Many funding agencies place limits on the number of letters of intent, proposals, or applications that any one university may submit in response to an announcement. In order to prevent any potential disqualification of submissions by the University of North Carolina Wilmington, the following policy has been established. This policy applies to all grants and contracts including awards made directly to faculty members.

Notification

Sponsored Programs will post a list of certain limited submission programs on its website.

It is the principal investigator’s responsibility to notify Sponsored Programs if s/he is considering application to a limited submission opportunity.

It is expected that UNCW units that have an interest in a limited submission opportunity will coordinate with Sponsored Programs.

Submission Deadline

Interested principal investigators must submit to the Proposal Development Coordinator in Sponsored Programs a letter of intent sixty (60) days prior to the sponsor’s submission deadline.

The letter of intent should be no more than three pages long or at the length required by the sponsor.

A copy of the letter of intent should be provided to the appropriate Department Chair and Dean/Director or other supervisory individual.

No internal routing forms are required at this point.

If fewer than the allowed number of letters of intent are received, the normal process for submission will be followed.

If more than the allowed number of letters of intent are received, the Research Advisory Council will be convened to select which proposal(s) will be put forth on behalf of the university.

The Research Advisory Council (RAC) is an ad hoc body constituted by the Associate Dean of Research to meet the needs of a particular submission. The composition of the RAC will be specific to the subject area of the RFP and broad enough to encompass both the academic and/or administrative units represented by the potential principal investigators. The council will review the letters of intent received and will notify the principal investigators of its decision at least forty-five (45) days in advance of the external deadline. Criteria for evaluation will include, but not be limited to, order of submission, quality of the proposal and the work described therein, probability of successful funding, and support of the mission of the University.

Letters of intent selected by the Research Advisory Council will result in full proposals submitted in accordance with sponsor guidelines through Sponsored Programs following normal submission procedures including internal routing forms.

If a principal investigator is interested in applying for a limited submission program not posted on the Sponsored Programs website, the principal investigator must notify Sponsored Programs by e-mail as soon as the opportunity is discovered in order to ensure that s/he is not excluded from consideration due to other notices being filed.

Sponsored Programs will query appropriate department chairs and/or deans and other divisions to see if any other individuals have expressed interest.

If other principal investigators expressed interest through avenues other than Sponsored Programs, the RAC will review letters of intent, as above.

Sponsored Programs may alter submission timeframes stated above if the opportunity is discovered less than sixty (60) days before the external deadline.