Policy on Proposal Resubmission

Purpose: The purpose of this document is to outline the policy governing the resubmission of proposals for external funding.

Background: The strategic plan of the University of Southern Maine calls for an increase in the number and quality of proposal submissions to federal and state agencies and private foundations in order to increase the number of awards.

To accomplish this objective, the University's Office of Research Administration and Development (RAD) and Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) will provide the necessary support to faculty and staff who intend to resubmit a proposal that was not funded in the original submission. In addition to the support provided by OSP, RAD will also assist faculty in the analysis of reviewers comments to ensure the revised proposal addresses reviewers' concerns. When necessary, RAD will secure an external reviewer familiar with the program area to provide an additional perspective/review of the technical merits of the proposal.

Policy: The University of Southern Maine requires faculty who intend to resubmit previously unfunded proposals to the same or different funding agency to meet the following requirements:

1. As soon as the decision is made to resubmit a previously declined proposal, provide RAD a copy of the reviewers' comments and the original proposal submission.

2. Meet with RAD staff to review the original submission and reviewers' comments before developing the new proposal.

3. In order to provide sufficient time for an internal review and, if determined necessary, for an external review, provide RAD with a copy of the revised narrative at least two months before the due date. Both internal and external reviews will be conducted expeditiously to provide faculty ample time to incorporate the comments in the final proposal.

4. All other deadlines defined in the University of Southern Maine Proposal Submission Policy apply.

Note that revised proposals that do not incorporate critical comments from internal and external reviews will be returned to the faculty for revision before final submission. The University will not authorize a faculty/staff member's resubmission failing to meet this requirement.

Definition: A resubmission is defined as a proposal that does not involve a significant change from any previous proposals which have been submitted to a funding agency. Indicators would include proposals that have broadly the same:

●    Title and/or proposal summary

●    Overall aim and high-level objectives

●    Research question(s)

●    Resources required to carry out the research

●    Content and staffing

Any proposal which meets any of these criteria, will be judged a resubmission. Proposals which demonstrate only minor amendments from previous submissions based on previous peer review feedback are, by definition, resubmissions.

New proposals must have fresh or significantly modified objectives and/or an entirely revised methodological/analytical approach to a research question.