Keeping Proposals on Track Starts with a Final Budget

Timely, compliant submission depends on a final budget. The budget justification, subaward documents, Internal Approval Form (IAF) and the rest of the submission package are built on it, so every day the budget stays in flux is a day the proposal cannot be finalized. CGS prepares the budget for your proposal and asks for your help in protecting the timeline.

The goal is a final budget routed with the IAF eight business days before the sponsor deadline. Once that point passes, the budget should be locked and final. Budget change requests often come close to the deadline, even when the changes would not meaningfully affect the science, the submission or sponsor compliance. Unfortunately, each late change pulls time away from the proposal package, increases the risk of errors and audit findings, and can lead to administrative withdrawal for noncompliance. Please resist requesting budget re-dos after the internal deadline unless the sponsor requires a change.

Early joint review of the budget helps CGS and OSPA catch problems while they are still easy to fix. The sooner you share your budget needs and draft budget, the more time we have to ensure the final budget is accurate, compliant and ready for submission. 

In short: Share your budget needs early, finalize eight business days before the deadline and hold changes after that point.