Policies & Regulations

Limited Submission Programs

Background and Summary:

Limited submission programs are restricted by sponsors in terms of the number of proposals that may be submitted by a single institution. The timing, dollar value, number of submittals, scope of work, and frequency of offering of the limited submission programs vary considerably. »

To apply to these programs, principal investigators (PIs) need to go through a standard UAF internal review and selection process. An important step in this process is submitting a 3-page white paper that summarizes the proposal idea, its merits/impacts, and a draft budget. This white paper will be reviewed by the Limited Submission Committee (LSC). The LSC will rank the white papers based on published criteria and make a recommendation to the Vice Chancellor for Research (VCR), who will take the final decision in this selection process. Top ranking PIs will be given the 'go ahead' by the VCR to submit a full proposal to the external agency.

Limited Submission Committee (2020-2022)

  •  Russ Hopcroft – Chair
  • Matthew Wooller
  • Carl Tape  
  • Greg Breed  
  • Christa P. H. Mulder  
  • Julie McIntyre  
  • Jeremy Kasper
  • Ana Aguilar-Islas  
  • Kevin Winker  
  • Tapiana Wray

Note: The committee has the option of soliciting external reviews.

Popular limited submission programs and calls:

Listed here are some of the popular calls. Other opportunities appear from time to time. If you know of other opportunities that UAF faculty could apply to, please let the LSC know about these so that this list can be updated.

  • NSF Major Research Instrument Program
  • M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
  • The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation

The University of Alaska also has some large existing programs that may have additional opportunities for limited submissions. These programs have their own review and selection criteria and do not follow the standard UAF internal review and selection process. These include :

  • NASA EPSCoR CANs (Review coordinated by the Alaska Space Grant Program)

Process and (timeline):

  1. Opportunity announcement:»The Vice Chancellor for Research will send out a limited submission call for whitepapers to deans and directors, which OGCA will share via the OGCA listserv. We anticipate that for major limited submission programs with established deadlines, there will be sufficient lead-time with the internal process.
  2. Notification to your Institute, College, or School (as soon as you make up your mind that you wish to apply. Recommended timeline - within a week of opportunity announcement):»To apply to a limited submission program, first notify your dean/director that you intend to participate. The dean/director has the option to provide comments or rank multiple proposals submitted from their unit. If your proposal will result in new space requirements, new courses and programs, new faculty hires, or need for additional resources it is important to engage in early discussions about these plans with your dean/director. This is also a good time to work out a plan with your dean/director for providing matching funds for your proposal, should the agency require non-federal matching funds
  3. Notification to the Limited Submission Comittee (LSC), VCR, and OGCA (Recommended timeline - at least 12 weeks prior to agency deadline):»The PI must send an e-mail of interest to UAF-LSC@alaska.edu (with a CC to their dean/director) notifying their interest in applying to the limited submission opportunity. The LSC email is received by the LSC Chair, the VCR, and OGCA. PIs should provide a tentative title for their submission at this time.
  4. White paper submission for UAF-wide competition (required deadline: on Thursday, 10 weeks before the proposal is due to the agency):»If you are selected from your unit for a UAF-wide competition, then you will need to submit: a»title page, up to a»3-page white paper, a one page draft budget in the OGCA format (if the call requires match funding), and short CVs of PIs and funded Co-Is»via email to»UAF-LSC@alaska.edu. Please note that some solicitation memos from the VCR's Office may augment these general instructions, so please be sure to reference the solicitation memo and also these guidelines as applicable. White papers must be received by 5:00 p.m. on or before the internal submission deadline. Late/incomplete submissions will be refused.»

    This white paper will be reviewed and ranked by the LSC. The committee will make a recommendation to the VCR, and the VCR will decide which PIs will continue with a full proposal submission on behalf of UAF. The VCR will communicate this decision to the selected PIs, their respective dean/director, and relevant department fiscal/proposal staff by the date indicated in the solicitation memo. Candidates who have not heard any communication by this deadline should contact»UAF-LSC@alaska.edu»or call 474-1851.»

    Some opportunistic or less known limited submission opportunities may have compressed timelines between the announcement of the request for proposals (RFP) and the due date for submission, which will require a corresponding compression of our internal review schedule. Such special opportunities will be dealt with on an ad hoc basis and timelines/schedules for these will be clearly circulated by the VCR and OGCA Pre-Award along with the original email circular that announces the opportunity.

Special Note:»For certain large-scale programs, such as proposals for developing centers, the PI or designated Co-I may be invited to make a presentation about the project directly to limited submission review committee. Should this step be necessary, the requirement will be included in the initial opportunity announcement along with a modified timeline for the internal review process.

Guidelines for title page, white paper, budget summary, and CVs

Please note that solicitation memos from the VCR's Office may augment these general instructions, so please be sure to reference the solicitation memo and also these guidelines as applicable.

Title page:»Provide a title page with the name of the sponsor, the name of the program, and the title of the proposed project. Include the names, titles, departments, telephone numbers and email addresses of the UAF PI and Co-Is. If applicable, provide the same information for the PIs of partner organizations, along with their affiliations at the partner organizations. Provide the name, email address, and telephone number of your dean or director. Indicate if the proposal requires matching funds and whether or not a plan for securing the matching funds is in place.

Also indicate whether this is a (i) new white paper never reviewed before; (ii) a resubmission of a white paper (that was not advanced for full proposal submission) with no/minor/major modifications; (iii) a resubmission of a white paper (that was advanced for full proposal submission but proposal was not funded) with no/minor/major modifications.

White paper:»The white paper can be a maximum of 3 pages in length, including figures and references. Please use a minimum 12-point font size for the text and a minimum 1-inch margin for the document.»This 3-page white paper is the only document that the internal review and selection committee will base its judgment on, so please take care to succinctly present your proposal ideas in this document. The white paper should present the rationale/purpose of the project/request, your work plan, personnel and responsibilities, relevance to the specific call, plus relevance to UAF and Alaska.

Should your white paper fall in category (iii), i.e. it is a resubmission related to a full proposal that was submitted earlier but not selected by the agency for funding, then please add a short section (no more than 1 page) on 'reference to the earlier proposal' that summarizes the main strengths and weaknesses pointed out by the reviewers and how you are planning to address the weaknesses in this second round of submission. This section is not counted in the 3-page limit.

Depending upon the solicitation, the following should also be included in the white paper:

Program or center development white papers:»Carefully outline how this new program or center will fit into the existing university structure and describe how this program can become self-sufficient. Append a signed support letter from your dean or director (not counted in the 3 page limit).»Note:»Establishment of a center requires UA Board of Regent approval. This is not required at the submission stage, but will be necessary prior to accepting an award.

Instrumentation white papers:»Preference is given to proposals requesting instrumentation that benefits multiple faculty members or multiple programs. White papers must include recent price quotes from the anticipated vendor (not counted in the 3 page limit). If applicable, you must identify the room or lab that will house the equipment and provide cost estimates for installation.

Budget summary:»(<1 page, not included in the 3 page limit). For sponsors not requiring budgets submitted with a pre-proposal request, or only requiring a bottom line dollar figure, a budget spreadsheet is not required to be submitted with the internal whitepaper request. Should the solicitation require matching funds, then present a brief summary of the budget request, indicate the approximate amount of funds requested from the agency, the amount and terms required for the match, and the identified sources for the matching funds. Indicate whether the matching fund sources are confirmed or not. The budget should conform to the OGCA spreadsheet templates.

CVs of PI and funded Co-Is:»Include a short CV (2 page limit each) of the PI and funded Co-Is.

Review Criteria:

White papers will be evaluated on:

  1. Scientific/technical quality and merit (5 point scale)
  2. Compliance and alliance with agency requirements/specific RFP (3 point scale)
  3. Relevance/benefit of the proposed research for UAF/State (3 point scale)
  4. Evaluation of the budget request/match plan (3 point scale) (applicable only for RFPs where match funding is required)
  5. Overall rating (5 point scale)

Please note that solicitation memos from the VCR's Office may augment these general instructions, so please be sure to reference the solicitation memo and also these guidelines as applicable.

Alaska State Council on the Arts

Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.

The Compton Foundation

Laird Norton Foundation

M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust

Only one proposal from UAF can be considered at a time for the Murdock Research Application.

The Vice Chancellor for Research (VCR) is looking for proposals to submit to the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust for research equipment. The request must be for one or more pieces of large equipment intended primarily to support research activities at UAF. Murdock also typically requires a 1:1 cost share commitment with the equipment request. These funds will need to be secured by the proposing department and worked out with the VCR prior to a full submission to Murdock, if the whitepaper is chosen to go forward.

If interested, please submit a 1-2 page whitepaper outlining the following:

  • Model and description of each equipment item and a reason why that particular brand has been chosen;
  • Justify the need for major equipment if the same or similar equipment is already available on campus;
  • Identify where this equipment will reside, how it will be maintained, and how many researchers and students will be using the equipment; and
  • Equipment costs, including a justification and vendor quotes.
  • The following criteria will also be considered when assessing this pre-proposal, and should be addressed:
    »
  • Centrality of the equipment to the UAF research mission;
  • The clarity of the budget narrative including a detailed description of the cost share commitment;
  • Demonstration of shared/interdisciplinary use;
  • Essential to a key program at UAF;
  • Full funds to purchase the equipment are not potentially available from another source; and
  • Partial cost sharing by unit Dean/Director to demonstrate commitment to acquisition.
Whitepapers should be e-mailed in Word or PDF format to the UAF Limitied Submission Commitee (LSC) - UAF-LSC@alaska.edu.

Microsoft

Mountain West Clinical Translational Research-Infrastructure Network (CTR-IN) Pilot Projects

National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Humanities

National Institutes of Health

National Science Foundation

Rasmuson Foundation

In an ongoing effort to improve the proposal submission process, and to ensure that all proposals submitted to the Rasmuson Foundation are aligned with Statewide and/or university priorities, the UA Foundation has updated the Rasmuson Foundation proposals page on its website. This webpage is your guide to the internal processes of the UA Foundation and the university as well as the external processes of the Rasmuson Foundation. You will find all the information you need here: http://www.alaska.edu/foundation/I-Net/rasmuson/

Upon request of the Rasmuson Foundation, the UA Foundation coordinates all proposal submissions. This has simplified the submission process for UA campuses and departments and allows us to track activity to ensure reports are submitted in a timely manner – a critical element of donor stewardship.

In addition to outlining the process for Tier 1 proposal and Tier 2 letter of inquiry (LOI) submissions, the UA Foundation has created two internal clearance forms that are required to be submitted to the UA Foundation. The purpose of instituting these forms is to make sure all UA stakeholders are aware of the projects and programs being presented to the Rasmuson Foundation, and that submissions are approved by both campus and university leadership. The University’s relationship with the Rasmuson Foundation is vitally important and we have crafted this process based on discussions and feedback with the donor to maintain the highest level of communication and understanding.»

If you feel that there is a project or program that is within the Rasmuson Foundation funding criteria, please go the UA Foundation’s Rasmuson Foundation proposal webpage to review the process and determine next-steps.»

Please direct any questions to Megan Riebe, Associate Vice President of Development & Executive Director of the UA Foundation (megan.riebe@alaska.edu, 907-786-7746).

W.M. Keck Foundation

YEAR ROUND

M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust

Only one proposal from UAF can be considered at a time for the Murdock Research Application.

The Vice Chancellor for Research (VCR) is looking for proposals to submit to the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust for research equipment. The request must be for one or more pieces of large equipment intended primarily to support research activities at UAF. Murdock also typically requires a 1:1 cost share commitment with the equipment request. These funds will need to be secured by the proposing department and worked out with the VCR prior to a full submission to Murdock, if the whitepaper is chosen to go forward.

If interested, please submit a 1-2 page whitepaper outlining the following:

  • Model and description of each equipment item and a reason why that particular brand has been chosen;
  • Justify the need for major equipment if the same or similar equipment is already available on campus;
  • Identify where this equipment will reside, how it will be maintained, and how many researchers and students will be using the equipment; and
  • Equipment costs, including a justification and vendor quotes.
  • The following criteria will also be considered when assessing this pre-proposal, and should be addressed:
  • Centrality of the equipment to the UAF research mission;
  • The clarity of the budget narrative including a detailed description of the cost share commitment;
  • Demonstration of shared/interdisciplinary use;
  • Essential to a key program at UAF;
  • Full funds to purchase the equipment are not potentially available from another source; and
  • Partial cost sharing by unit Dean/Director to demonstrate commitment to acquisition.
Whitepapers should be e-mailed in Word or PDF format to the UAF Limited Submission Commitee (LSC) - UAF-LSC@alaska.edu.

JAN (e-mail of interest due last Thursday in October, pre-proposal due second Thursday in November)

FEB (e-mail of interest due last Thursday in November, pre-proposal due second Thursday in December)

MAR (e-mail of interest due last Thursday in December, pre-proposal due second Thursday in January)

APR (e-mail of interest due last Thursday in January, pre-proposal due second Thursday in February)

MAY(e-mail of interest due last Thursday in February , pre-proposal due second Thursday in March)

JUN(e-mail of interest due last Thursday in March, pre-proposal due second Thursday in April)

JUL(e-mail of interest due last Thursday in April, pre-proposal due secondThursday in May)

AUG(e-mail of interest due last Thursday in May, pre-proposal due second Thursday in June)

SEP(e-mail of interest due last Thursday in June, pre-proposal due second Thursday in July)

OCT (e-mail of interest due last Thursday in July, pre-proposal due second Thursday in August)

NOV(e-mail of interest due last Thursday in August, pre-proposal due second Thursday in September)

DEC (e-mail of interest due last Thursday in September, pre-proposal due second Thursday in October)