For certain grant and award opportunities, funding agencies place limits on the number of proposals, applications, or letters of intent that any one university may submit. We refer to these opportunities as Limited Submission Opportunities. In such cases, the Office of Research orchestrates reviews of internal applications to select those judged to have the best chance of being funded by the agency. This is common practice at research-intensive universities. The procedure described below MUST be followed for all limited submission opportunities.
Limited Submissions
The Office of Research maintains a calendar of both Current and Closed Limited Submissions, along with full details for each opportunity on the Research Announcements site. Be sure to check these pages frequently since new opportunities are posted as we become aware of them. If you identify a funding opportunity that you believe may be limited, check these two pages for an announced internal competition. If the particular opportunity is not already listed, please contact limsub@uga.edu immediately to verify that the opportunity is indeed limited and to receive instructions on how to proceed.
Send a brief email with your Notification of Interest (NOI) and intent to apply to limsub@uga.edu. This informs the Office of Research as to how many applicants might be vying for the same Limited Submission Opportunity. The Office of Research posts announcements to the Research Announcements site and Limited Submissions calendar with the established guidelines for each Internal Competition.
Submit an Internal Application by the internal competition deadline to compete for the specific Limited Submission Opportunity. Guidelines for the internal application can be found in each internal competition announcement, and will vary from opportunity to opportunity. Internal applications typically include:
- The agency name and title of funding opportunity
- PI names, positions, departments, emails, and contact information
- A short summary of the proposed project
- A description of why the PI thinks his/her proposal will be successful
- Abbreviated CV, résumé, or biosketch for the PI
Internal applications should be submitted as a single PDF document to limsub@uga.edu by 11:59 pm on predetermined internal deadline date.
An ad hoc review committee is assembled to review internal applications and share evaluations with the VP of Research.
Limited Submission announcements often generate multiple competing proposals. UGA reviewers evaluate proposals as they would in any peer review process, so PIs are urged to put their best foot forward. Along with typical criteria, reviewers will assess internal proposals based on their fit with the sponsor’s articulated goals and criteria, the credentials of the PI, the strength of the research team, the clarity of the plan, etc.
The Office of Research will notify applicants of the outcome of the internal review as soon as possible. The Office of Research reserves the right to submit the proposal it believes best meets the particular Limited Submission Opportunity and may decline to submit any proposal.
Selected applicants are advised to work with their designated Sponsored Projects Administration team to create a full proposal to submit by the agency deadline. The Office for Proposal Enhancement offers their services to help optimize the narrative quality of selected proposals.
Exceptions: The Office of Research will use the above Internal Submission Procedure for all situations wherein there is a practical amount of time between receipt of the first NOI from an interested faculty member and the date of the funding agency deadline. If the Office of Research is notified of a Limited Submission Opportunity with insufficient time to conduct the Internal Submission Procedure (this may vary based on the details of a given opportunity), an Internal Competition may not be announced and available submission slots may be awarded on a first-come first-served basis.