Science: DOD grant sent out, and 3 lessons to improve the process next time

Sending out a grant, federal or local, needs to follow steps. It's not something that you just write a proposal based on your great idea and send it out.

Today we sent out a grant application to DOD. This entry is a self-debriefing session to go through the process easier next time.

Actually, today was the due date. We worked on it last minute. How did it happen?


To write a grant, a Principal Investigator (PI) search announcements (local, federal, private, etc),, and find an announcement that he would have chance to get funded, which should match his qualification, skills, specialty, etc.

Then he read the announcement and get the details; how much funding and for how long, its scope, etc. That will define what he should do, collect, and prepare, to write the grant. Also he can determine whether he can be competitive, or has some weaknesses. He should drop an email to the grant's scientific officer and request advice on if his idea is a good match to the scope of the grant.

Eventually, he decide go or no-go.

Some grants require letter of intent (LOI) beforehand to submit the application. He needs to send LOI in time.

Once decided to go, he write it. Prepare all files following page number and formatting specifications, and collect all the documents needed, like letter of support (LOS) from co-investigator or from department chair. Quotes for cost will be needed for proper budgeting, too.

Although scientific contents of the proposal is important once the proposal is sent out, budget is the most important part for internal review. PIs are usually scientists with some "XYZ Professor" title, and accounting may not be their forte. That is why Office of Research Administration (ORA) people help us out. They will review proposal internally before it is approved to submit. They check all the files and see formatting and specifications are met for the granting agency and announcement.

The ORA people do not check scientific contents, though. Improving scientific contents and increasing his chance to get funded is grantsmanship game of the PI.


About one week before the due date, he needs to get all files ready. Typos and awkward writings should be weeded out by editing software and editor. Scientific contents should be honed with review, feedback and discussion with colleagues and/or co-investigators. 

We have a departmental administrator who help us to set up grant applications.  She also set up internal routing, based on the information PI provide (e.g., title, granting agency, fund requested, starting date, participants, effort %, patent information, etc).

Once the routing form is set up, it will be reviewed by PI, co-investigator, department administrator, deans office, and so on. It will take 2-3 days for the routing form to reach the ORA for their review.

The ORA requires a routing to arrive 3 business days before the due date. If the due is 7/21 Tuesday, ORA should receive the routing by 7/16 Thu evening.

......so this is the rough idea about the procedure to send out a grant.


This time, we initiated the routing on 7/13 Mon.,which was good.

The routing was reviewed by our department, as well as two other departments co-investigators belong, and reached ORA on 7/15, which was also good.

Then it got stuck. Somehow it was assigned to a vacationing officer and she did not come back until Monday. This is one of the reasons we got to work until last minute.

Lesson 1: next time we need to be more proactive to track the progress, even inside ORA. 

This morning (Tuesday) an ORA officer let us know where to fix. Some are easy fix, others are involved in updated fringe rate, which will change salaries on personnel and thus require rework on the budget.

In particular, I was unfamiliar with accounting on cost-sharing and had it wrong. Fixing it took some time and re-approval by departmental reviewer. This is another point we will fix next time.

Lesson 2: Get the cost-sharing accounting right and make sure it is correct at the routing stage. Don't assume administrators correct it.


Then there was some undue stress. I was assuming the due time was Eastern time 5:00 pm (cst 4:00 pm). Naturally, as 4pm was approaching I was uneasy. Then they told me the due time is 11:59 pm eastern time.

Lesson 3: Check the due time.


Thankfully, after the review by the officer, the proposal was sent to the Associate Director (who has authority to submit) for final check, then the proposal was submitted on time.


Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.


I heard the ORA is terribly busy place with high turnover, and I can see why. Especially around the due dates for federal grants (Feb, June, Oct), their reviewing would just be swamped. Still, sending out grant proposals is among few ways Universities make money from outside. ORA is an essential place. I appreciate their help. 

I want to get the application process done easier for me and for them next time, with less fixing.

Science: Working on a DOD grant

This past month we sent out a revised manuscript (6/30/2020). They usually allow 8 weeks for authors to revise. We sent it out on the 7th week. Not much time remaining.

Also in this past month we sent out a grant. It was supposed to be smooth sailing, but due to unexpected delays in the internal paperwork, I had to work on it until last minute.


With that in mind, now we are working on another grant from DOD. The agency due date is 7/21. Today is 7/8. We are planning to start internal routing on 7/13 (Mon). This week is the time to finalize it. 

For the grant, we already sent pre-application and acknowledged. Now we need to fill in a form online and upload several PDF files as attachment to Grants.gov website.

The PDF files include Project Narrative (15 page limit), Lay Abstract (1 page), Technical Abstract (1 page), Support files (including references cited, Letter of support from organization, letter of support from collaborators, and publications and patents), Statement of work (3 page limit), etc. We also need to submit biosketch and ongoing/past support statement for each key personnel.

This project has a PI (Principal Investigator), a co-PI, a co-investigator, two consultants, and a research assistant. Some parts of work will be done by support staff and core facility as well. We want to make sure the project gets done. 

Each document comes with instructions. You cannot get a grant, if you cannot comply with these instructions.


This morning, my co-PI reviewed and sent back Project Narrative, the main body of the proposal, to me with her comments. 

It took a full day for me to incorporate and address her comments and remaking figures. Afterwards I sent the "Project Narrative version 4"  to her this evening. It may sound tedious process, but I can see improvements and it is good. It's a government contract application with real money ($500,000 direct cost) involved, after all. Better get serious.



Unlike publication, a grant does not leave much if it's not funded. Well, people who do not like a failure or two and easily give up are not cut out for a scientist or a researcher. For grants you can recycle the components, include and address reviewers' criticism, add a paper or review, and try it again later. 

We want to send a good proposal that gets funded. Time to work.


As predicted, COVID19 is on the rise again. If I or my co-investigator or my administrator catch it tomorrow, it would be troublesome. I want to give the proposal a good shape fast and get it done quick, before any "accident".

So in these days, I'm just minding my business, mostly.