Procedure Library

VPR Seed Grant Acceptance & Project Set-up

Purpose

The Funding Incentive Seed Grant Program is an intramural program sponsored by the University of Utah Research Foundation (UURF) designed to support new areas of research that can lead to extramural funding of new research. The emphasis of the program is on developing new research directions that can produce new funding opportunities from major sponsors. 

The following procedure is designed to assist faculty members, who receive these types of awards, properly accept the award and, in collaboration with OSP, establish a project.

Applicability

Principal Investigators (PIs) who receive award letters for seed funding from the Vice President for Research (VPR) Office should follow the instructions below to accept the award and initiate the project setup through OSP.

Instructions

Step 1: Award Review and Acceptance

Award recipients must carefully review thier award letter, including the terms and conditions. If agreeable, sign, date and email the 2-page signed document to vprgrants@utah.edu. 

Step 2: Submit to OSP

a) Submit a DSS via eProposal 

PI's or department administrators can initiate, complete, and submit the Document Summary Sheet (DSS) via eProposal, which can be accessed through Campus Information Systems (CIS). THE DSS MUST BE SUBMITTED WITHIN 30 DAYS OF AWARD RECEIPT - or the recipient risks voluntarily relinquishing the award.

The DSS forms the base on which the project is created. It's used to collect all the needed information and document the necessary approvals. 

Please note the steps below for proper completion of the DSS:

1. 
   1. Start your title with 'FY23' Seed Grant'
   2. use '11256 - University of Utah Research Foundation' as the sponsor
2. 
   1. See image re: how best to answer the questions shown above
   2. Select the OSP contact that corresponds with the department administrating the Seed project
3. 
   1. Intramural Seed grants are exempt from F&A
4. 
5. 
   1. Answer 'no' with regard to requesting a waiver
6. 
   1. Attach/upload the award letter before submitting the DSS for routing of approvals

After the necessary approvals have been obtained, a link to the electronically approved DSS is sent to OSP. 

The DSS will need to be integrated into PeopleSoft, by OSP, before it will be possible to initiate the eAward Setup Request (Step 2). 

b) New Award Setup Request via eAward

Once the DSS is integrated, PI's or department administrators can initiate and submit the New Award Setup Request transaction in eAward, which can be accessed through Campus Information Systems (CIS). 

Please attach the 2-page signed/dated award letter as your notice of award (NOA). 

Please attach a detailed budget for the TOTAL award. GCA will need to use the various chartfields to allocate the amounts provided in the award document. 

If you're new to eAward, this 4 minute video walks you through how to initiate a new award setup request transaction.

Once OSP receives this request, we will review the request for completion and work with GCA to setup your project. When GCA completed the project setup, the PI and department admin (post-award liaison) will receive an electronic notification from 'PSnotify' confirming completion. 

Seed Grant Conditions

• Projects must start on April 1st. The award dollars must be spent within 1 year. Any remaining funding will be deobligated. If the seed grant cannot be completed within the first year due to unusual circumstances, the Investigator can submit a No-Cost Extension (NCE) request. The VPR reserves the right to deny a NCE that does not meet the requirements and/or is not well-justified or reasonable. 2^nd extensions will not be permitted. To review NCE Requirements or submit a request, click HERE.
• The policy of the VPR is to only setup one project per seed grant, to keep the management and audit of awards efficient. Requests for companion projects on VPR SEED projects will be declined for this reason.
• Final reports are due within 3 months of the project end-date. The method for submission is being revised for FY23 and will be forthcoming. Final reports must include proof of proposal submission to an extramural funding agency. Investigators with outstanding or unapproved final reports are not eligible for additional funding from the VPR . 
• Documentation of relevant IRB and/or IACUC application submissions must be approved prior to funding release.
• Upon receipt of a FY23 award, the PI will not be eligible to apply for seed funding until FY25.

Related Policies and Procedures

• Policies > Procedure Library > Document Summary Sheet (DSS) Creation 
• Grants Life Cycle > Award Management > eAward