception process when the proposal is not within the 3 day policy. The rare cases where these internal deadlines cannot be met would be due to:

It should be stressed that these waiver requests should be rare and well justified.

This policy is critical for maintaining the integrity of Temple University’s research operations, ensuring compliance with institutional and external requirements, and facilitating a high standard of proposal quality in all submissions.

Waiver Request

A PI may request a waiver by completing the “Waiver Request Form” themselves or through their Business Administrators which will then need to be approved by the Associate Dean for Research (or Dean designee) and then the Vice President for Research. Once all approvals are obtained, all interested parties are notified by the system and documentation is generated. That document should be attached to the proposal record in ERA.

Proposal Due Date & Time Calculator

This tool calculates the due date and time to OVPR Pre Award for both the complete final and "ready to submit" proposal based on a given sponsor deadline date and time. The tool also provides the date when the Pre award Specialist will Review and provide feedback and/or return ERA record to the BA/PI for editing. The output automatically updates when any of the input fields are changed. Note that all times used and displayed here are U.S. Eastern Time.

Holidays/Weekends/Sponsor Office Closures: Please see the Sponsor Policies regarding due dates on Holidays/ Weekends/ Sponsor Closures. If the due date falls on one of these days, be sure to modify the Sponsor Deadline in this calculator and within the ERA Proposal record accordingly.

OVPR Pre Award Specialist Review Summary

• Proposals are reviewed on a first-in, first-out basis.
• No proposals will “cut in line.” An approved waiver does not guarantee a proposal will be submitted on time.The proposal will then be deemed “at risk.”
• Staff are managing many proposals each week, but they will do their best to submit on time.