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Research Development

Limited Submissions at the University of Montana

Definition 

A limited submission is a funding opportunity that has limits on the number of proposals that the institution may submit. In these cases, the Office of Research Development (ORD) coordinates an internal process to select the proposal(s) to move forward with a submission. 

Identifying Opportunities 

Office of Research Development-Identified Opportunities 

The Office of Research Development identifies limited submission funding opportunities through a weekly review of newly released opportunities. ORD cultivates a list of limited submission opportunities and shares them via the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship Newsletter. 

Principal Investigator-Identified Opportunities 

In cases where a faculty or staff member identifies a limited submission opportunity that has not been posted by ORD, that individual should email research.development@umontana.edu immediately. ORD will then initiate a call to determine whether other PIs are interested in the opportunity. 

Standard Process for Limited Submissions 

Announcing Opportunities 

All limited submission opportunities are shared via the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship Newsletter.

Submitting an Internal Statement of Intent 

To be considered, applicants will submit the following via the submission form by 11:59 pm on the day of the internal deadline.  

  1. Opportunity Title 
  2. Potential Reviewers: Names of three internal (to UM) faculty who could speak knowledgeably about the project, in the event of an internal review. We encourage applicants to do their best to avoid conflicts of interest (other faculty named on the project, direct reports, etc.).  
  3. Concept (must be submitted as a single PDF file) 
    • Project Description: Include a brief overview of your proposed project, its potential impact, and a list of senior personnel with institutional affiliations.  The project description does not have a page limit, but we suggest that you keep your concept between one and three pages in length. Full biosketches are not required at this stage. 
    • Preliminary Budget and Narrative: Provide an estimated budget and short narrative describing anticipated costs (e.g., personnel, travel, supplies, subawards, indirect cost recovery). A full detailed budget is not necessary.  
    • Revision Plan: Only required for resubmissions. If you are resubmitting a proposal, we ask that you submit a summary of the reviewer’s comments (preferably a panel summary provided by the sponsor), along with a brief description (½ to 1 page) of your plan for addressing the critiques. 

Review of Internal Statements of Intent 

Internal statements of intent are evaluated by ORD staff and the Vice President for Research and Creative Scholarship (VPR). Chairs, deans, or subject matter experts may be consulted at the VPR’s discretion.  

Internal statements of intent are always reviewed against the sponsor’s guidance. To evaluate how well-aligned a project is with the sponsor’s goals, we consider the overall aim of the sponsor, the purpose of the funding opportunity, scoring/selection criteria provided by the sponsor, and the sponsor’s funding patterns. 

Decisions and Notification 

Ultimately, the decision is made by the VPR, but the review team provides written commentary to aid in the decision. All applicants will be notified of the decision via email. Successful teams will receive comments relevant to strengthening the proposal and will be connected with their OSP pre-award specialist. The teams that are not selected will receive abbreviated feedback from the review process to aid in a future submission. 

Exceptions to the Process 

Most opportunities will be considered through our normal limited submission process, but there are some cases that must be managed differently. The most common exceptions are described below.  

Available Slots After the Internal Deadline 

If the internal deadline passes and UM has not met the limit on the number of proposals, interested applicants will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact the Office of Research Development if you are interested in a limited submission opportunity to find out whether your opportunity falls into this category and determine next steps. The final decision will be at the discretion of the Vice President for Research and Creative Scholarship. 

Short Turnaround Time 

If ORD becomes aware of a funding opportunity less than six weeks before the deadline, we may choose to run an expedited internal call for proposals. In these cases, we will send a call for interest to campus, requesting that interested teams respond with a simple email letting us know that they would like to be considered. If the interest exceeds the number of proposals that we can submit, we will ask for additional information and review ideas as quickly as possible so that teams have as much time as possible to prepare a proposal.  

A Clear Choice 

In rare cases, a funding opportunity will be a very clear fit for one unit or team on campus. One example is an opportunity that requires that the principal investigator be in a specific position (e.g., VPR, head of a tech transfer office, dean of a specific college). Another example is a funding opportunity that grants priority consideration to continuation proposals where we have a longstanding award. These rare instances will be managed on a case-by-case basis. When it makes sense, we will alert campus that a proposal is being submitted and invite ideas for collaboration and participation across campus.  

All other exceptions will be considered on an ad hoc basis and are ultimately at the discretion of the Vice President for Research and Creative Scholarship.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • A limited submission is a funding opportunity that limits the number of proposals that the institution may submit. In these cases, the Office of Research Development (ORD) coordinates the internal process to select the proposal(s) to move forward with a submission.

  • The consequences for submitting applications that exceed the limit vary from sponsor to sponsor. Most commonly, at least one of the proposals will be returned without review. In some cases, all proposals will be returned without review. We coordinate a limited submission process to help protect you and your colleagues from committing to months of work on a proposal that may not even be reviewed.

  • Most commonly, this information will be outlined in the Eligibility section of your proposal instructions (e.g., NOFO, RFP, FOA). Most sponsors do not use the term “limited” to describe this, so a simple document search will not suffice. You will need to read the text in the Eligibility section, scanning for phrases such as, “multiple applications from a single organization are not allowed” or “each institution may submit up to three applications per proposal deadline”. 

    For the National Science Foundation, there will be a specific heading within the Eligibility section titled, “Limit on the Number of Proposals per Organization”. For the NSF, you can use the search function to hop straight to this section.  

    For the National Institutes of Health, there will be two places where you can look for a limit on the number of proposals. The first is in the synopsis at the beginning of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) under the title “Number of Applications”. The other is in Part 2, Section III (Eligibility), typically under “Additional Information on Eligibility”.  

    If you still aren’t sure or would like someone to double check, please reach out to ORD.  

  • All limited submissions are announced in the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. For past editions, navigate to the ORCS newsletter archive.

  • No. All proposals must be vetted through UM’s limited submission process, regardless of whether you’ve had positive feedback from the sponsor.

  • No. All proposals, even those being resubmitted, must be vetted through UM’s limited submission process. If you are resubmitting a proposal and you have reviewer’s comments, we ask that you submit a summary of the reviewer’s comments (preferably a panel summary provided by the sponsor), along with a brief description (½ to 1 page) of your plan for addressing the critiques.

  • Reach out to Katherine Swan immediately. Katherine will work with you to determine the best course of action. We can generally manage these opportunities smoothly, but it is best to reach out as soon as you know the funding opportunity is limited to protect yourself and your colleagues from the consequences of exceeding the proposal limit (commonly rejection of at least one submission, if not all).

  • Probably, but reach out to ORD as soon as possible. In cases where UM has not met the limit on proposals by the internal deadline, ORD will consider applications on a first-come, first-served basis. Ultimately the decision lies with the Vice President for Research and Creative Scholarship.

  • PIs are responsible for adhering to proposal guidelines and deadlines. PIs should reach out to their Departmental Research Administrator (DRA) and Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) pre-award specialist as soon as possible to begin the application process. You can find your DRA and OSP contacts on OSP’s list of Departmental Assignments.

  • Reach out to ORD with any additional questions.