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Pre-Award Administration

The pre-award team assists CAS faculty in developing proposals for external funding and is the first point of contact for faculty planning to apply for a grant.
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CAS Pre-Award Contacts

  • If you have identified a funding opportunity, please complete the (ISP).
  • For all other proposal development inquiries, please contact caspreaward@american.edu.
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Proposal Development Support

The pre-award team supports faculty in the pursuit of their research goals from the initial planning stage to proposal submission and serves as a liaison between PIs and support offices at AU and externally. The CAS pre-award office will:

  • Create submission workplan and timeline with CAS faculty
  • Develop proposal budget
  • Review proposals for responsiveness to RFP and technical specifications
  • Ensure compliance with rules, regulations, policies and procedures in conjunction with CAS, Office of Sponsored Awards and Research Administration (OSARA), relevant departments and other AU offices
  • Route proposals for internal review and approval
Pre-Award Forms

Internal Routing Timeline

At least 10 business days before the project deadline, the final budget, budget justification, and nearly final narrative must be sent to caspreward@american.edu.

As most of the review takes place at the CAS level, our office requires at least 5 business days to review proposal documents for accuracy and compliance and to obtain approval for institutional commitments such as course releases, cost-share, new positions, use of space, etc.

CAS Pre-Award releases documents to OSARAÌýfor institutional processing.* OSARA then obtains necessary signatures and conducts overall review.

*Please note that the PI has until 2 business days before the deadline to finalize the proposal narrative.

OSARA approves and submits proposal.

After securing all necessary institutional signatures and approvals, OSARA submits the proposal to the sponsor and notifies the PI and CAS Pre-Award.

Frequently Asked Questions

I have identified a funding opportunity. What do I do now?

Please complete Intent to Submit a Proposal Form (ISP Form) and CAS Pre-Award will get back to you with next steps.

Does my proposal need internal approval?

All requests for grant funding to be managed by AU will require CAS and AU approval prior to submission.

What are the standard proposal documents?

Most sponsors require a proposal narrative, detailed budget and budget justification. CAS Pre-Award will advise on developing proposal narrative document(s), will develop a budget for internal route as well as the budget in the sponsor required template and will provide templates for developing a budget justification. Please note that proposal components vary by sponsor. CAS Pre-Award will provide a checklist of required documents upon request.

Does my proposal require IRB approval?

Please see the IRB Determination Tool.