Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP)

Pre-Award Process 

Only regular HPU faculty or full-time employees are eligible to serve as Project Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) or Co-PI and may submit grant proposals. 

The Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) provides guidance and support throughout the proposal development and submission process.   

Step 1: Identify Grant Opportunity   

• Before drafting your proposal, discuss your project idea with your dean and OSP. 
• Begin discussions at least 30 days before the proposal deadline, or as soon as possible after the opportunity is announced.   

Step 2:  HPU Internal Review and Approval 

All grant applications must undergo internal review and approval from HPU before submission.   

• Complete the OSP Proposal Information & Budget Form and obtain your dean's signature.   

• Submit the signed form to OSP (PREAWARD@HPU.EDU) for routing and institutional review and approvals.   
• Faculty, administrators, and staff may not submit proposals on behalf of HPU without prior approval from OSP.   

Step 3: Develop Proposal   

• Prepare your proposal materials: narrative or project description, budget and budget justification, letters of support, required forms and certifications, subrecipient documents (if applicable) 

Step 4: Submit Proposal  

• Submit the complete proposal package to OSP (PREAWARD@HPU.EDU) at least 10 business days before the sponsor’s deadline. 

• This allows time for full proposal and budget review, coordination with Office of University Counsel (OUC), HR, or Financial Aid if needed, and final institutional approval and signature. 

• OSP and/or the PI will submit the proposal to the funding agency.    

Step 5: Award Negotiation & Acceptance   

• Negotiating and resolving proposal and award issues may require coordination among the sponsoring agency, OSP, PD/PI, OUC, and the Business Office. 

• Prior to acceptance, OSP and OUC will review the award to ensure its compatibility with the university's sponsored research regulations, policies, and procedures, inclusion of all agreed-upon elements, approved contract language, and the PD/PI's concurrence with any non-standard or complex terms. 

• OSP and OUC have the primary responsibility for negotiating award terms and conditions with sponsors. The final authority to accept an award rest with OSP and/or OUC.   

Payment/Reimbursement Processing

PD/PI is responsible for initiating all grant-related payment processing including submitting vendor invoices, expenses reimbursement and Purchasing Card purchases. PD/PI should follow the OSP procurement policy and HPU travel policy and additional guidelines listed in this guidebook to get appropriate approval.

For each expense/reimbursement process, the PD/PI should consider the following:

1. Check the grant budget.
2. Check the agreement to confirm any unallowable items.
3. Write down the justification (the reason of spending) which needs to benefit to the specific grant and then sign and submit to OSP along with a copy of the budget to identify the available of budget amount and category.
4. Email the forms and backup information to GRANT_PMT@HPU.EDU . All requests will be processed by first come first process base. Special requests will be evaluated case by case base.
5. If the payment is made through the p-card, PI needs to make sure the balance of the grant is good enough to cover the payment. OSP will check on the allowability—it will be a risk for the payer to absorb the expense if the payment is not allowable. If the amount is over $2500, need to get pre-approval from OSP
6. For Grant-funded travel, pre-approval should be submitted before traveling.

When OSP receives the request, Senior Grant Specialist – Grant Accounting (SGS-GA) will check all needed documents, all required approvals, the budget allowability and balance of the category to approve. If the PD/PI provides a copy of the budget, it will move the approval faster.

After OSP approves the payment, the request will be forwarded to the Business Office for processing.

Any participant support payment or stipend, PD/PI should allow more time to work with SGS-GA. Those requests are very labor intensive and need a lot of documents collected such as vendor form, W-9. OSP is very eager to assist the PD/PIs. However, more preparation time is needed to prepare a successful experience.

Billing the Sponsors (Fund Drawdown and Invoicing)

Most of the grants and contracts are cost reimbursable. OSP will run Cognos financial report per grant fund number. OSP will perform a review of the financial records and then send them to the PD/PI for review. If any errors and any missing transaction will be fixed in this time. If PD/PI confirms no issue, OSP will notify the Business Office for fund drawdown and draft out the invoices to the Business Office to review, sign off and send to the sponsor.

The Business Office will perform fund drawdown from The Payment Management Services (PMS) to request grant payments if the direct sponsors are Federal agencies. The Business Office will submit invoices to direct sponsor for payment if the direct sponsor is a non-federal agency. The prime sponsor may be federal agencies and pass the federal funding through non-federal agencies to HPU.

A very small portion of grants and contracts are “fix-priced”. The funding of the grants/contract is fixed regardless of the actual spending. Those contracts are mainly deliverable or product. The Business Office and OSP will work with PIs to confirm the deliverables before invoicing.

Once a contract is fully executed and the project budget is entered into Banner, OSP schedules a kickoff meeting with the PD/PI and relevant departmental staff to review award requirements and ensure readiness for implementation.

Topics covered include:

• Award terms and conditions — Sponsor requirements and reporting deadlines.
• Project management plan — Timeline, scope of work, and deliverables.
• Financial procedures — Responsible spending, procurement standards, and P-Card use.
• Personnel and payroll — Hiring grant-funded staff and certifying time and effort.
• Research compliance — Confirming RCR/COI training is complete and IRB/IACUC protocols are active.

This meeting ensures the PD/PI and department are equipped to maintain compliance with institutional and federal requirements, including Uniform Guidance 2 CFR §200.303.

Please refer to Page 13 in the HPU Grant Guidebook.

HPU ensures that all research activities adhere to the rigorous regulatory and ethical standards governing higher education.

Human Subjects | HHS / OHRP - Complete CITI training and submit a full IRB application before recruitment.

Animal Welfare | USDA / OLAW - Obtain IACUC approval, follow approved protocols exactly, and maintain care logs.

Conflict of Interest | NIH / NSF - Disclose financial interests annually and follow management plans for identified conflicts.

Research Integrity | ORI / OIG - Maintain raw data for the required retention period and report suspected misconduct to the RIO.

Export Control | Commerce / State - Screen foreign collaborators and consult the Export Control Officer before sharing data abroad.

Biosafety | NIH / CDC - Register projects involving recombinant DNA with the IBC and follow BSL standards.

Effort Reporting | OMB - Certify effort and salary honestly; never overstate time spent on a project.

Intellectual Property | USPTO - Disclose inventions promptly to the Office of Tech Transfer and acknowledge federal funding on publications.

Please refer to Appendix V: University Research Compliance Matrix in the HPU Grant Guidebook.