A new proposal is one being submitted to a given sponsor for the first time. Some federal agencies will not review a proposal submitted simultaneously to another federal sponsor. If a sponsor rejects a proposal, the principal investigator may use the feedback received from the reviewers to revise and resubmit the proposal. The resubmission is processed as if it were a new proposal.
Many sponsors fund multiple-year projects.
Funds will usually be awarded one year at a time, based on availability, with the expectation that the entire project will be supported. Some sponsors require that the principal investigator submit a new proposal for each year of the project, even though all years were included in the original proposal. These continuation proposals will not be subject to competitive review as was the initial proposal. The internal review process for continuations proposals is a streamlined version of the original review. For example, if cost sharing commitments for each year were already made and documented, and if there are no changes in the resources committed, the original approval process for cost sharing will not need to be duplicated.