Sponsored Programs

Letters of intent and internal approvals

Sometimes sponsors require applicants to submit a letter of intent (may also be called a preliminary proposal or pre-proposal) in order to be eligible to apply for a program. Letters of intent which commit specific University resources such as personnel or space, or which request funding for specific project costs, are official requests for external funding. As such they must receive all required internal approvals via AGrants prior to submission to the sponsor—just like a full grant proposal.

NSF Letters of Intent

When letters of intent or pre-proposals are required by the National Science Foundation (NSF), they must be submitted through its electronic submission system, Fastlane, by an Authorized Research Administrator. To do this, you will need to: 

• Be registered in FastLane (Sponsored Programs can do this for you);
• Upload the required materials, which will be outlined in the program solicitation;
• Notify your contact person in Sponsored Programs. That person will submit the letter of intent for you in FastLane when you have received all required internal approvals via AGrants.