Sponsored Projects: Frequently Asked Questions

You must route your proposal for budget review and approval seven (7) business days before the sponsor deadline.

No.  The deadline is only for those items required for a streamlined review. This includes all information in the following sections: Setup Questions, LSU Questionnaire, Budget (including the budget justification), Personnel, and Internal Uploads & Routing.  If your budget includes a subaward, you will need to include the subaward budget, justification, and letter of collaboration.

It does not include research narratives, support letters, or any other supporting documents needed for the agency. If you are applying for a Grants.gov funding opportunity, you must submit the remaining parts of the proposal no less than 24 hours prior to the agency's submission deadline.

Active employees in Workday automatically receive an Investigator role in the Sponsored Projects module. You will need to submit a security access request to request the specific module and role needed. See Initiating a Security Access Request.

Grants.gov is used for most proposals submitted directly to federal agencies. For all other sponsors, you will create a Manual Proposal.

Review the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to see if submission via Grants.gov is allowed. If so, then you will create a Grants.gov proposal in GeauxGrants. There are a few federal sponsors that may require you to submit via their sponsor system. If this is the case, you will create a Manual Proposal in GeauxGrants and then also need to enter your proposal in the sponsor system. See question below regarding National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).

No. GeauxGrants allows System-to-System (S2S) submission to Grants.gov. You only enter your proposal in GeauxGrants and then OSP will submit directly to Grants.gov via S2S.

No. We will no longer use Grants.gov Workspace. If you are a Principal Investigator (PI) submitting to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) you will need an eRA Commons username and have it affiliated with LSU. If you are a PI submitting to the National Science Foundation (NSF) you will need a NSF FastLane/Research.gov ID number and have it affiliated with LSU.

If you are submitting a linked collaborative proposal, a proposal with no Principal Investigator salary, or a proposal with subawards, then you must submit via Research.gov. You will route a Manual Proposal in GeauxGrants. NSF Pre-proposals and Renewals must also be submitted via Research.gov.  All other NSF proposals have the option to submit as (1) a Grants.gov proposal in GeauxGrants or (2) a Manual Proposal in GeauxGrants and separately load your proposal in Research.gov.

You should create a Grants.gov proposal for the majority of NIH proposal types. If you are submitting a multi-component center grant proposal to NIH, then you will use NIH ASSIST. You will create a Manual Proposal in GeauxGrants and separately load your proposal in NIH ASSIST.

If a Pre-Proposal requires submission/signature from the Institutional Authorized Official or requires a detailed budget, then it should be routed in GeauxGrants.  If the Pre-Proposal is submitted via Grants.gov, then follow the Creating Grants.gov Proposals. If the Pre-Proposal is submitted outside Grants.gov, such as email or sponsor system, then follow the Creating Manual Proposals.

The different proposal types are as follows:

• Notice/Letter of Intent may be requested by a sponsor to ascertain interest in a project. If the notice/letter of intent requires a detailed budget or an Authorized Representative signature, it must be routed in GeauxGrants as a new proposal number.
• Pre-proposals, also known as preliminary proposals or white papers, may be requested by a sponsor to ascertain interest in a project. If the preliminary proposal or white paper requires a detailed budget or an Authorized Representative signature, it must be routed in GeauxGrants.  Pre-proposals are usually routed as a new proposal number; however, if you first submitted a Notice/Letter of Intent, then you should keep the same proposal number and route as a Linked Proposal.
• New proposals are submitted for initial funding of a project, or a proposal that is being re-submitted after having been officially declined by the sponsor. Award transfers to LSU from another institution are considered new proposals for LSU.  
• Revision proposals modify a to be funded proposal in response to an indication by the Sponsor that a project may be funded. Revised proposals keep the same proposal number and should be routed as a Linked Proposal.  
• Renewal proposals, also known as a Competing Continuation Proposals, request additional funding to continue an existing awarded project beyond its original term. This type of proposal requests additional funds to continue a project that has already been completed, and proposes a new scope of work. It should be routed as a new proposal and receives a new proposal number.
• Resubmission proposals modify an unfunded proposal following initial review and are resubmitted for consideration. This proposal type is typically reserved for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  It should be routed as a new proposal and receives a new proposal number.
• Continuation proposals keep the same proposal number as the originally submitted proposal because the additional funding usually comes in the form of an amendment to the original award. There are two types of continuation proposals. The first is a Continuation-New, which is a proposal requesting additional funds and additional time not originally approved in the award. The second type is Continuation-Noncompeting, which is a proposal requesting the next year of funds already approved in a multi-year or multi-phase award. This proposal type is usually in the form of a progress report (e.g. NIH RPPR, DOE’s plan for next year’s funds).
• Supplement proposals request an increase in support for a funded project in a current budget period and may include expansion of the project’s approved scope. A supplement is a request for additional funding within the original time period. Supplement proposals keep the same proposal number as the awarded proposal and should be routed as a Linked Proposal.

See Creating Linked Proposals.

Examples of Linked Proposals include: Continuation-New, Continuation-Non-Competing (e.g. NIH RPPR), Supplements, Revisions (prior to receipt of an award) or New Proposals when a Notice/Letter of Intent or Pre-proposal was previously routed.

If the incorrect proposal type was chosen, see Updating the Proposal Type.

Your primary view in GeauxGrants will be with your home institution in Workday. You can tell which institution you are under by the header bar. Purple is A&M, green is Ag Center, and grey is PBRC. Individuals with joint appointments will have a toggle dropdown in the top right corner to switch between campuses. If you do not have this capability and need access to the A&M GeauxGrants portal, please email [email protected]. See Switching between Campuses for Joint Appointments.

Once the proposal has been created, and the title has changed, enter the updated title on the LSU Questionnaire in the Proposal Title box. 

Our recommendation is to only copy if the previous proposal is from the same fiscal year, same PI, and uses the same submission mechanism (S2S or Manual). After copying be sure to adjust the budget setup dates as they may remain the dates from the copied proposal. Please see our help guide for detailed instructions

Select Other Sponsor (To Be Added). Complete the Request to Add New Sponsor form. OSP will then add the correct sponsor as part of our review.

See Updating the Sponsor.

See Adding the Originating Sponsor.

Complete the Request to Add New Subrecipient form.

If a sponsor doesn’t require a budget, then OSP will not require a budget at the proposal stage. An internal budget will be required if awarded. At the proposal stage, you have the following options:
1) Enter internal budget for OSP review. Follow directions for Creating a Detailed Budget.
2) Enter total direct and indirect costs only. This is needed to capture the amount requested in GeauxGrants for reporting. Follow directions for Creating a Simplified Budget.

See Updating the Period of Performance in Proposal Development.

The first step is to determine where your proposal is in the sponsored project life cycle.

If your proposal has been submitted but not yet been funded, then you will need to submit a Revision proposal. Following instructions for Creating Linked Proposals.

If you have received an award and would like to request prior approval to rebudget funds from the sponsor, then you will need to submit a Post Award Modification request. Follow instructions for Post Award Modifications (excluding Change in Investigator) or Post Award Modifications for a Change in Investigator depending on what type of modification you need to route in GeauxGrants.

See Removing Appointments (Salary) from the Budget.

If the budget period is not a full twelve month period or does not start on the first of the month, we recommend following the steps in our removing appointments guide for Named personnel. Failure to remove the Salary appointment can cause incorrect calculations due to the system calculating at a daily rate instead of the normal monthly rate.

See Updating the Principal Investigator.

For S2S submissions, if non-LSU Personnel will be included on the Senior/Key Person Profile, you will need to add them to the Personnel Tab in GeauxGrants. These individuals will have the role of External Consultant - Key or External Consultant - Other Significant Contributor (NIH only). See Adding non-LSU Personnel.

No. In GeauxGrants, you will need to submit a Post Award Modification request. Post Award Modifications (excluding Change in Investigator) or Post Award Modifications for a Change in Investigator depending on what type of modification you need to route in GeauxGrants.

See Updating Attachment for Mod Requests.

Check the LSU Training and Event Registration web page for more information on GeauxGrants training from the Office of Sponsored Programs.