UFIRST Grants Proposal System Goes Live This Month

This month, UF will launch the first phase of UFIRST—the University of Florida Integrated Research Support Tool—with the implementation of a new proposal routing system. Beginning March 23, all proposals for sponsored funding will be required to be routed through UFIRST.

Designed to significantly improve the way the Office of Research administers research, from proposals through awards, UFIRST will streamline workflow processes and improve transparency, tracking and reporting. Subsequent phases of UFIRST’s implementation will occur in the fall of 2015, when UFIRST submission to grants.gov will replace the use of Cayuse, and the spring of 2016, when a new awards system will be introduced.

Departments that currently use myUFL Proposal Express and anticipate submitting proposals between Friday, March 13, and Friday, March 20, should have all electronic routing completed by March 12. Any proposals initiated between March 13 and March 20 must use the paper DSP-1. The DSP-1 can be found on the Office of Research Forms and Templates webpage under Sponsored Projects Approval Forms. All proposals routed after March 20 will be required to use UFIRST.

For more information about UFIRST—including frequently asked questions, training information, and a project timeline—please visit http://research.ufl.edu/faculty-and-staff/initiatives/ufirst.html.