Pre-Award Internal Guidelines
A successful grant will go through the following life cycle:





Initial Grant Considerations by Principal Investigator
Approval of Grant Proposals by VCSU
Submission of Grant Proposal
Grant Award
Internal Review and Reporting Requirements
To increase the likelihood of submitting a successful grant, the following issues should be
considered by the individual or group wishing to pursue a grant or agreement.
1. Read the RFP - Read the RFP - Read the RF
2. Does the proposal serve the VCSU’s mission?
3. Is it in the best interest of the University, school, division, and department to pursue the
proposal?
4. Does the University possess the necessary resources that will allow it to effectively carry
out the grant or agreement? (staff, faculty, facilities)
5. What obligations will the University have following the life of the grant?
6. Is it necessary to seek Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for the project?
Assistance in grant development is available through the Grants Office. In order for the office
to accurately track proposal development, submission, and awards, Proposal Developers should
initiate all grants after first contacting the Grants Manager.
Approval of Grant Proposals
1. Proposals are routed and approved within the University using the Proposal Transmittal
Form. The Principal Investigator and department/division chair or unit supervisor will
need to sign this form to begin the routing process. Assuming the submission deadline
allows, the Proposal Transmittal form, and other required documents needs to be
completed no later than3 business days prior to the deadline of the grant and
submitted to the Grants Office, McFarland 211B.
2. Grants that meet the following guidelines require ONLY completion of the Transmittal form and
approval by Department Chair/Dean, Vice President for Business Affairs, and Vice President for
Academic Affairs, and Grants Manager.

No Cost Share needed

No Matching funds requested

Total grant request is less than $10,000
3. The Grants Office will complete the routing process once forms are completed and
provided to the Office.
4. The Grants Office will coordinate with the Principle Investigator regarding the mailing or
electronic submission of the final grant proposal to the funding agency.
Finding Grant Opportunities Using Grants.gov or Fastlane
To search for grant opportunities through grants.gov, find and download the application and
instructions here. You will need the CFDA Number or the Funding Opportunity Number (from
grants.gov) to search. You do not need a login or password on grants.gov to do this. However,
Fastlane will require a registration as a PI before submissions can be made. Valley City State
University has already completed all of the necessary steps to submit through grants.gov.
Final submissions through both Grants.gov and Fastlane.nsf.gov require approval by the Grants
Office. The internal grant process must be completed before final submission is approved and
finalized.
Once you have the application package, read and follow all instructions. The Principal
Investigator is responsible for the Narrative, Budget (print form and fill in), Budget Narrative,
Attachments, and any other supporting documentation. However, assistance is available for all
sections of the grant through the Grants Office. All files other than the Budget need to be
written in Microsoft Word. The office staff will convert them to PDF format for submission.
The Grants Office can assist with filling out forms, upload information provided by the Principal
Investigator into the final application, and submit the application. This process can be lengthy.
Please allow several days for submission along with the standard internal routing time.