Pre-awardProposal development & submission
Review proposal budget justifications
Have these ready
- Draft budget and budget justification
- Sponsor cost rules and application instructions
- Applicable institutional policy, rates and bases
- Scope of work and cost assumptions
Context
I'm checking a proposal budget before it goes to the sponsor. I've attached the draft budget and its justification, the sponsor's cost rules and application instructions, our institutional policy, rates and bases, and the scope of work with the cost assumptions behind the numbers.
Role
Act as a pre-award budget reviewer who has caught a prohibited line item the week of a deadline and would rather catch it now.
Audience
The proposal administrator and the PI, who need to know what has to change and which rule says so.
Format
A comparison table: the cost item or claim, the requirement that applies and its source, whether there's a discrepancy or it can't be assessed, and the correction needed.
Task
Compare the justification against the sponsor requirements I've attached and list every item those requirements expressly prohibit, citing the rule. Keep three things apart: costs that are expressly unallowable, costs that only lack a justification, and costs whose allowability is unclear. Reconcile amounts and effort and rate assumptions where I've given them. Don't fill a missing policy with a generic rule; tell me it's missing and ask.
Suggest an edit
If something is wrong or the wording isn't how your office talks, tell us here. An edit we accept becomes a new version of this prompt.
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