Frequently Asked Questions

University policies for serving as a Principal Investigator (PI) are currently under review. Presently, faculty should request an approval from their department Chair, or contact the OSRP Director for further instructions. Staff should contact OSRP directly. Federal, state and local government grant submissions may only be submitted by an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) from the OSRP staff.

Please contact OSRP as early as possible in advance of your anticipated submission. We recommend notifying OSRP of your intent to submit three months in advance of the grant proposal deadline. Grant proposal documents should be submitted to OSRP for review ten business days in advance of the deadline.

Gifts and sponsored awards to the University are made in a variety of forms, reflecting the diversity of sponsors as well as their purposes. Sponsored awards from private funders are administered by OSRP. Gifts are administered by Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR) in University Advancement.

The language used by a donor or sponsor in providing support is generally the source for making a distinction between a sponsored award and a gift. When in doubt, consult either OSRP or CFR. These offices will work together to make the final determination as to whether the award in question shall be treated as a sponsored award or a gift.

For more detailed inforamation refer to the Guide to Distinguishing Between Gifts and Sponsored Awards.

It is available from the Office of the Controller.

Our current Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR) is applied to grant budget Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) at the rates of: 33% on campus; 21% off campus

ICR constitutes reimbursement to the university of ordinary expenses related to facilities and administration needed to operate the university where the sponsored research or program takes place.  ICR is also known as Facilities and Administration (F&A) costs.

For more complete information on ICR click here.

For grant budgets OSRP uses the per diem rates published by the US General Services Administration.

For grant budgets OSRP uses a standard average fringe benefits rate for all faculty and staff. The approved average rate for 2022 grant proposal budgets is 30.1% with a 1% yearly escalation.

View the student employment pay matrix is available here.

We have a Standard Grant Budget Microsoft Excel template available to help facilitate the budgeting process. It is designed with calculations built in for cost of living raises, fringe rates, Modified Total Direct Costs, Indirect Cost Recovery, and budget totals. It is available on the Proposal Tools page.

OSRP staff compile boilerplate documents of institutional data that is commonly requested by grant agencies. It is updated semi-annually and is available on request.

In addition, MSU Denver Institutional Research offers a number of institutional databases, and MSU Denver Business Intelligence is available to create customized data reports upon request.

We’ve collected a listing of all statistical software and a number of data points on each including how each is available to faculty and students.

The SPSS statistical tool is available in all forms to both faculty and students in labs, in virtual lab, or for personal download.

If you experience an access-to-the-software problem, please contact ITS https://www.msudenver.edu/technology/.

For learning experiences about how to use SPSS, we recommend searching for YouTube tutorials.

All research involving human subjects must be approved by MSU Denver’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). Federal regulations require that all research projects involving human subjects be reviewed by an IRB. The IRB must approve or determine the project to be exempt prior to the start of any research activities. The IRB cannot provide approval or determinations for research that has already been concluded. If you are uncertain as to whether your project requires IRB approval, please contact the Human Subjects Protections Plan Manager at 303-605-5282 or [email protected].

All Principal Investigators (PIs) must comply with the MSU Denver policy for Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) for Federally Funded Research Proposals, by completing and signing a FCOI form, and completing an online training session.

FCOI forms must be completed at the time of application for federal funding; at least annually, during the period of the award, beginning with the anniversary date of the award; and within thirty days of discovering or acquiring (e.g., through purchase, marriage, or inheritance) a new significant financial interest.

Complete information is available here.