Limited Submissions FAQ

Yes. Each opportunity is reviewed independently.

Contact RDS as soon as possible so other potential applicants can move forward with a submission to the funder. Certain limited submissions are very competitive at UA, e.g. the National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program. If you receive the ticket to be the institutional submission for a competitive limited submission opportunity (i.e. an opportunity where there was competition for the permission) and you choose not to submit and you do not notify us within four weeks of the sponsor deadline of your decision, you will be ineligible to reapply in the following cycle.

Contact RDS during normal business hours (M-F, 9a-5p) at 621-8585 or email ResDev@email.arizona.edu for assistance using Arizona Cultivate or for questions regarding any Limited Submission internal competition.

Occasionally some funding opportunities will be managed as Institutionally Coordinated Submissions and will appear on the Limited Submission table with that designation. Usually, these opportunities are for large and/or complex funding opportunities that require institutional support, core facilities, or leadership approval. To guarantee the submission of the strongest proposal(s) to the funder, RDS coordinates the institutional UA response.

Existing programs or centers with no break in funding (i.e. successful prior renewals or first competitive renewal) will have the opportunity to recompete to the sponsor without internal competition for two submission cycles. If, however, the existing program or center is unsuccessful in obtaining its renewal after two consecutive submissions, an internal limited submission competition will occur. If other pre-proposals are received for the limited submission competition, it is not guaranteed that the PI of the existing programs or centers will be granted the ticket. 

Many large and/or complex proposals require significant preparation time for development and coordination. To provide the submitting PI or team the maximum amount of time to focus on the external application, internal Limited Submission contests are run well in advance of the external deadline.

An “Upcoming” limited submission is currently accepting pre-proposals through a campus-wide competition with an established internal deadline. An “Open” limited submission means that the internal deadline has passed without any pre-proposals submitted for review: thus, the first expression of interest that RDS receives will be accepted as the institutional submission. A “Completed” limited submission means that the external deadline has passed, and no further proposals are accepted by the funder. “Completed” limited submissions on the Limited Submission Table record the names of the UA institutional selections that received the ticket to submit to the opportunity.

A “ticket” is the terminology RDS and Sponsored Projects & Contracting Services use to designate an approved institutional submission for a limited submission opportunity. The “ticket” will be sent to the approved PI/Team via email from Resdev@email.arizona.edu. 

Visit the Limited Submissions page on the UA Research Gateway to download guidelines and for a complete and searchable table of all upcoming, open, and completed Limited Submissions.

Limited Submissions are funding opportunities where the funder has limited the number of applications from an organization. Research Development Services (RDS) facilitates Limited Submissions for federal and foundation opportunities for UA and ensures only eligible institutional proposals are submitted to the funder.

While every effort is made to adhere to our preferred Limited Submissions timeline, there are instances when the interval between becoming aware of a limited submission and the sponsor’s deadline makes it impractical to follow our process. In those cases, broad announcements may not be made, expedited reviews with limited or no feedback comments may be performed, and/or submission slots may be awarded on a first-identified basis. Generally, if there are less than six weeks between the identification of the opportunity and the sponsor’s deadline, a competition will not be run, and the competition will be listed as Open or submission permission will be awarded on a first-identified basis.