The period of time between submission of a proposal and receipt of an award varies greatly. With federal agencies in particular, it can easily take nine to twelve months before we learn whether a proposal will be funded or not.

During this time, however, several things might happen. For instance, the sponsor may request additional supporting documentation or institutional information. Any additional items submitted to a sponsor should be reviewed and signed by your authorized official in ORS. The countersignature indicates Duke's concurrence with the information being provided. Too, the PI and department may take actions based on what they have learned from the sponsor's activities.

Revising the Proposed Budget for the Sponsor
When sponsors decide to fund a project below or above the requested budget level, there are several possibilities:

• Some sponsors will simply make the award at the new amount and expect the PI to make any necessary adjustments. The PI must prepare a revised budget and submit it to ORS before the award can be processed and spending initiated.
• Some sponsors will prepare a revised line item budget and make it part of the award.
• Most often, the sponsor will contact ORS or the PI and request a revised budget for the new amount before making the award. This revised budget must be reviewed and approved by ORS before submission to the sponsor.

If the reduction is significant, the PI may not be able to carry out the project as originally intended. If this is the case, it is appropriate to submit a revised statement of work to the sponsor along with the revised budget figures.

Updated Documents
Many changes can take place between the time a proposal is submitted and a sponsor reaches a funding decision. Often, sponsors will come back to the University and request updated documents before issuing an award. NSF, for instance, may request that updated documents be uploaded into FastLane to address such changes. On the other hand, NIH uses a "just-in-time" procedure to collect documents not submitted with the original proposal but that they require prior to issuing the award. These documents will include other support (current and pending), certification of IRB approval, verification of IACUC approval, and evidence of compliance with the education in the protection of human subjects requirements.

Checking Proposal Status
PIs and Grant Managers can check on the status of their proposals. This is especially true, when the PI submitted the proposal electronically. Immediately after "Releasing" the proposal in grants.duke, the PI can watch the proposal as it tracks through the validation process first at Grants.Gov and then by the sponsoring agency.

At that point, the PIs will need to log onto the agency specific systems, such as FastLane at NSF or eCommons at NIH to check the proposal status. If the sponsor does not have or does not allow access to an on-line system, the PI will have to initiate an inquiry about the status of the proposal directly with the sponsor.

Requesting a WBS Element in Advance of an Award
Based on information that the PI and department have learned about the status of a proposal, they may chose to request a fund code in advance of an award. Prior to the receipt of a formal notice of award, a department or school may elect to request a fund code (WBS Element).  To initiate this process a department should:

Step 1. Send a WBS Element Request form to ORS. The form must be signed by the department chair, or if the PI is in a professional school, the dean.

Step 2.  To minimize the financial risk for the department or school, ORS may contact the sponsor to confirm that an award is forthcoming and to verify the award start date.

Step 3.  If the level of risk is low AND the basic compliance requirements are in place (confirmation of RCC training, COI disclosure) ORS will authorize OSP to establish an account for the project.

Please keep in mind, this request does NOT allow spending to begin prior to the start date of the award. It is also important to remember that there are situations when dealing with contracts where the start date may be tied to the month the contract is actually issued. Such situations create much greater risk for the department.