The Creative Achievement and Research Administration Team (CARAT) provides pre-award proposal development and post-award administration assistance for external sponsored awards for faculty in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS) at UMBC.
Consultations
If you are interested in investigating funding options for your creative achievement or research project, complete the Consultation Request form to request an initial consultation.
Please note that submitting this form does not immediately guarantee that our team can take on a project, but it will help us learn more and determine the support you’ll need. You may be asked to complete a new proposal form in the future.
Consultation support may include sponsor research, development of project timelines, and assistance with UMBC’s PI Eligibility process.
Pre-Award Services
Before an award has been obtained, we assist faculty members and departments by providing proposal development assistance.
To request assistance, please complete the CARAT Proposal Development form. This action will prompt a CARAT Associate or Assistant Director (ADs) to review your request. The form should be completed in its entirety and a copy of the RFP should be attached (please be sure to grant us access to the document, if necessary). An AD will review the request to determine if is feasible for CARAT to prepare an acceptable proposal before the deadline. The assistance we provide includes the following:
- Setting up an initial meeting to discuss your vision for the proposal and the fundamentals needed to complete your proposal. We will also explore the mechanisms available (or not) to process the transactions required to achieve the desired results.
- Establishing a timeline for completion of your proposal to include submission of required documents, including any subaward documents. After reviewing your RFP and talking through your plan, we will provide a checklist of items for your project, such as staff, equipment, software, travel, etcetera.
- Assisting with budget preparation.
- Acting as a liaison to UMBC’s Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP).
- Acting as a liaison to subawardee institutions.
- Assembling the proposal packet. This entails ensuring that the proposal adheres to university requirements and sponsor requirements and that the budget meets Uniform Guidance standards.
- Routing the proposal through Kuali for University approval. This includes routing to the CAHSS and any collaborating departments and centers. Depending on the size of the proposal, this list could get extensive, so we need to factor in time to accommodate the routing.
- Assisting with financial Conflict of Interest (COI) forms.
- Assisting with PI eligibility procedures, including instructions for completing PIRATE training, the PI Eligibility form, and the PAW Procurement/PeopleSoft Finance access form.
- Assisting PI with JUST In Time (JIT). We assist with other sponsored support in the event a proposal is indicated for award.
Post-Award Services
After an award has been received, we assist faculty members and departments by providing post-award administration. These services include:
- Working with OSP and the Office of Contract and Grant Accounting (OCGA) to ensure the award is set up correctly and the budget is a true reflection of the award.
- Assisting with recruiting, hiring personnel, and grant payroll.
- Assisting with procurement of supplies, equipment, software, and other grant expenses.
- Assisting with subaward processing, including purchase orders and invoices, and serving as a liaison to subaward recipients.
- Acting as a liaison to OSP and other internal UMBC departments.
- Assisting with processing travel requests and expenses, including e-travel forms, booking hotels and travel, etcetera.
- Providing assistance with budgetary accounting and budget management, including monthly monitoring, projections, no-cost extensions, award closeout, PI Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPR), and more.
- Assisting faculty with effort reporting.
How to get started
Visit our Frequently Asked Questions to learn about our policies, procedures, and processes.