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Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
myMAE

Pre-Award FAQ

  • RFP, solicitation, NOFO, or email from the sponsor requesting a proposal
  • Deadline date and type (receipt or target)
  • Draft/placeholder title
  • List of personnel (can be edited later, but best to include everyone if possible)
  • Draft project start/end dates
  • Indication of whether human or animal subjecst are involved, if applicable
  • All of the above, plus:
    • Final title
    • Draft abstract
    • Final budget & justification
    • Finalized list of senior personnel
    • Subaward package, if applicable
    • Cost share information, if applicable
  • Please don’t.
  • COE does not usually review proposals before they are finalized and ready to submit. They do review/submit proposals based on the order in which they are received.
  • Please DO NOT wait until the deadline date to finalize your proposal, ESPECIALLY on large/heavy deadlines. This will risk that the proposal is not submitted.
  • We understand that technical/narrative documents are usually the last to be finished, but please give us and COE 2 full business days to review and submit a final proposal. Most of the time, the AOR will find an error that was missed in initial review. This gives us time to correct it without running against a clock.
  • At minimum, a “final proposal” consists of a budget, justification, and technical narrative or statement of work.
  • COE will also need any document required by the sponsor. That includes the items above, plus some or all of the following:
    • Senior personnel documents (i.e. biosketch and Current & Pending)
    • Project summary or abstract
    • Facilities, equipment, and other resources
    • References or bibliography
    • Letter of support
    • Subaward packages
    • Any forms or documents requring university review or signature, such as a Disclosure of Lobbying Activities or SF-424 cover page
    • Human Subjects Protection, if applicable
    • Vertebrate Animals document, if applicable
  • Final components should NOT be uploaded in PD/PINS individually.
    • If you are submitting via a sponsor portal, the only items required in PD/PINS will be your solicitation and budget documents.
    • If you are submitting via email to the sponsor, final proposal components can be combined into one pdf and uploaded as the final proposal. Your research admin can assist with this if needed.
  • If you’re not sure what is required for your final proposal, check your solicitation and with your research administrator.
  • The lead investigator’s dept/college will submit the proposal and process the PD/PINS.
  • Please connect your research admin with the lead PI or their dept/unit so that we can create a segment budget for MAE. We can also confirm MAE GRA rates and your salary/appointment info.
  • As of October 15, 2025, NC State is requiring all senior personnel to complete Research Security Training within 12 months of proposal submission.
  • This applies to all senior personnel, not just those on federally funded projects. NC State’s training will satisfy most sponsor’s requirements.
  • The training can be found on Reporter.
  • More information about the requirement can be found here. 
  • A receipt date is the date by which a proposal is required to be submitted to the sponsor. Proposals submitted after a receipt date would usually not be accepted by a sponsor. 
  • A target date is more flexible–it is the submission date to aim for, i.e. for sponsors such as NSF with rolling deadlines. Proposals received after a target date may still be accepted by a sponsor. Refer to your RFP for specific requirements and deadlines. 
  • For each subaward organization, we will need:
    • Letter of Intent signed by organizational representative
    • Statement of Work
    • Biosketch for all senior personnel
    • Budget
    • Budget Justification
    • Copy of F&A Rate Agreement
    • Any other documents required by the RFP
  • Please work with your research administrator to get these documents from your collaborators outside NC State.
  • It is acceptable for the PI to submit the LOI or pre-proposal when AOR involvement or signature is not required. A PD/PINS record would not be required in this case. The PI can choose to process in PD for record-keeping purposes.  
  • A PD/PINS record must be processed when the sponsor requires a University AOR to sign any document/form, or to submit via a sponsor portal. These submission types typically do not require a detailed SOW or budget documents.
  • Yes, a new record will be needed for the full proposal.  Your research administrator can work with you to clone the pre-proposal record to ensure they are linked in RED. 
  • A subaward (also called a subcontract or subrecipient) usually has more involvement in the technical aspects of the project, including proposal development, technical milestones, and project progress. Indirect costs are assessed only on the first $25,000 of each subaward.
  • A contractor is usually an outside entity hired for a specific project purpose, i.e. data collection, manufacturing, consulting, etc. Indirect costs are assessed on the total cost of the contractor’s work, and are processed with vendor contracts via Procurement.
  • If you’re unsure about the nature of a collaboration, check with your research administrator or reference the subaward v. contractor checklist.
  • NIH RPPRs or Final RPPRs need to be routed in PD, since they require institutional signature for submission. Please forward the NIH notification of any impending RPPRs to your research admin to begin the RPPR process.