Collaborators could include Stanford faculty, students or fellows, external researchers, or in-country partner organizations.

Develop an early concept note and budget for the project. Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health Research Director and Professor Steve Luby teaches a 2-day Global Health Research Methods Retreat and also developed this global health scientific writing guide.

• Review the Research Management Group (RMG) website for external Funding Opportunities.
• Review Stanford Seed Funding website for internal funding opportunities.
• Explore funding opportunities in the PIVOT system at the DoR website.
• Explore Foundation websites and talk with fellow global health researchers to seek ideas for funders.
• Sign up for Stanford School of Medicine’s RMG emails, which announce funding opportunities: rmg_communications@stanford.edu.
• Sign up for the Center for Innovation in Global Health’s newsletter, which includes a section on global health funding opportunities. 

If you are responding to a sponsor’s Request for Proposals (RFP) or Program Announcement, note their deadline for submission. Is there sufficient time for you and your collaborators to develop a competitive proposal, AND for you to obtain Stanford approval to submit a proposal? Make a go/no-go decision. 

We strongly recommend you schedule a meeting with Global Business Services (GBS), Office of Research Administration (ORA), and the Research Management Group (RMG) to discuss the scope of your research. Talking live with all three administrative groups together, and at an early stage, will streamline your administrative process ahead. Please reach out to: global_study_intake@stanford.edu. They will respond with an intake form to help guide a 30-minute consultation, to ensure a smooth administrative process for you. 

In the meantime, please prepare answers to the following questions:

• WHERE will the activity take place? 

• WHEN will the activity take place? 

• WHO will conduct the activity?

• And for HOW LONG?

Indirect costs are also known as Facilities & Administrative (F&A) costs. F&A costs are related to expenses incurred while conducting or supporting research, or other externally funded activities, but not directly attributable to a specific project (e.g. space, utilities, administration).

F&A rates are established in accordance with federal policy. They are negotiated between Stanford and the ONR (Office of Naval Research), the cognizant federal agency, which oversees the administration of sponsored agreements at Stanford. A listing of the rates and application can be found on the DoR website.  Stanford is prohibited by statute from reducing its indirect cost rate for a foreign sponsor.

Organize and manage the proposal workflow. Develop a scope of work for collaborators and a draft budget early. They can be worked through iteratively and will become the basis for the administrative agreement.

No later than 30-days prior to your sponsor’s deadline, complete a Proposal Intake Form (PIF) in the Stanford Electronic Research Administration System (SeRA) to engage the RMG and be assigned a Research Process Manager (RPM). 

A PIF requires you to identify the sponsor and provide the following:

• Project start and end dates
• Draft budget or budget justification
• Identification of collaborators or potential subaward institutions
• Copy of the program announcement (if applicable)

For more information refer to the Proposal Intake Form on the RMG Website.

Draft your research proposal. (Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health and Professor Steve Luby teaches a 2-day Global Health Research Methods Retreat, and this global health scientific writing guide produced by him may also be informative)

If you have not yet been in touch with the Global Business Services (GBS)  team, we recommend reaching out to them for a quick consultation on the scope of your in-country activities. GBS will include Stanford’s Global HR as necessary. 

Iteratively revise proposal and budget based on input from collaborators and from RMG.

Work with your RPM in RMG to finalize budget and budget justification, any other funder required documents e.g. biosketches, letters of support, GANTT chart, or Monitoring & Evaluation Plan.

If Stanford is the grantee institution and you will be subcontracting pieces of work, ensure that your collaborator/subaward recipient has the requisite support and understanding to complete the Stanford paperwork required of all subcontractors: 

• Determine if your collaborators are individuals or organizations.  RMG and ORA can help you determine if the agreement for the collaborator can go through a sub-recipient process or a procurement process. 
• Ensure that your collaborators are clear on proposal deadlines. 
• Recognize that iterative development will likely be required.
• Regular follow-up with collaborators can often address delays.
• If necessary, consider providing administrative support to the subcontractor in the preparation of their proposal documents.
• Early in the process, assess if Stanford will require that your collaborator show proof of insurance. If Stanford requests insurance, but your collaborator cannot obtain insurance or meet the Stanford requirement, it is important that you begin negotiating with Stanford legal early enough so that this does not prevent an on-time submission. Your Research Process Manager can assist. 
• Required subaward documents will vary depending on the donor, but commonly include:

• • Stanford Office of Sponsored Research form 33 (a Stanford form required for nearly every project when the proposal engages a subcontractor)
  • Scope of work (it is generally best for the person putting the whole proposal together to draft this. It is useful to share with collaborators, so that you align on purpose and can then use that to assess budget.)
  • Budget
  • Budget justification

• For NIH grants:

• • Biosketches in the NIH format
  • Description of facility/environment
  • List of other financial or in-kind support
  • Letters of support

• Follow email closely for input from RMG/SeRA or collaborators to ensure that deadlines are met.

For NIH/NSF proposals, RMG must submit on behalf of the Principal Investigator/Stanford.

For other proposals, there is often a choice. If the Principal Investigator submits, they are typically well-placed to address questions that arise and receive feedback from the donor. If the Principal Investigator submits, they need to cc their assigned Research Process Manager on the email. 

Celebrate! Get to work.

Engage the Stanford Office of Research Administration (ORA) to review and sign the award letter or contract from the funder, and set up subcontracts with your partners.

• Warning: turnaround time for ORA to negotiate the agreement is determined by the complexity of the terms and if they conflict with University policy. This can take time.
• We recommend that the PI and any senior staff that will be involved in the research schedule a kick-off meeting with ORA, where you provide a high-level overview of the project and administrative needs (e.g. subcontracts). This is an ideal time to discuss  any advance cash flow or county specific financial issues which can present unique challenges.
• Clarify what ORA needs to advance the process, so that:

• • Stanford has a signed agreement with the funder.

• • You have an open PTA so that you can spend on these funds.

• • You have an agreement with your collaborators so they can be paid for their work on the collaborative project.

• • This may involve the need for School of Medicine assurances if problematic terms cannot be deleted.

Obtain human subjects (IRB) approval to proceed with the work. 

• Develop an eProtocol.
• Stanford policy does not allow any spending on a project that engages human subjects until human subjects approval is obtained. Approval may well be a six-month process of developing a specific protocol and working with both local and Stanford human subjects committees. If securing human subject approvals for all activities from all partners delays initiating administrative steps and planning, reach out to Stanford’s Research Compliance Office and explore options that allow the administrative processes to advance. This includes the issuance of subcontracts.
• For NIH proposals, if the initial score looks fundable, initiate efforts to secure human subjects approval.

• Submit your collaborator’s subcontract for approval. If there are substantial disagreements between Stanford and your collaborator’s institution (or the attorneys), it is often useful to convene a combined meeting that includes the PI’s and/or senior scientists on both sides with ORA and the attorneys. If the scientists are involved in the conversation, they can usually quickly agree on general principles that the attorneys can then put into a document.
• Ensure that your collaborator understands how to invoice Stanford.
• Ensure that your collaborator understands the schedule and likely timeline of receiving payment from Stanford. Consider engaging in a conversation with staff in OSR. 
• Assess if your collaborator requires forward or ‘hardship’ funding to initiate activities. If they do, this is outside of the usual procedures at Stanford. It is possible to negotiate this, but it requires substantive discussions and a willingness to backstop commitments.
• Begin study implementation.