Funding Opportunities
Opportunity Review
Once you have identified one or more potential opportunities it is time to carefully review them and determine if it truly is a good fit and worth investing resources in preparing the proposal. This section will provide you with tips for reviewing the Requests for Proposals (RFPs), vetting the idea within your unit, and utilizing the Outreach GCC Project Incubator.
Evaluating Requests for Proposals (RFPs)
Frankly, reading and evaluating requests for proposals (RFP) is one of the most unpleasant and laborious tasks in the grants pursuit process. Consequently, you want to commit your efforts as judiciously as possible. It is more efficient and ultimately more useful to read an RFP many times than to attempt to do a comprehensive reading at the first go. In your initial review, you want to scan for anything that might not make this a good fit for your organization. Particular areas of scrutiny include:
- Eligibility--Is Penn State eligible? Is your particular unit eligible? Does it require partnerships that you won't have time to build or solidify? Does the RFP specify an activity location? Are the activities you would like to fund compatible with what the agency is funding?
- Matching requirements--These may or may not be a deal breaker. Penn State proposals often include matching funds, but different agencies have very different expectations and you will need to consider what is realistic for your unit. One critical point, you can NEVER use federal funds to match federal funds.
- Deadlines--Is it even remotely possible for you to assemble an application in time?
- Is there anything strange in the language that you need to clarify?
- What is the scale of the application itself? An application with 120 pages of narrative and 75 forms had better come with the potential for an enormous payoff to justify the costs of assembling the application.
Once you have decided to pursue an opportunity, the RFP should be your absolute guide. Your goal should be to match the instructions perfectly. While you can be tremendously creative in the project design, competitive proposals comply meticulously with the RFP. Keep in mind that the initial review may be done by someone with no technical background who has been told to reduce the pile of what needs to be reviewed by eliminating anything that is not compliant with the RFP. For example, if your proposal narrative goes over the length restriction by one sentence--you are out. If your "authorized representative" signed in red instead of the mandated blue ink--you are out. Did not use recycled paper? You get the picture. Not all agencies are such extreme sticklers, but it doesn't make sense to risk all of your efforts over small things.
The best place to start is to identify needs (in the workforce, a particular industry, geographic region, or population) and match the needs with the strengths that Penn State Outreach has to offer. If you have an existing program that meets this definition, congratulations! If not, you may find some useful information at the Outreach Market Research Portal.
Unit Vetting
Different units require different criteria to evaluate the potential of projects to secure funding and the potential of a specific solicitation to match the unit needs. However, as varied as the criteria may be, the importance of taking the time to qualify an opportunity before investing heavily in proposal or contract development is universal.
Some guiding questions:
- Does the opportunity match our mission?
- Does it play to our strengths?
- Do we have the capabilities to deliver?
- Do we have the capacity to deliver?
- Is the amount of money available appropriate to the scale of the project?
- Do we have experience with the agency, the audience, the general topic area?
- Do we have willing internal partners (academic unit, faculty, and delivery unit)?
- What is the return on investment? Will revenue or enrollments come to Outreach? Will it better serve our communities?
- What is the longevity (repeat business) of this opportunity? Does it help you build your portfolio? Can the solution be repackaged for other audiences? Does it contribute to other efforts across Outreach delivery units?
- Do we have adequate time to prepare a response?
- What is the probability of success?
- What are the opportunity costs for pursuing the project?
See also Working with Development.
Incubator Process
- Memorandums of understanding/agreement (MOU or MOA) for over $100K that use standard legal language
- Any MOU/MOA over $25K that does not use standard legal language
- Proposals over $25K for delivery units that do not have a regular vetting process
- Proposals/contracts over $100K for delivery units that do have a regular vetting process
- Proposals/contracts that include a subcontract valued at more than 50 percent of the total value of the proposal
- Proposals or contracts that include any matching funds if those funds come from outside of the proposal unit
- Any proposal or contract for which there is no assigned delivery unit
- The activity included in the proposal is to occur outside of Pennsylvania
Meetings may be waived by the Business and Finance Office on a case-by-case basis. Please contact Bob Igo at gcc@outreach.psu.edu or 814-865-2992 for further clarification.
Effective September 2005, Jeff Smith will have signature authority for grants and contracts under $300K. Penn State's Office of Sponsored Programs will review only proposals and contracts over this amount.
Meeting Timing
Please schedule meetings no less than two weeks prior to the request for proposal (RFP) submission date. This will enable the Grants and Contracts Review Team to provide the best possible support. As an example, this time buffer enables the team to negotiate critical issues such as the application of indirect rate. The team understands that opportunities present themselves with very short time frames. The team will, of course, do its best to accommodate.
Standard Meeting Time: Tuesdays from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
Meeting Preparation
The proposal originator/principal investigator should:
- Request the meeting using the Incubator Meeting and Mandatory Proposal Launch Form
- Bring any of the following that is relevant:
Standard Meeting Agenda
- Project overview--proposal originator
- PIAF review
- Financial and budget review
- RFP and proposal discussion
- Conclusions and next steps
Other Actions
- The grants and contracts coordinator will enter information into the PIAF (if not completed).
- The team will prepare and distribute a summary report to the incubator participants and unit directors.
- The grants and contracts coordinator will prepare a monthly summary report for the Outreach Executive Team.
Meeting Attendees
- Proposal unit: project originator/principle investigator and finance person (if desired)
- Grants and Contracts Review Team: incubator team leader, grants and contracts coordinator, incubator finance person, and proposal specialist
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