Limited Submissions Overview

Certain federal, state, and foundation funding opportunities are categorized as “limited submissions.” This occurs when a sponsoring agency restricts the number of proposals that an institution can submit. Due to these limitations, Florida Atlantic must have an internal review process to select the best-qualified candidate to apply for these “limited submission” funding opportunities. Following are guidelines for limited submission processing.

Limited Submissions Guidelines

Last Update: September 25, 2024

LIMITED SUBMISSION LIST: The Office of Research Development (ORD) is responsible for announcing limited submissions on the Grant Forward platform. The link is https://www.grantforward.com/internal. You must have a GrantForward account (free to all Florida Atlantic employees) in order to access. Please note that the funding opportunity list is not comprehensive. Anyone identifying a funding opportunity that has limitations on the number of proposals allowed per institution, but it is not listed on Grant Forward, is required to email limited@fau.edu to indicate the opportunity. ORD will review the guidelines and arrange an appropriate internal review process, as applicable.

INTERNAL DEADLINES: Most internal (Florida Atlantic) deadlines occur 45 days prior to the agency deadline. For some highly-competitive internal competitions, a deadline of 60 days prior will be assigned. Examples of highly-competitive opportunities include (please note that the list below may be periodically updated): 

If a limited submission is posted by the agency with less than 45 days (or 60 days, for opportunities listed above) to the official due date OR no one has applied internally by the internal due date, submission approval may be provided (not guaranteed) on a “first received” basis.

To view internal deadline dates for opportunities that have been posted in GrantForward, access the GrantForward portal and select “Grants” and “Internal Submission” in the menu options.  

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION PROCESS: Any interested eligible PI will be expected to submit an internal application to the Ticket System (click on button below) by close of business (5 p.m.) on the stated internal deadline.

SUBMIT A TICKET

Required application materials are outlined below. Pages must be letter size (8.5x11 inches), single-spaced with 1-inch margins.

The Ticket System requires information separate from the list below. In addition to normal demographic, contact, supervisor and departmental information, it will require:

1. A list of other senior personnel on the project and their roles (if applicable)
2. The name of the grant opportunity and Grant Forward URL link
3. Total budget for the proposed project

For any limited submission, applicants are required to submit the following documents as one PDF document, in the order below, and uploaded in the Ticket System prior to the deadline:

1. Project Description : Please adhere as closely as possible to the expectations and requests listed in the sponsoring agency funding opportunity notice (no more than 2 pages)
2. Budget Justification (Brief) : Please provide high-level description only of no more than 300 words
3. Biosketch (NIH or NSF format only) for PI and any other senior personnel (if applicable)

Please include your last name, first name initial, and the sponsor's name in the file name of documents uploaded. 

After close of business on the stated deadline, ORD will review the number of internal applications that have been submitted. If the number of internal applications does not exceed the institutional limit, ORD will generally approve the applicant to submit a proposal to the sponsor, provided the proposal meets eligibility criteria. If the number of internal proposals exceeds the institutional limit, ORD will convene an ad hoc committee to review and rank all internal applications.

STEPS IN THE REVIEW PROCESS

1. An ad hoc committee review criteria will be based on the funding opportunity’s and Florida Atlantic’s strategic plan priorities.
2. Once the ad hoc committee review has concluded, the ORD will officially approve the institutional nominee(s) based on the committee’s recommendation.
3. ORD will notify the Principal Investigator (PI) in a timely manner to allow sufficient time to prepare a competitive proposal. The PI is responsible for notifying all co-PIs and team about the outcome of their application.
4. If a PI is selected to submit a full proposal, but subsequently cannot complete the proposal, the PI must immediately notify ORD.
5. Florida Atlantic’s Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) will also be notified of the internal review results.
6. The investigator(s) selected to submit a proposal must send the proposal through OSP’s electronic proposal routing system.
7. All proposals should adhere to the Proposal Submission Deadline Policy (refer to OSP website).

AFTER INTERNAL DEADLINES: If the internal deadline has passed, interested applicants may submit a ticket to the system with a summary of their proposed project. If no applications were received prior to the stated internal deadline, approval will be considered on a “first received” basis.

COLLEGE LIMITS: When an agency imposes a limit on the college (e.g. Science, Medicine, etc.) and not the institution (Florida Atlantic), ORD will NOT hold an internal selection process for this opportunity; please follow your College’s internal procedures for evaluating the best application. In this event, if your team is chosen by your college, please submit documentation of College approval through the ORD ticketing system (see link above) so that our office may notify OSP.

PI LIMITS: Investigators are urged to carefully review funding opportunities for limits on the number of submissions per PI; ORD will not monitor for these specific limits.

NOTIFICATION: Investigators should not move forward with a limited submission proposal to an agency until they have received a communication through the ticketing system indicating approval to proceed (PI Chair and relevant Associate Dean for Research, as well as OSP, will be sent the same notice). Proposals not selected to advance will also receive communication that they did not advance and cannot submit the proposal to the agency.