Tool Kit: Negotiating Your Project Budget and Scope

Average time for notification of a grant award is six months after the proposal has been submitted.  Federal agencies may take up to ten months to process, evaluate and select proposals for funding.  Some private foundations take approximately three months to make award decisions. 

In most cases, the amount of an award will not be the amount proposed.  The difference is determined through negotiation with the sponsor.  Circumstances regarding both programmatic and budgetary elements of your proposal often will have changed since you submitted the proposal.  Particularly for federal sponsors, you must include updated information in formal negotiations.  If you know of potential savings or changes to the project, discuss these changes with the Office of Sponsored Projects before beginning negotiations so the changes can be appropriately presented to the sponsor prior to signing or accepting a final award document.

At the conclusion of the negotiation, any budgetary and programmatic changes must again be reviewed with the appropriate officers at the university, including your department head, dean, the Finance Department, the Provost and the President.  Usually, new institutional signatures must be obtained and new paperwork submitted to the sponsor before the proposal becomes an award.

An agency may provide a verbal communication in advance of the actual award, but the award is final only when the award notice has been received in writing and signed by all parties.  No work should start and no expenses should be incurred before an award is officially received and a University account is established.