Sonoma State University

Endorsement Process

School/Department approvals

The Proposal Endorsement Form (PEF) is routed via AdobeSign for all approvals, including department Chair/Supervisor and Dean/Appropriate Administrator. By the time the PEF is routed for approval by your Department Chair and Dean/Appropriate Administrator, they should be well aware of your intentions to submit the proposal.

Institutional approvals

Institutional approvals are obtained by ORSP and cover the following areas:

  • Information Technology
  • Capital Planning (Facilities)
  • Environmental Health & Safety
  • Procurement
  • Risk Management
  • Human Resources
  • Faculty Affairs

You should contact these departments earlier in the proposal development process to address any issues that might delay the approval of your proposal. ORSP can provide guidance and consult with these departments on your behalf.

  • Chief Financial Officer or designee
  • President or designee

The President has designated the AVP of Faculty Affairs & Success (AVP FAS) and the Chief Financial Officer has designated the AVP for Administration and Finance to approve and sign all PEFs before proposals are submitted. The AVP FAS is the final signature approving all proposals. The AVP FAS’s signature indicates all departments have approved the proposal and the PEF and supporting documents comply with sponsor regulations and California State University and Sonoma State University policies.

Timeframe

ORSP is committed to processing your PEF in a timely manner. However, it is important that the PEF package be complete, approved by your department Chair/Supervisor and Dean/Appropriate Administrator, and cleared of any issues pertaining to campus departments who are part of the institutional approval process.

Our general guideline is that a complete PEF (as described above) can be successfully routed in five (5) business days; in emergency circumstances, we will attempt to route your PEF in two (2) business days (excessive abuse of the 5 day guideline is discouraged).

This timeframe is specifically related to your proposal endorsement. Any other services provided by ORSP (especially those dependent on SSU departments and/or external organizations) cannot be guaranteed to be completed in this time frame.

Please be considerate of your colleagues and begin early in your proposal development process to ensure all considerations requiring internal approval and/or external input are obtained in a timely manner.

Submitting your proposal

You should work with ORSP to establish the method for submitting your proposal as early as possible. Generally, ORSP must submit proposals through federal agency portals (e.g. NSF’s Research.gov, Grants.gov).

Other agencies may allow direct submission of your proposal from you. Your submission may be by mail, email or another form of electronic submission.

You will be notified once your proposal has been fully endorsed. You should work with ORSP to ensure endorsed proposal is consistent with the proposal you submit to the sponsoring agency. Significant differences may require rerouting for reapprovals.

Proposal Revisions

If a proposal requires revision after it has been approved and endorsed by the Provost, ORSP will determine if additional approvals are required.