Grant Guidelines - County Employees

The following guidelines are “general” guidelines. Each situation needs to be evaluated on what is proposed and also funding agency guidelines.

When should grant proposals be sent through NDSU for approval? Grant proposals that are requesting operating (travel, materials, supplies or any other non-salary or equipment expenditure) funds may best be handled through the county. If salary dollars for NDSU employees are requested, the grant must be handled through NDSU which means that it needs to be approved by NDSU before it is submitted to the funding agency.

If a grant is to be awarded to NDSU, it needs to conform to NDSU’s policies and procedures as well as any applicable federal circulars. Contact Ona Vig early in the proposal development process for proposals that will be approved by NDSU.

Steps involved in the NDSU grant proposal approval process

1. Obtain approval from your District Director before you proceed in writing the proposal.
2. Contact Ona Vig (231-8528, ona.vig@ndsu.edu) early in the proposal development process.
3. The Principal Investigator/Project Director (PI/PD) writes the grant proposal.
4. For proposal preparation helpful tips, see information on the Research and Creative Activity Knowledge Base at https://kb.ndsu.edu/research/147271
5. For institutional information, such as official address for all sponsored project matters, authorization institutional representative, frequently used numbers, fringe benefits rates, facilities and administrative cost rate (indirect costs), and proposal routing procedure, go to https://kb.ndsu.edu/research/147269
6. The PI/PD completes a proposal using the Novelution System. https://www.ndsu.edu/research/for_researchers/novelution
7. If your project involves research on recombinant DNA, vertebrate animals or human subjects, please see the NDSU Sponsored Programs Administration website for compliance considerations at https://kb.ndsu.edu/research/147306
8. Once the proposal has been reviewed and is approved the PI/PD receives notice generated by Novelution and a Letter of Intent is generated.
9. The PI/PD then submits the approved proposal to the funding agency unless it is an electronic submission to the federal government for agencies like USDA/NIFA, NSF, NIH, etc. Proposals that are completed in these online systems will be submitted by Sponsored Programs.

Steps 4 - 7 will probably take a minimum of 8 - 10 days so it is important to allow enough time for the process.

Proposals that are submitted through NDSU will normally not use matching funds from a county office because of the difficulty in obtaining the appropriate approval from the county before a grant application is submitted and the documentation of matching funds. If matching funds from a county are needed, approval from an appropriate county official (auditor, commissioner, etc.) will need to accompany the grant proposal when it is submitted for approval. This is covered under Section 800 and 801 in the NDSU Policy Manual.

The approval process for grants processed in the county may vary greatly from county to county but it is advisable to have approval from a county official before submitting a grant proposal. The fiscal responsibility for grants awarded to the county lies with the county. When a grant proposal is submitted by an extension employee, the district director MUST review the proposal prior to submission. Also, if cost sharing or matching funds are part of the proposal, only county resources may be used. Salaries of anyone who receives a paycheck from NDSU may not be used as match on grant proposals awarded to counties.

Some points to remember

• For more information on NDSU grant policies and procedures go to NDSU Research and Creative Activity at https://www.ndsu.edu/research. Do not use NDSU’s federal ID number (45-6002439) or other NDSU identifiers on grant applications that will be awarded to a county. The award should be made to “Cavalier County,” not “NDSU Extension.”
• Has your district director reviewed your application?
• Has an appropriate county official approved your application?
• If matching funds are required, contact the person who is authorized to confirm the availability of matching funds. Make sure the person authorizing the funds is authorized to commit the funds for the project.
• If subcontracts are involved, documentation from an appropriate official of the subcontractor’s organization approving their participation is required before the proposal will be approved by NDSU.
• Be conscious of ALL reporting requirements, especially financial reporting requirements.
• Follow the instructions exactly, read the RFP thoroughly. Don’t hesitate to contact the funding agency to see if your proposed idea fits the scope of their organization or a particular RFP, you don’t want to waste your time writing a proposal and their time reviewing a proposal that doesn’t fit the mission of the funding agency.
• Contact the funding agency to get examples of funded proposals if you are unsure about how to present certain parts or all of the proposal. Please keep in mind they may or may not be available to you.
• See Sections 800-823 of NDSU Policies and Procedures Manual at http://www.ndsu.edu/policy for additional information on NDSU grant policies and procedures.