The Office of Sponsored Research and Programs plays a critical role in helping Metropolitan State University of Denver continue to build important partnerships through grant funding.
The OSRP is the University authority for submitting grant proposals and sponsored contracts to federal, state and local government funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and many more.
What does the OSRP do?
The primary role of the OSRP is to facilitate each of the steps in the public-grants process and to serve as a liaison between academic departments and administrative offices throughout all phases of the project. If you are seeking to submit a grant proposal, you should contact an OSRP staff member early in the process to schedule an introductory planning meeting. Ideally, this would be three months before the deadline or as soon as the agency funding notice is announced, whichever is sooner. And if you have a great idea but don’t know how to fund it, contact the OSRP for assistance with grant-fund prospecting.
Grant-proposal process
During the grant-proposal process, the faculty or staff member identified as the Principal Investigator has the main content-expert and writing responsibilities. OSRP Proposal Development Specialists partner with the Principal Investigator to create checklists and timelines, complete standard government forms and assure that all required documents are finished and compliant with agency and University policies. Final documents should be delivered to the OSRP five days before deadlines as all grant proposals must be reviewed, approved and submitted by the OSRP to ensure compliance and accuracy.
Once the grant is awarded
Upon notification of a grant award, the OSRP ensures that the grant notifications and contracts reflect appropriate budgets and activities and are signed by the appropriate institutional representatives. The Principal Investigator assumes the role of the project director for awarded grants and is responsible for ensuring that objectives and outcomes are met, as described in the proposal. The Sponsored Projects Accounting and Compliance Office (SPAC) is responsible for ensuring that grant funds and related expenses are properly applied within the University’s accounting structure, and assisting with financial reports. The OSRP Post Awards assistant director can assist with non-financial post-award programmatic items such as no-cost extensions, PI changes, institutional transfers, or budget modifications.
For more information about working with the OSRP in all phases of the grant process, as well as for a variety of grant-funding prospecting tools, please visit the OSRP website and check out the new RAG Mag.