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  1. Research Offices
  2. Research Development
  3. Proposal Resources and Services
  4. Proposal Services

Efficient. Responsive. Competitive.

Proposal Development Services designed to help you win.

RD offers a variety of proposal development services to faculty and staff researchers at Florida State University. Our goal is to increase efficiency by reducing the burden on individual principal investigators through effective planning and management, and improve responsiveness to funding solicitations by helping teams to understand and fulfill all proposal requirements, both of which enhance the competitiveness of our researchers.

Any externally-sponsored grant proposal that will be submitted through FSU Sponsored Research Administration (SRA) or the FSU Research Foundation (FSURF) is eligible for RD assistance. Our staff works on proposals from all colleges, departments, centers, and institutes at FSU, and our services are available for individual PIs, small teams, large teams, and institutional-level proposals.

Certain services are only available for large team/institutional proposal efforts (e.g., multiple PI or center grants), and are denoted with a *** designation. Large team proposals are defined on a case-by-case basis in collaboration with your Research Development Coordinator. If you are preparing a proposal with a budget over $10 million direct costs, please see more details on available services here.

Looking for new funding opportunities, potential collaborators, or grant writing tips? Visit our Proposal Resources page!

Planning Services

Solicitation Checklist | Proposal Outline | Timeline
| Production Plan

Production Services

Document Preparation | Team Management | Graphic Design
| Budget Development

Proofing Services

Editing | Internal Mock Review Panel | External Review | Handoff to SRA/FSURF

Planning Services

Solicitation Checklist

RD staff will “shred” the funding opportunity solicitation and sponsor guidelines pulling out each unique component of the proposal narrative, budget, and supporting documentation.

Proposal Outline

Includes all required headings and sections along with a recommended narrative outline that ensures compliance, responds to evaluation criteria, and maximizes efficiency.

Timeline 

Working backwards from the sponsor due date, we create a timeline that includes all proposal tasks while considering external factors like teaching responsibilities, travel, and holidays.

Production Plan***

We combine the funding opportunity checklist, proposal outline, and timeline, and ensure that everyone involved in the proposal knows their responsibilities, deliverables, and deadlines.
*** only available for large team/institutional proposals

Production Services

Document Preparation***

RD staff will manage the collection of information and supporting proposal documents from team members (including those outside of FSU) and revise them according to solicitation and funding agency guidelines.
*** only available for large team/institutional proposals

Team Management***

Create and maintain an online collaboration and project management system utilizing Microsoft Teams. We’ll also stay on top of team members to make sure we’re meeting the timeline.
*** only available for large team/institutional proposals

Graphic Design

RD provides support for graphics and illustrations. We also help with proposals that require multi-media components such as web pages and video pitches with referral to appropriate FSU resources.

Budget Development

In certain circumstances, RD provides proposal budget and budget justification development services. This service is limited to researchers in departments that do not have in-house budget or grants compliance staff and is negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Proofing Services

Editing

Our editors require at least one-week turnaround time for copy editing, and two weeks for content editing. We can also work with you throughout the proposal writing process by reviewing one section at a time as they are written.

Expert Reviews

Mock reviews (sometimes called “Red Teams”) are pre-submission expert reviews that follow the sponsor’s proposal review format and use the funding opportunity’s evaluation criteria. Expert reviews provide constructive comments, and a realistic estimate of the proposal’s competitiveness. FSU Research Development offers Internal Mock Review Panels with 2-3 FSU faculty experts, as well as an External Review Program with an outside expert. PIs may select one or the other for a given proposal.

Handoff to SRA/FSURF***

In cooperation with the PI and department/college grants staff, RD staff will assist with proposal preparation in RAMP and in sponsor submission systems prior to the hand-off to Sponsored Research Administration or the FSU Research Foundation for final review and submission.
*** only available for large team/institutional proposals

Who should I contact for assistance?

Our team specializes in supporting external funding proposals and has significant experience working with various sponsors, programs, and proposal formats. To find the appropriate person to work with, please view the discipline-specific research development support page.

Please Note: These services are provided by Research Development (RD), a unit of the Division of Research at Florida State University. RD is not part of Sponsored Research Administration nor the FSU Research Foundation, the FSU Foundation, nor University Business Administration. RD complements but does not replace SRA, FSURF, and/or Department-/College-based grants support staff. We also do not hold final responsibility for proposal content, nor do we approve proposal submission. For more information about the roles and responsibilities in the proposal development process, please see the Research Administration Manual.