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FLORIDA SEA GRANT COLLEGE PROGRAM PROPOSAL WRITING INSTRUCTIONS [For Invited Statements of Interest] FEBRUARY 2008 - JANUARY 2010 April 2007 |
The process for submitting the complete Florida Sea Grant proposal involves both electronic submission and paper copies. NOAA is moving to an electronic submission process and FSG is also making that transition. Please follow the instructions below in submitting your proposal. INSTRUCTIONS: Please prepare in the order listed, the parts of the proposal specified below. Each should be prepared in a separate electronic file as noted:
Typing instructions: use 12 pt font and margins should be at least .75 inch all around. Additional guidelines and information on each of these items is provided below. None of the proposal preparation expenditures are to be charged to any current Sea Grant project. Submit the proposal (original and one copy and electronic file or CD) for arrival by 4 PM, June 7, 2007, Thursday, or earlier if possible, to the Florida Sea Grant College Program.
FLORIDA SEA GRANT COLLEGE PROGRAM Fiscal questions may be directed to Mr. Ed Harvey. For technical content questions, contact Dr. Jim Cato regarding preparation of the proposal. (Telephone: 352/392-5870.) A. COVER PAGE: Right click, choose “Save Target As” to save to your computer. (MSWord format) Investigators and the responsible university research or sponsored programs office must endorse this. Please submit one set of original signatures (on paper). B. PROJECT RECORD FORM (90-2): Right click, choose “Save Target As” to save to your computer. (MSWord format) The project record form follows the cover page and is unnumbered. This form is very important in the review process. We suggest completing it as the final step in writing the proposal to concisely summarize what is stated in the text. Please follow instructions given below. C. BUDGET FORM(S) (90-4): Complete one budget page (Microsoft Excel) per year of project, and one cumulative budget page for all years of project. Please follow instructions given below. Note that you also need to prepare a budget justification that explains the budget (see below). Note: a budget page will need to be completed for each principal investigator if at different institutions. D. BUDGET JUSTIFICATION: Instructions for completing the budget justification section of the proposal appear below. Remember, the budget proposed in the Statement of Interest must not be exceeded. This section must be detailed enough to satisfy university and federal fiscal staff. Each line item in the budget will need to be justified. Note: Do not over-match; matching funds need be only 50% of the Federal request, no more. E. PROPOSAL NARRATIVE SECTIONS: Written consecutively as paginated text. Please proofread carefully. Use 15 pages of single-spaced narrative, maximum, for sections 1-8. Use standard size font (at least 12-point). 1. PROJECT TITLE: Please make this succinct and explicitly reflect both the (1) scientific aim and (2) anticipated application and intent of the project. Capitalize the first letter of major words ONLY. 2. INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE: Describe using quantitative information the problem or opportunity at hand. This section should document the magnitude of the situation, and the relevance of the issue or problem to Florida, regional, and national needs, and Florida Sea Grant priorities. This section needs to address both the scientific rationale for the project, and quantify from a practical standpoint that the issue is a high priority in the theme area. Describe what makes this project innovative. Why is this topic important? Projects that ultimately contribute to environmental sustainability, job creation and economic competitiveness fare best. (The goal of the proposal, below, should flow logically from this discussion.) Please paginate the text, which begins with page 1. 3. GOAL AND OBJECTIVES: In one sentence, concisely state the overall goal of the proposed project. Then, please number and list the objectives. The objectives should begin with the word "To" followed by a verb. In keeping with Sea Grant's mission, the most appropriate verbs are: test, develop, provide, determine, isolate, characterize, identify, restore, implement. Less desirable but sometimes appropriate are verbs such as: promote, conduct, analyze, apply, describe. Some, such as study, consider, continue, should not be used since failure to do these is not determinable. Do not list methods or say the aim is to "get a better understanding." Proposals that state objectives in a way that enables measurable comparison to expected project results will fare best in review. Be realistic and do not list too many objectives. 4. RESEARCH DESIGN: Please describe in detail (for peer review) the overall project design. State the hypothesis. How will the hypothesis be tested? Describe specific methodology and major aspects such as controls, replication, sampling, surveys, etc. Provide a table or list of project milestones. Include literature references. Describe how this work would add to the body of knowledge in your scientific discipline. What is the national significance of this idea? 5. USERS, PARTICIPANTS AND CO-SPONSORS: Identify the specific technical or lay interests (e.g., business, agency) that would participate in or be affected by such a project. Also, describe their role, e.g., matching funds, vessel time, personnel, etc. Proposals should explicitly identify extramural co-sponsors and clearly describe their commitment to funding and participation. 6. EXPECTED RESULTS, APPLICATIONS AND BENEFITS: In turn, in distinct parts of the text, describe the expected (1) scientific/academic and (2) applied outcomes of the project. If the objectives are attained, how would the problem to be solved create new commercial opportunities, improve technological and economic efficiency, improve management decisions, etc., and also advance this field of scholarship? What Florida, regional or national impact is envisioned? 6A. EXTENSION/OUTREACH INFORMATION: In a section identified with this subheading, indicate any publications, workshops, etc. envisioned that would disseminate information to certain audiences and interests. Beyond the expected journal articles for scientists, also describe how results will be transferred to other stakeholders. Researchers should feel free to enlist cooperation and support from Florida Sea Grant Extension and Communications staff to achieve this, and identify them in the proposal. Contact Florida Sea Grant for guidance as necessary. 7. LINKS TO OTHER PROJECTS: How will this project coordinate with any other related research? Such projects may be local or statewide, or may be part of a regional Sea Grant package (i.e., funded cooperatively with at least one other Sea Grant program in the U.S.). Multi-disciplinary efforts are encouraged. Please be specific in identifying and explaining these links. Projects that tag-on other long-term or funded projects simply for "more data collection" do not fare well. 8. LITERATURE CITED: Provide complete reference information, per your disciplinary reviewed literature format but always including title of article (e.g., author, date, title, journal, pages). Up-to-date citations are expected. F. FLORIDA SEA GRANT BIOGRAPHICAL DATA SHEET: Right click, choose “Save Target As” to save to your computer. (MSWord format). (Tab through form to insert text.) Please complete the one-page (maximum) form for each principal and associate investigator. This will help to evaluate qualifications and past performance, consistent with stage of career development. G. LETTERS OF SUPPORT, ETC. You may append letters of support or additional materials. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REQUIRED: H. LIST OF POTENTIAL REVIEWERS: The names and complete address including telephone, fax, and email address for at least three nationally recognized, qualified potential peer reviewers, whose comments we may choose to solicit. (More than three names are preferred.) Please avoid Florida scientists unless they really are the very best in the field. I. CURRENT AND PENDING SUPPORT: Current and pending extramural sponsored research projects (for all investigators on project), by title, sponsor, total budget and duration. |
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| SUMMARY
Please send, to arrive by 4 PM, June 7, 2007, or earlier, to the address on page one. 1. Email submission or a CD. 2. The original plus one copy of the proposal package in paper version. 3. List of three or more non-Florida potential reviewers (electronic and paper). 4. List of current and pending projects for investigators (electronic and paper).
Florida Sea Grant Proposal Review Criteria (April 2007) Peer review is the responsibility of the Florida Sea Grant Program (Director). Oversight of the peer review process is the responsibility of the National Sea Grant Office (Program Monitor). Scientific peer review will be obtained by mail, in addition to evaluation by a panel of scientists from out-of-state, who will consider all reviews and their own, and recommend which full proposals should be selected. Six criteria will be used to evaluate proposals: (1) scientific and professional merit including innovativeness (40%), (2) rationale (20%), (3) users and participants (15%), (4) expected results and benefits (10%), (5) links to other projects (10%), and (6) investigator qualifications (5%). Peer reviews provide the most input for the first three criteria, while the Florida Sea Grant office provides the most input for the latter three. Assuming all other review criteria among competing projects are approximately equal, the proposals with student involvement will be selected. All six criteria are below: 1. Scientific or Professional Merit - the degree to which the activity is innovative and will advance the state of the science or discipline through use and extension of state-of-the-art methods and articulation of rigorous hypotheses. 2. Rationale - the degree to which the proposal activity addresses an important issue, problem, or opportunity in development, use, or management of marine or coastal resources, both nationally and in Florida, described in an informative (quantitative) manner. Projects which ultimately contribute to environmental sustainability, job creation (or loss negation) and economic competitiveness usually fare best. 3. Users, Participants and Co-Sponsors - the degree to which explicitly identified users or potential users of the results of the proposed activity have been brought into the planning and funding of the activity, will be brought into the execution of the activity, or will be kept apprised of progress and results. 4. Expected Results, Applications and Benefits - the degree to which the completed project is expected to create new commercial opportunities, improve technological and economic efficiency or improve management decisions, in Florida or possibly nationally. 5. Links to Other Projects - the degree to which the proposed activity will contribute as an essential or complementary unit to other projects. 6. Investigator Qualifications - the degree to which investigators are qualified by education, training, and/or experience to execute the proposed activity consistent with stage of career development; record of achievement with previous funding, including contributions to science and society and leveraging new support. 7. Finally, please see the Statement of Interest Review Worksheet sent to you, with customized remarks. Take these comments seriously. For example, if the issue you are addressing is “incompletely described (with) limited data” you need to document it with numbers (e.g., number of seafood-related illnesses, demand for a product, acreage of a system). Of course, a strong scientific narrative is essential. |
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NOTE:
These guidelines pertain only to core Florida Sea Grant biennial
proposals. The Project Record Form is intended to present a concise description of the funded activity in a form useful to a variety of readers not necessarily requiring detailed information. The form is not a substitute for proposals or reports but should permit judgments as to whether such proposals or reports merit reading for a particular purpose. Form must fit on one page. You will need to provide the following information: PROJECT TITLE: Project titles should be carefully constructed to give as much information as possible about the project in not more than two lines (about 16 words, preferably less). Consider always that there will be people who will judge the content of a program from scanning a list of titles. The title should be specific, descriptive of the activity, and clearly indicate subject and anticipated outcome. COMPLETION DATE: The date on which it is estimated that the project will be complete. PRINCIPAL, ASSOCIATE INVESTIGATOR: Names of Principal Investigator and Associates (last name first, full first name and middle initial) whose efforts are significant to the success of the project. AFFILIATION: The academic affiliation of investigators, e.g., FAU Ocean Engineering, FSU Biology. OBJECTIVES: This section should state concisely what the investigator will undertake to do. Stated objectives should enable comparison later to project results. The objectives should begin with the word "To" followed by a verb. In keeping with Sea Grant's mission, most appropriate verbs are test (the hypothesis), develop, provide, determine, isolate, characterize, identify, restore, implement. Less desirable, but sometimes appropriate, are verbs such as promote, conduct, analyze, apply, investigate, examine, describe. Some, such as study, consider, continue, should not be used since failure to do these is not determinable. NOTE: Be specific and brief. State the overall objective, and then the individual objectives. METHODOLOGY: In concise outline form, with an optional one or two sentence preface, state the methodology to be used. Specific questions that an interested person would ask should be answered under objectives or methodology e.g., which heavy metals, which pollutants, which pathogens, what species of seaweed or shellfish, what kind of a model? Be specific and brief in one paragraph. RATIONALE: This section should make a concise statement of why this problem or opportunity is being addressed. The project need not promise to fully solve a problem, but it should be shown that it is a logical step towards a solution. Long involved background statements should be avoided. Where the potential users have been identified, this should be conveyed. Please be quantitative. |
| 2. Instructions
for Preparing Budget Pages
Please note – the cumulative budget page will summarize Year 1 and Year 2 automatically. Therefore, you should not need to enter any information on the cumulative budget page. All expenditures listed on the budget must be in compliance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circular A-21 on cost accounting standards. OMB circular A-21 states that administrative and clerical salaries and other general office supplies will be charged as indirect costs. For more information on circular A-21 please contact the contracts and grants office of your institution. Any variation from OMB circular A-21 will be the sole responsibility of the grantee institution. Please be informed that no budget justification information is to be put on the budget form 90-4. All budget justification narrative on the line items of your budget need to be in the budget justification page that is prepared . (See separate instructions, below this section.) 1. The Budget year line should have a number after the word year representing the year of the Budget, i.e. Budget Year 1, Budget Year 2, or Cumulative Budget. 2. The Grantee Institution line is for the name of your institution, e.g., University of South Florida. 3. Principal Investigators line: should contain the name of primary principal investigator at your institution who is responsible for this project. If there is more than one you may list them as well. e.g., J.C. Porter/T.W. Day. 4. Duration/Months: This is for the number of months this budget period is for. e.g., 02/01/05--07/31/05 = 6 months, the number 6 will go into that space. 5. The Grant Project Number is assigned by Florida Sea Grant after it receives your proposal. Lines A1a through line A2h. : 6. Column 1: the Number of People involved with each line item. For line A2h you may type in your own description. 7. Column 2: cumulative Man Months committed by all individuals identified in the line item. 8. Column 3: Sea Grant Funds represents the amount of federal funding you are requesting from Sea Grant. 9. Column 4: This is the amount of Match Funding that you and your institution will provide. One dollar of matching will need to be provided for every two dollars of federal funding received. Any form of pass-through federal dollars can not be used as matching funds. 10. All salary line items will need a complete justification on the Budget Justification page. (See instructions below.) 11. Line B: Fringe Benefits, represents the cumulative amount for all employees. 12. Line C: Each item must be identified and purchase justified in the budget justification page of the grant. 13. Line D: Expendable Supplies and Equipment. You must break down the cost of your expendable supplies in your budget justification. 14. Line E 1 +2: Travel, the cumulative cost for domestic and international travel will need to be shown separately. Make sure in your justification you identify each trip that will take place and its cost separately. 15. Line F: Publications. Make sure the cumulative cost of this line has been justified in the budget justification page of the grant. 16. Lines G 1-9: Other Cost. Some of the major components of the other cost section have been identified for you. Make sure you justify each line item in the justification section of your grant. Two lines have been left blank so you may write your own description. Misc. is not considered a valid description; if you use the caption Misc. make sure it is for a small amount and break down the cost of it in your budget justification section. 17. Line TDC: The total direct cost line is the sum of all the direct costs it will take to run your project for the given time identified by the Grant Budget Period. 18. Line MTDC: This is the Modified Total Direct Cost line. The amount that goes here is the amount of direct cost that will have Indirect Cost Charged (IDC) against it. The direct cost included on this line will vary from institution to institution depending on what was negotiated between the federal government and your institution. The amount will not always be the same as the total direct cost line. 19. Line IDC: Indirect Cost - Enter your IDC percent in the appropriate column and on its corresponding line. Multiply the MTDC line for each column by the IDC % that applies to each line in that column. Please note there is a line called "Other IDC" if you feel your IDC calculation does not fit the budget form enter the amount of IDC required for each column and explain it in the Budget Justification. |
| Budget
Justification Page Instructions
The Budget Justification should track directly with the budget sheet, giving item-by-item justifications. It is important to explain in words the items listed on the budget sheet. Tell major duties of personnel and percentages of time for graduate students (e.g., "Laboratory Technologist I - This employee will be a 1/3 time appointment and will perform the following duties.) Although students are appropriate and significant components of Sea Grant projects, federal funds cannot be spent on student expenses for class work or thesis manuscript-related activities, such as word processing, after the research is finished. All capital or permanent equipment must be listed along with the cost, a brief description, and the purpose of each item. Capital equipment and office or general equipment must be approved by the federal office before purchase. Construction funds and purchase or repair of vessels and vehicles are not eligible for Sea Grant funding but prior approval of rental for vessels may be obtained from the agency. Rates per hour or trip and estimated number of hours needed should be given. For travel, give the formula for deriving the proposed amount (e.g., number of miles X rate per mile to some destination so many times a year). Remember to include estimated airplane fare or mileage allowances rate, per diem, lodging and or food and incidental rates and number of days and personnel. This information is required for each trip, including location if possible. Do not include costs for reprints or publication page charges. Manuscript, illustration preparation costs are allowable. Consultants must be very well justified as essential to the project, not just convenient. The Federal office must also approve them in advance based upon this justification and a curriculum vitae supplied with the proposal. Rates and estimated number of hours should be stated. Biographical Data Sheets must also be included for consultants. The Budget Justification should also include a description of sources of matching funds, particularly from user groups. Institutional matching funds should be distinguished from those obtained from participating users. Institutional matching funds are in-kind items such as faculty salaries and overhead, operating expenses on campus, etc., while extramural funds are so-called hard dollars, represented by actual dollars given to the project, labor supplied, etc. In the review process, extramural matching funds are an advantage beyond the dollar contribution to the project; they demonstrate user commitment. Note: matching funds on the budget form should not exceed the 2 (federal) : 1 (non-federal) ratio, the minimum required. |
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