RFP Questions and Answers
Frequently Asked Questions for the current NITC RFP
Q1. What is the link for the abstract and proposal submittal system?
Q2. Are there any guidelines for the abstracts? It would be helpful to have some idea of what you are looking for.
Please submit 1-2 paragraphs describing your research that you are proposing. We are using these abstracts for two purposes: 1) to determine fit with the NITC theme 2) identifying peer reviewers.
Q3. One place in the budget form shows $3700 related to conference travel, editing, and peer review. Are those costs specific to our project or they are generic numbers? Each of the PIs on this project will have some conference-related expense. Should we add our request on top of the $3700?
This is standard per each budget. Please do not add additional conference-related costs to the budget. If it is deemed that you need additional conference-related travel, you will have to submit this request to OTREC separately. Right now we have allotted a maximum of $2500 for conference-related travel per project.
Q4. We are collaborating with a Canadian faculty on a project, can we use the Canadian faculty time as match for a UTC-related project?
If the work is directly related to research and/or other allowed activities being conducted by OTREC under the grant, then yes, the Canadian faculty time could be used as match.
Q5. Can consutlants partner on NITC proposals?
Per the RITA General Provisions, NITC is expected to utilize the services of our own PIs to the maximum extent possible. Where necessary, the PI must provide sufficient justification and explanation of value and contribution of consultant services project or activity. We recommend that any consultant services not exceed the value provided by the PI.
Q6. We will request funds to purchase 2 or 3 pieces of equipment, each costs between $5000 to $6000. You mentioned that we will need to provide justifications for using the equipments in our research design. Can you let me know where should the justification fit?
Equipment purchases eligible for the NITC grants must be greater than $5,000, have a lifetime over one year and your university must classify them as equipment. If your equipment meets this criteria, please provide justification for the equipment (how it will be used on your specific project, which project(s) are involved, how it will add value to OTREC, etc.), the cost (including relevant explanation of why one vendor was selected over another), and anything else you believe is relevant to Susan Peithman at [email protected].
Q7. The $3700 overmatch would cover conference travel, copy editing and peer review. However, if my investigator does not have these expenses, they can state this in their narrative and choose not to include the $3700 overmatch. Is this correct?
Where the $3700 does not apply is for Education and Technology Transfer proposals. PIs must provide match for travel if they anticipate sharing results of Education and Technology Transfer projects.
Q8. The proposal template has really large font (14 pt) headings for Abstract, Literature Review, etc. Is it necessary to keep the headings that size, or can they be modified? It could make a difference in the limited page allowance for this grant proposal.
Please keep the heading size.