Limited Submissions

The Office of Research Development (RD) announces most limited submission opportunities from public sponsors. Announcements include detailed information about the opportunity, internal deadlines, and requirements for participating in the internal selection process. These announcements are emailed directly to the appropriate deans, department chairs, program directors, contract and grant liaisons, and researchers, and are also posted to the Office of Research limited submissions InfoReady page.

• If the Office of Research (OR) receives more Notices of Intent (NOIs) indicating more proposals than the campus is authorized to submit, RD coordinates an internal competition. 
• If OR receives no NOIs, the opportunity will remain open until filled on a first-come, first-served basis. 
• If the sponsor requires cost-sharing or other large commitments from UC Santa Cruz, the submission will need approval from the appropriate senior administrators. 

OR collaborates with Foundation Relations to coordinate the limited submission process for opportunities from private foundation sponsors. 

RD does its best to communicate announcements within a reasonable timeframe, but it is possible that RD may occasionally miss an opportunity or become aware of one belatedly. Contact resdev@ucsc.edu as soon as possible if you become aware of a limited submission that is not listed on our page.

Identifying opportunities: researchers are responsible for maintaining knowledge of limited submission opportunities that are relevant to their research interests, and notifying RD if they identify any opportunities that are not listed on the Office of Research limited submissions InfoReady page. If a researcher identifies a limited submission opportunity that they would like to apply for, they should inform RD by emailing resdev@ucsc.edu as soon as possible.

If you are interested in submitting a proposal to a Limited Submission opportunity, you should submit a brief Notice of Intent (NOI) while preparing an internal application. The NOI form asks for PI name, email, project title, and 1-2 sentence proposal description, and although required, the NOI is non-binding. Notices of Intent should be submitted in our InfoReady portal by the NOI deadline listed on the Limited Submission announcement. Individuals who have submitted NOIs will be sent instructions for submitting their internal application, if needed. If the number of NOIs do not exceed the program limits, we will let applicants know that they do not need to submit an internal application.

The internal selection committee will review and rank pre-proposals based on the following general criteria: 

• Responsiveness to the program guidelines, sponsor priorities, and solicitation review criteria.
• Intellectual merit of the proposed project and its potential impact.
• Clarity and feasibility of the project plan and objectives.
• Strengths and qualifications of the PI and the project team. 
• Alignment with the UC Santa Cruz strategic plan.
• If a resubmission, the PI’s plan to address reviewer comments from prior submission.

After review, the committee will make a recommendation to the vice chancellor for research who will then, in consultation with the committee, select projects to move forward with an external application to the appropriate sponsor. All applicants and their deans will be notified of the results and provided with a summary of the review comments, if appropriate. RD will also notify the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) of the outcome of the internal competition. If applicants are notified that they can move forward with the external application, they should submit a Start a Proposal form as soon as possible to coordinate the submission with OSP.