Approval Process

The Proposal Approval Routing (PAR) process must be completed before submission occurs and requires the following approvals:

School/Department 

The Proposal Approval Routing (PAR) is routed via AdobeSign for all approvals, including department Chair and Dean/Appropriate Administrator. By the time the PAR 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 RIO and may cover the following areas depending on the proposal:

  • 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. RIO can provide guidance and consult with these departments on your behalf.

  • Chief Financial Officer or designee
  • President or designee

The AVP of RIO (as designated by The President) and the VP of Finance approve and sign all PARs before proposals are submitted. The AVP of RIO is the final signature approving all proposals. The AVP of RIO's signature indicates all departments have approved the proposal, the PARF, and supporting documents comply with sponsor regulations and CSU and Cal Maritime policies.

Timeframe

RIO is committed to processing your PAR in a timely manner. However, it is important that the PAR 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 PAR (as described above) can be successfully routed in five (5) business days; in emergency circumstances, we will attempt to route your PAR 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 RIO (especially those dependent on Cal Maritime 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 RIO to establish the method for submitting your proposal as early as possible. Generally, RIO must submit proposals through federal agency portals (e.g. NSF’s Fastlane and 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 RIO to ensure the 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, RIO will determine if additional approvals are required.