PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES

This website offers proposal development resources for Entomology researchers. It is *not* intended to be a comprehensive guide! Take advantage of what you find useful, and feel free to let Josh know if you have suggestions for corrections and/or additional resources. 
  • ENTM ROUTING TIMELINE
  • ENTM BUDGET GUIDANCE
  • ORA & KUALI RESEARCH
  • SPECIFIC SPONSORS
  • QUICK REFERENCE
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Below is a breakdown of the basic proposal routing timeline for Entomology researchers. Rather than be a strict rule, this timeline is intended to be a general framework that can be adjusted to meet the needs of the individual situation. It is somewhat different from the timeline established by ORA (sorry!), but it has been successful nonetheless without adding stress on top of what is always a stressful process.
AS SOON AS YOU START THINKING ABOUT SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
Send an e-mail to Josh to get it on his radar, even if you're not 100% sure. ​
AS SOON AS YOU ARE COMMITTED TO SUBMITTING THE PROPOSAL
Send Josh an e-mail with:
  • The RFA (a.k.a., Funding Opportunity Announcement, Solicitation, etc.)
  • The official sponsor deadline and whether you would like it submitted earlier 
  • A list of the UMD senior/key personnel
  • Whether there will be subawards and contact information for their institution's research coordinator
  • Preliminary proposal title 
  • Preliminary project dates (mm/dd/yyyy - mm/dd/yyyy)
  • Login information for submission portals other than Grants.gov

Josh will share Google Calendar invitations with you for the routing and submission deadlines

Josh will create a shared Google Drive folder with:
  • The RFA and any other sponsor proposal development guidelines
  • Subfolders corresponding to the main components of the proposal based on the RFA
  • Any sponsor-specific templates
  • A department budget spreadsheet template
  • A department budget justification template
  • Other templates as applicable

If subawards are involved, let them know that we will need the following items by 10 business days before the deadline:
  • UMD subrecipient commitment form
  • Statement of Work
  • F&A Rate Agreement (a.k.a., indirect cost rate agreement)
  • Excel budget spreadsheet
  • Budget justification
  • Other subaward-related items, as applicable, e.g.:
    • Senior/key pesonnel biographical sketch, conflict of interest, current & pending support, and letters of commitment
    • Other subaward-specific items (e.g., equipment; facilities & other resources; etc.)
    • Sponsor-specific budget formats (e.g., grants.gov)
10 BUSINESS DAYS BEFORE THE DEADLINE (BY NOON)
Send Josh an e-mail/drop into the appropriate Google Drive subfolder:
  • Updates to anything above
  • Draft budget spreadsheet
  • Draft budget justification
  • Final subaward materials

​Kuali Certification: Each UMD senior/key personnel you will receive an e-mail from the Kuali Research system requesting that they "certify" the proposal.
  • Josh will provide guidance via e-mail. ​
1 WEEK BEFORE THE DEADLINE
Send Josh an e-mail/drop into the appropriate Google Drive subfolder: 
  • Final proposal title
  • Final project dates (mm/dd/yyyy - mm/dd/yyyy)
  • Final budget spreadsheet
  • Final budget justification
  • Drafts of all other proposal items
2 days before the deadline
​Send Josh an e-mail/drop into the appropriate Google Drive subfolder:
  • Final versions of all proposal elements
    • Note: You can continue working on the project narrative until 24 hours before the deadline
24 hours before the deadline
​Send Josh an e-mail/drop into the appropriate Google Drive subfolder:
  • Final project narrative
Each section below corresponds to the major components of a proposal budget. You should use these as a guide to populating your Excel budget spreadsheet (basic template) and writing up your budget justification (basic template), both of which are required by ORA regardless of whether the sponsor does.
SALARIES & WAGES
What are the personnel base salaries?
Indicate the individual’s base salary and whether it is their 9- or 12-month base salary. Generally speaking, Postdoctoral Associates, Faculty Assistants, Faculty Specialists, and other Research Staff have 12-month base salaries, and most Tenured-Tenure-Track Faculty have 9-month base salaries. In some cases, Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty with a extension or other appointments have a 12-month base salary. If you're not sure, just ask. Details about Graduate and Undergraduate Research Assistants are below.​​
How much effort are personnel committing?
You should report effort as % Effort or % FTE. Most sponsors, however, report effort in Person Months”, so Josh will convert the % effort/FTE to person months based on the details you provide (calendar year, academic year, or summer). 
  • Coming Soon: Effort/FTE/Person Month Convertor
Cost of Living Allowance (COLA)
Unless there are significant budgetary limitations, ENTM principal Investigators typically include a 2 – 3% COLA from project year to project year. ​
Graduate Research Assistants - Salaries & Effort
Graduate Research Assistant stipends are budgeted according to the scale below. Please use these exact values. (Note: COLA should only be applied when an automatic step increase is not.)​ 
Step
12-Month
9-Month
Summer
Step I (1st yr MS or 1st PhD without MS)
$29,592
$24,058
$5,534
Step II (2nd year above or 1st year PhD with MS)
$30,692
$24,952
$5,739
Step III (PhD advanced to candidacy)
$31,278
$25,429
$5,849
​Undergraduate Research Assistants
Undergraduate Research Assistants should be budgeted at an hourly wage (link) for a given number of hours during a specific time of the project year (are they working during academic year (September – May), over the summer (June – August), or throughout the calendar year (January – December)
FRINGE BENEFITS
UMD has Fringe Benefit Rates approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) with an effective date of 07/01/2021. Fringe benefits include health insurance, FICA, unemployment, workers’ compensation, retirement, terminal leave payout and employee assistance and are calculated on the requested salary amount. Tuition Remission is a UMD fringe benefit but is not included in the fringe calculation and is budgeted separately as applicable (see Other Direct Costs below). The UMD fringe benefit rates are as follows:​
Personnel Category
Fringe Benefit Rate
Faculty (Summer), Graduate Student (Summer), Undergraduate Research Assistants & other hourly personnel
7.7%
Faculty (Academic or Calendar Year), Postdoctoral Associates & other salaried personnel
29.7%
Graduate Student, Academic or Calendar Year
27.8%
The current F&A rate agreement, showing the fringe benefit rates can also be found here. 
EQUIPMENT
This category is for individual equipment items over $5,000 each. Equipment items less than $5,000 should be itemized in Other Direct Costs > Materials & Supplies. Equipment costs should be individually justified in the budget justification.
TRAVEL
  • For domestic travel to field research sites, you have the option to estimate costs based on:
    • The total mileage * the current UMD mileage rate for your personal vehicle or lab truck.
    • UMD Motor Transportation Services rates (coming soon!)
  • For domestic travel to conferences, if you know the destination, your estimate should include the cost of conference registration, airfare, accommodations, ground transportation, and per diem. These estimated costs should be individually itemized in the budget justification.
  • For international travel to conferences, in addition to the details above, make sure to indicate what county you will be traveling to.  These estimated costs should be individually itemized in the budget justification.
PARTICIPANT SUPPORT COSTS
This is a very specific category of costs (link), and we don’t typically use it. That doesn’t mean we can’t, but please ask before going down this road.
OTHER DIRECT COSTS
OTHER DIRECT COSTS
  • Materials & Supplies: This category includes the typical field and laboratory consumable research supplies, but it also includes such costs as printing/copying, small equipment items (including computers), etc. Small equipment items and other materials & supplies of particularly high value should be individually itemized in the budget justification.
  • Publication costs: This category is typically reserved for the cost of publishing peer-review journal articles. (Printing/copying costs should be budgeted under Materials & Supplies and itemized in the budget justification.)  
  • Consultant Services: See Subawards/Consortium/Contractual Costs below.  
  • Computer Services: This category would include such things data storage, data cruncher time, etc. Details of these costs should be clearly described in the budget justification. 
  • Subawards/Contractual Costs: This category is for a portion of the budget that is contracted to an outside entity. The determination as to whether the outside entity is a subaward, contractor, or consultant depends on a number of conditions (here). The contribution of the subaward, contractor, or consultant should be clearly described in the budget justification, and the following should be provided:  
    • Subawards: A complete subaward package as described in the ENTM Routing Timeline tab. 
    • Contractual Services: An official letter describing the contractual services provided, including the cost determination. 
    • Consultants: An official letter describing the contractual services provided, including the cost determination.
  • Equipment/Facility Rental User Fees: This category typically includes UMD Greenhouse space rental. Details of these costs should be clearly described in the budget justification.   
  • Alterations & Renovations: This category is rarely used…  
  • ​Other - Tuition Remission: Graduate Research Assistants are entitled to up to 10 credits of tuition per semester at $768/credit ($7,680/semester or $15,360/year), and5% increase in costs should be budgeted each project year. 
    • MS/pre-candidacy PhD students tend to take 8 credits/semester, so it is reasonable to budget for 8 instead of 10 credits if there are significant sponsor limitations on overall costs; however, if a student takes more than 8 credits in a given semester, the additional costs will be charged to the grant.  
    • PhD candidates (i.e., passed the qualifying exam) are automatically registered for 6 credits of ENTM899 at a flat rate of $1,269, so - again - it is to budget this amount in there are significant limitations on overall costs; however, if the student takes additional credits or if you switch to an MS/pre-candidacy PhD student, their tuition costs will be charged to the grant. 
Total Direct costs
This is the sum total of personnel salaries & wages, fringe benefits, equipment, travel, participant support costs, and other direct costs. The Total Direct Costs serve as the base for calculating indirect costs using sponsor-specific rates. ​
MODIFIED TOTAL DIRECT COSTS
This is the Total Direct Costs minus the sum total of individual equipment items greater than $5,000, tuition remission, participant support costs, and the portion of each subaward in excess of $25,000. The Modified Total Direct Costs serve as the base for calculating indirect costs using UMD's federally negotiated indirect cost rates. ​
INDIRECT COSTS
Unless specified in the sponsor’s Request for Funding Announcement (RFA), you should use the appropriate UMD federally negotiated indirect cost rate applied to the Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC). 
Category
Indirect Rate
On-campus research
54.5% MTDC
Off-campus* research  - Remote (> 50 miles outside of College Park commuting area)
26% MTDC​
Off-Campus* Research - Adjacent (within 50 miles of College Park commuting area)
27.5% MTDC
* "Off-campus" has a very specific definition: “For all activities performed in facilities not owned by the organization and to which rent is directly allocated to the project(s), the off-site rate will apply. Projects partially performed off-site are apportioned between their on-site/off-site components when projects activity is conducted off-site for at least three consecutive months.” You will need to provide the full addresses of all off-campus locations and indicate which, if any, are UMD Research Farms.
USDA Restrictions on Indirect Costs​
USDA funding programs typically cap indirect costs at rates lower then UMD's federally negotiated rates.
  • USDA-NIFA generally limits indirect costs to the lesser of:
    • The sum of indirect costs resulting from the application of UMD's federally negotiated rates and those resulting from the application of any federally negotiated subaward rates, or
    • 30% of total funds requested (calculated as 42.857% of the Total Direct Costs), including the indirect costs charged by subaward institutions..
    •  This is not straightforward and is best explained by example (coming soon). 
  • Some USDA programs (e.g., Northeast SARE) limit indirect costs to 10% of the total funds requested. This is equivalent to 11.11% of the Total Direct Costs.
  • USDA-APHIS typically limits indirect costs on cooperative agreements to 15% of the total funds requested. This is equivalent to 17.647% of the Total Direct Costs. ​
  • Generally speaking, it is important to read the section of the RFA on indirect costs very carefully to be clear on how rates should be applied. If it does not state the indirect base type (e.g., it just saying "indirect costs are limited to 10%", which happens...), you will need to contact an authorized representative to inquire. 
Other Sponsor Indirect Restrictions​
Other sponsors may limit indirect costs as well; however, such limitation needs to be officially and clearly documented either in the sponsor’s funding solicitation or in the sponsor’s general funding guidelines (e.g., an official policy document, a website, etc.). An e-mail from someone at the sponsor or by word of mouth does not count as documentation!
(Fine Print: It is possible to petition for a modified rate; however, this is only done under very unusual circumstances and is subject to approval by the VPR.)
TOTAL FUNDS REQUESTED
This is the sum total of the Total Direct Costs and the Indirect Costs. The Modified Total Direct Costs are not used in this calculation.
office of research administration (ora)
The Office of Research Administration offers many resources for proposal development, including: 
KUALI RESEARCH (KR)
Coming soon
USDA
​Resources: 
Submission Systems*
*User guides coming soon
NSF
Resources
​Submission Systems*
​*User guide coming soon.
NIH
Coming soon.
Other common sponsors
DETAILS COMING SOON!

​Northeast SARE
Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board
Maryland Soybean Board
Maryland State Horticultural Society
Maryland Department of Agriculture
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
APPLICANT ORGANIZATION (UMD)
  • University of Maryland, Department of Research Administration, Division: Research, 3112 Lee Building, 7809 Regents Drive, College Park, MD 20742-5141, County: Prince George's, Congressional District: MD-005
 
PERFORMANCE SITE LOCATION (ENTM)
  • University of Maryland, Department of Entomology, 4112 Plant Sciences Building, 4291 Fieldhouse Drive, College Park, MD 20742-4454, County: Prince George's, Phone: 301-405-3913, Fax: 301-314-9290, Congressional District: MD-005
 
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE
  • Zinia Garcia, Contract Administrator, University of Maryland, Office of Research Administration, 3112 Lee Building, 7809 Regents Drive, College Park, MD 20742-5141, Phone: 301-405-7523, Fax: 301-314-9569, E-mail: zigarcia@umd.edu
 
IMPORTANT NUMBERS
  • EIN: 1520710851-A1
  • TIN: 52-6002033 (use this)
  • DUNS: 79-093-4285
  • ASAP: 2451208
 
FEDERAL COGNIZANT AUDIT AGENCY
  • DHHS Office of Audit, Region III, 150 South Independence Mall West, Suite 316, Philadelphia, PA, 19106-3499, (214) 861-4470, POC: Stephan Vibritsky

UNKNOWN KUALI RESEARCH (KR) SPONSOR CODE
  • 011406
  • Use this code when the sponsor is not in the KR system. Enter the code in the KR proposal and write to kr-help@umd.edu with the sponsor details. They will generate a new sponsor code, at which point you can change the sponsor in the KR proposal.

    Department of Entomology 
    University of Maryland 
    4112 Plant Sciences Building 
    College Park, MD 20742-4454
    USA

    Telephone: 301.405.3911 
    Fax: 301.314.9290