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Boston Medical Center Health System complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, national origin (including limited English proficiency and primary language), religion, culture, physical or mental disabilities, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity and/or expression. BMCHS provides free aids and services to people with disabilities and free language services to people whose primary language is not English.

To read our full Nondiscrimination Statement, click here.

Pre Award

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Pre-award forms listed below.

Forms

General

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Systems

InfoEd is BMC's research grant proposal development, submission and tracking system - providing a system-to-system interface with grants.gov.

Getting started:

You must have a BMC user name and password, as well as an active BMC or BU e-mail account.  If you do not have a BMC username, please contact BMC IT (617-414-4500) to obtain one. Once obtained, e-mail RIS@bmc.org to gain access to InfoEd.

If you plan to submit proposals through InfoEd to NIH, you must also have an active NIH eRA Commons user ID.  If you do not have an eRA Commons user ID, please contact Robina Folland in Pre Award, 4-7536.

How do I apply for a grant?

Please contact your Grant Administrator  in the Research Operations Grants and Contracts Office.They will answer any questions you may have about submitting proposals through BMC. They will also assist Investigators and Research Administrators:

  1. Obtain a Username and Password and train on the BMC electronic Proposal Development system, InfoEd.
  2. Obtain the appropriate internal forms and Institutional information required for grant application
  3. Coordinate a time line for proposal submission.  

Additional guidance outlining the requirements for Federal applications, can also be found through the BMC Grants and Contracts Office's Proposal Submission Guide and Checklist

What is the name and address for the authorized signatory?

The BMC Authorized Organization Representative and signatory for sponsored programs is: 

Tina DaSilva, Executive Director
BMC Research Operations
960 Massachusetts  Avenue, 2nd Fl
Boston, MA 02118-2690
617-414-2890

How do I get an eRA commons name?

If you are a BMC Principal Investigator, please email the grants.admin@bmc.org website with the following information:  Full Name, Department/Section, Phone Number and email address.  If you don't get a response in two days, please contact your Grants and Contracts Office Grant Administrator. 

 Should my application go through the BMC Research Operations/Grants and Contracts Office (RO G&C) or the BU Office of Sponsored Programs (BU OSP)?

Please see the Space Matrix to find out through which Institution you should submit your application

 How far in advance of the Sponsor's deadline should I submit an application to the Grants and Contracts office for review, approval and submission?

Types of Documents Submission

Initial Review of Administrative Components due

Completed Administrative Components due

Final Application Due

InfoEd PD Proposals   System to System

10 business days before the sponsor deadline

5 business days before the sponsor deadline

2 business days before the sponsor deadline

Please review BMC Proposal Submission Policy  For Federal applications submitted electronically through InfoEd, the following time line should be honored:

Where do I get training for InfoEd?

Please contact Grants.Admin@bmc.org to inquire about training opportunities.

Who is my Proposal Development Specialist?

Please see the Research Operations Directory & Portfolio Distribution.

 What internal documents need to be submitted to the grants office with the application?

Proposal Summary sheet  (required for all applications)

Conflict of Interest form(s) for key personnel, non- key personnel, and unpaid consultants (required for all new applications, and non- competing applications if there is a change in the previously reported conflict)

Conflict of interest forms should be filled out prior to grant submission through the BU Compliance Office's online system found here.  For all questions regarding Conflict of Interest please contact COI@bu.edu.

Letter of Intent (if subcontracts)

 Who do I need to complete conflict of interest (FCOI) forms for?

For new proposal and contracts, for non-competing continuations/progress reports, and for yearly amendments to contracts, FCOIs must be submitted for all "investigators" and key personnel listed on the BMC proposal (including non-key and unpaid personnel if they fit the FCOI definition of "investigator"). FCOIs do not need to be submitted for personnel listed on a subcontract to an outside institution if this institution has an existing conflict of interest policy.

I am a new investigator at BMC, is there anything I need to do before I submit a grant through the BMC grants office?

You will need an InfoEd account in order to submit grants through our office. Contact RBIS@bmc.org to have one setup. Please include the fallowing information when contacting RBIS:

  • Full name
  • Role in InfoEd (PI/administrator/restricted administrator/development)
  • E-mail
  • Department/Section
  • Address
  • Phone & fax numbers
  • Title (optional)
  • BU ID (for BU PI's)
  • eRA Commons ID( for PI's , if available)

For a federal grant application you will need an eRA commons username affiliated with BMC. Contact your Grant Administrator to have one setup or to have BMC affiliated to an existing account. **This must be done at least 48 hours before the grant is submitted**

The Grant Administrator  assigned to assist with your application is department and section based

 What is a cost-share and what needs to be done if one is proposed on the budget?

In general, a departmental account number must be provided on the proposal summary sheet for any costs required and shown on the application's budget but not requested from the sponsor. This includes "donating time/effort" and "in- kind contributions" on a project.

**Federal Funds can not be used as a cost-sharing source**

The full research cost-sharing policy can be found here:  http://10.153.11.138/grants/post_policies.htm 

 If Boston Medical Center is going to be a subcontract on an application submitted by another institution, what needs to be submitted to the BMC grants office?

At a minimum, we require a Letter of Intent (LOI), scope of work, detailed budget, budget justification, and BMC internal paperwork. The prime institution may also request biosketches, resources/facilities pages, letters of support, etc. You should coordinate with your collaborators at the prime institution to determine exactly what they require prior to submitting the paperwork to the BMC grants office.

 Do I need to do anything if my budget proposes patient ancillary costs?

Any budgets proposing patient care costs should be forwarded to the Clinical Trial Office (CTO). We recommend you discuss patient ancillary costs with your Clinical Trial Financial Analyst; before you develop the budget.

 What is the difference between a subcontract and a consultant?

Subcontract

  • Collaborator will have programmatic decision making responsibility
  • Collaborator will manage technical and administrative aspects of a portion of the overall project statement of work
  • Collaborator will perform work as part of an institutional appointment and utilize their institutional facilities such as, students, staff, patient population...etc.
    • Subcontract costs are excluded from BMC's indirect cost calculation in the budget.

Consultant

  • An individual/firm/organization identified to provide professional advice or services for a fee
  • Operates in a competitive environment
  • Does not participate in the programmatic decision making of the project
  • Provides similar goods or services to many different purchasers
  • BMC's indirect costs are applied to all consultant costs.

**If the consultant is an individual affiliated with another academic institution, the services must be provided outside of their institutional time commitments, without use of their institutional resources, and paid directly to the consultant as an individual and is subject to income taxes**

**BMC employees can not be paid consultants on BMC grants**

 What is the earliest start date I can have for my budget?

Sponsor guidelines usually dictate what the earliest start date you can have for your budget as well as the length of the budget and project periods. You should review the sponsor guidelines carefully before developing the budget.

For NIH grants, the earliest start date is often dictated by the funding cycle in which the grant is submitted. We recommend reviewing the specific program announcement to confirm due dates and budget start dates. The standard funding cycle chart can be found below.

 

Cycle I

Cycle II

Cycle III

Scientific Merit Review

June - July

October - November

February - March

Advisory Council Round

August or October *

January

May

Earliest Project Start Date

September or December *

April

July


NOTES:

The actual date of the Advisory Council may occur in the month before or after the month listed.  For example, some ICs may actually hold the January Advisory Council meeting in February or the October Advisory Council meeting in September.

Awarding components may not always be able to honor the requested start date of an application.  Before incurring any pre-award obligations or expenditures applicants should be aware of NIH policy governing pre-award costs prior to receiving a Notice of Award.  See the NIH Grants Policy Statement.

* Advisory Council Round for Cycle I applications may be August or October, and their earliest project start date may be September or December respectively.

Where can I find general research compliance information?

For HIPAA Information:

For General Research Compliance Issues for both BMC/BU Research, go to:  http://www.bu.edu/orc

For questions about human subject research, go to:  http://www.bumc.bu.edu/irb/

For questions regarding animal research, go to: http://www.bu.edu/animalcare/ or http://www.bu.edu/orccommittees/iacuc/ (IACUC)

Who can be a Principal Investigator on a research proposal?

Boston Medical Center does not currently have a policy limiting who can be PI or apply for a grant, however approval and support is required from the applicable department/division.

When do I need to use the Facilities and Administrative (F&A) request reduction form?

The full F&A DHHS negotiated rates must be used on all applications, unless the sponsor has a posted a reduced rate.   The exception is Industrial Clinical Trial budgets , which are usually 30%.

If the Investigator want to reduce the OH rate from the published rates, a F&A reduction form must be submitted to the Grants and Contracts Office at the start of the budget development process. 

If the reduction request’s OH loss is ≥ $25k over the life of the project, this form must be signed by the Department Chair, as well as the following individuals.

Reduction Amount Final Approval
Up to $25K Director, Grants and Contracts or Director, Clinical Trial Office
$25K-100K Executive Director, Research
>$100K Chief Financial Officer

The full Facilities and Administrative Rate Policy can be found here.

 How do I sign up to be on the Research Operations e-mail distribution list?

Please contact Grants.Admin@BMC.org to be added to the Research Operations distribution list.

Who is responsible for proposal and pre-award post submissions material? E.g. Just-In-Time, NIH post submission material?

All requests for pre-award post submission material must be reviewed by the Grants and Contracts Office prior to submission to the sponsor. At times the sponsor may directly contact the PI and Research Administrator. In order to better serve the research community we request that this information be forwarded to our office. We will be able to provide support and guidance on post-submission documentation prior to submission to the sponsor.

Compliance Related

1. Office of Human Research Affairs: FAQ's - Quality Assurance Reviews

2. Office of Human Research Affairs: FAQ's - Research Participants

When do I need to complete an InfoEd entry?

A new InfoEd entry should be completed for all grants prior to review and submission. Electronic grant applications to many federal agencies, including NIH, CDC, and AHRQ, should be developed using the SF424 (system to system) mechanism. For grant types that do not use the system to system mechanism, information should be entered through InfoEd using the "generic sponsors" option. Instructions for both can be found online or in the pre-award training manual. http://10.153.11.138/grants/nihcommons.html 

 What are some helpful hints for system to system electronic grant applications in InfoEd?

In the setup page:

The PI of the application must be selected here.

  1. DO NOT copy applications from an existing proposal in InfoEd. Even if you are resubmitting a grant that was previously developed in InfoEd, all applications must be created new.
  2. When initiating a system-to-system application in InfoEd to NIH, select National Institute of Health/DHHS as your sponsor. If you wish for your application to be assigned to a specific institute within NIH, you can indicate this in your cover letter
  3. You must select a valid opportunity number
  4. Make sure the primary department is selected under "PI Departments". You may need to add this manually. Do NOT change the "Associated Department". This is the PI's division. If this in incorrect, please contact todd.erceg@BMC.org to update.
  5. Select "Budget by Total Project" as the budgeting model. It is easier to develop the budget using this scheme.

In the SF424 (R&R) page:

  1. Todd Erceg should be selected as the Administrative Official and Authorized Representative. Click on the blank boxes and a drop down menu will appear. By selecting Todd, his information will automatically populate the boxes.

In the personnel page:

  1. All key personnel/significant contributors must have their entire personal profiles filled out (including zip code).
  2. Biosketches should be in the new NIH format with a personal statement.
    1. 15 publications MAX.
    2. No $ amounts or % effort should be listed on research support section.
    3. Biosketches are typically limited to 4 pages, but special funding opportunities may limit it to 2 pages. Review the sponsor guidelines to confirm.
    4. Certain fellowship/training applications require a different biosketch template for fellows/trainees. Review the guidelines for the specific fellowship to see if this applies to your application.
  3. If you want to include a biosketch for a consultant, add them as a significant contributor in the personnel section. Their consultant fee (if applicable) should still be listed under non-personnel costs in the budget page.
  4. Make sure Pubmed Central IDs are included in the PI biosketch and references section for any publications that are NIH-funded and authored/co- authored by the PI.
  5. Make sure that eRA Commons username is listed in the Credential box for the PI. The application will not be accepted by NIH/AHRQ/CDC if this is omitted or incorrect.

In the budget page:

  1. Modular grants should have a budget justification for personnel only.
  2. In applications using non-modular budgets, the subcontract justification should be added to the BMC justification and uploaded as one document. In applications using modular budgets, the subcontract justification should be uploaded as a separate document in the Consortium Justification.

**Specific instructions and more detailed information for system to system applications can be found in Appendix B of the PreAward training manual as well as the BMC internal grants website:  http://10.153.11.138/grants/nihcommons.html

 What are some helpful hints for Generic sponsor applications?

 

  1. Generic sponsor applications in InfoEd are a way to submit all other application types to the BMC grants office for review and approval. This includes, but is not limited to, foundation grants, federal electronic applications that can not be submitted system to system, paper applications, subcontract applications, etc.
  • If you have any questions whether an application should be developed using the system to system mechanism or generic sponsors, please contract your PDS. 
  1. Components of the application must be uploaded in the Internal Documents tab for us to retrieve and review.
  2. The budget tab of the generic sponsor template must be completed even if a separate budget page is uploaded in the Internal Documents tab.
  3. When completing an Adobe package for federal applications that cannot be submitted system to system thru InfoEd, do not include spaces, numbers, or special characters in attachment filenames. Using underscores is OK. Also, all attachments in Adobe grants package must be converted to PDFs.
  4. If BMC is a subcontract, the proposal sponsor should be set as the prime institution (eg. Children's Hospital) in InfoEd. The originating sponsor (e.g. NIH) can be set on the setup questions page, once the question "Is this a flow through Project?" is marked "yes".
  • **Specific instructions and more detailed information for generic sponsor applications can be found in Appendix C of the Pre Award training manual

Institutional Policies

Standard Operating Procedures

General

 Guidelines on Authorship 

Training

General

Resources

NIH Forms Version E Series Instructions

General

Contacts

 Research Operations Directory & Portfolio Distribution