It's best to contact ORDA's pre-award staff as soon as you know that you will have to submit part or all of a proposal electronically, whether to NSF or to any other agency. Some procedures have not changed. SIUC's internal proposal review and sign-off procedures currently are the same for electronically prepared proposals as for traditional proposals. When an electronic sign-off procedure is developed, ORDA will inform faculty and staff. 5.5 Proposal Revision and Resubmission Many faculty and staff with an excellent record of grant funding did not succeed on their first, second, or even third attempts.
Rejections can seem devastating, but they often can be used as a valuable learning opportunity.
If your proposal is turned down by a funding agency, you should request reviewers' comments and seek feedback from the program officer. The program officer, your colleagues, and ORDA's project specialists may have suggestions for you in this regard. If the agency is encouraging about resubmission, your chances of success on a second go-round are good. Respond specifically to reviewers' comments in the narrative of the revised proposal, pointing out changes made to strengthen the proposal in the areas judged to be weak and clarifying information that may have been misinterpreted in the initial review. You can further help your cause by working closely with the program officer, being willing to rethink aspects of the project based on the funding agency's feedback, and being as objective as possible in revising the proposal.