Research Support & Services:
BMRC Pilot Program for Grant Pre-Reviews
Released September 2009
Deadline: Approximately eight weeks prior to federal submission deadline.
The Biomedical Research Council (BMRC), in partnership with the Medical School Office of Research, offers a pilot program for grant pre-reviews for Medical School faculty planning to submit a proposal for federal funding. The goal of this program is to aid Medical School faculty in securing federal research funding by providing an NIH style review prior to external submission. Grants being reviewed can be new submissions or revisions.
Eligibility:
All full-time, on-campus instructional and research track faculty with primary appointments in the Medical School planning to submit a proposal for federal funding as the PI or co-PI. (Please note that at this time, the pilot program is designed to review individual grants, not program projects.) The federal grants if funded must reside in the Medical School.
Timeline / Process:
Eights weeks prior to federal grant deadline:
- Submit federal proposal to pre-review program. Include all parts of grant as close as possible to submission version including resources, biosketchs for key personnel, budget and budget justification, and animal and human use sections of applicable. If your grant is a revision, please also include response to the reviewers and summary statements. (Please also note new page limitations for NIH proposals submitted in 2010.)
Example: PIs submitting external grants in February should submit their application to this program for review by the first week of December.
- Please also complete the attached application form.
Download the Application Form (Word)
This is where the PI will provide the names of potential reviewers who are either internal (faculty at U of M) or external (faculty at other institutions). The BMRC will also create a list of potential qualified reviewers for each application. Please note: the reviewers will be anonymous to the PI.
- Please submit your application form and grant proposal in a single PDF document electronically to BMRC-Grant-PreReview@umich.edu. PLEASE NOTE THAT E-MAIL SUBMISSIONS ARE NOT ERROR-PROOF. WE ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF ALL ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS. If you do not receive a response from us by the end of the next business day, please call us at 734-615-8802.
Four to eight weeks prior to federal submission:
- The BMRC will arrange for your grant to be reviewed by two reviewers and will ask for detailed comments, based on the sponsor’s review criteria. Reviewers will be given two weeks to return reviews. In an effort to ensure a robust and critical review that is likely to enhance the submitting PI’s competitiveness, reviewers will be compensated for their time and effort during the pilot program.
Four to six weeks prior to federal submission:
- The PI can incorporate comments and suggested revisions from the reviewers or generate new preliminary data prior to the submission deadline for the federal agency.
Important Notes:
This is a pilot program and, as such, participation will be limited to the first 30 investigators who submit their application for review approximately 8 weeks in advance of federal submission. While we recognize the difficulty associated with the preparation of a grant application 8 weeks prior to the deadline, it is important that there is sufficient time for PIs to incorporate suggested changes prior to submission to the federal agency.
Outcome Measurements:
The BMRC will be evaluate the success of this program in increasing the priority scores by comparing the pre-reviewed applications with applications submitted without using this program. If successful, the pre-review program may be extended.
Questions?
Please feel free to contact Camille Mrozowski at cmrozow@umich.edu (734-615-8802) or Beth Moore at bmoore@umich.edu.
