Most proposals, especially to federal sponsors, require OCG’s involvement, and you should contact your Proposal Analyst as early as possible. OCG will help develop your budget and guide you through the submission process as well as check to ensure that your proposal complies with sponsor guidelines, and any other relevant policies and regulations. Many sponsors also require that an Authorized Organizational Representative (or Signing Official) submit your proposal. Even if the sponsor allows the PI to submit the proposal, if funding will come through the University, OCG will still need to review the full proposal prior to submission. Submitting without OCG’s assistance can result in detrimental budget errors and delays in processing your award. Here are two situations in which you may not need to involve OCG: Preliminary proposals (or similar – such as white papers or concept papers) do not require OCG involvement unless a budget is included, or if the sponsor requires that an Authorized Organizational Representative submit the pre-proposal. Fellowships that do not require an institutional endorsement and the funding will go directly to the student may be submitted directly by the student without OCG involvement. In any instance, if you’d like assistance with budgeting, please contact your Proposal Analyst.