Contents
What is a proposal letter?
Pre-Proposal
Solicited Proposal
Renewal and Continuation
Proposals
Limited Solicitations
Revised Budgets
Writing an Informal Proposal
Sample Proposal Letter
Proposal writing
What is a proposal letter?
A proposal is a request for
support of sponsored research, training or other creative activity submitted in
accordance with the funding sponsor's instructions. Proposals are
written when people need to ask permission to make a purchase, do a project, or
write a paper; the proposal is a formal way of putting forth an idea and asking
for action to be taken on that idea.
Types of proposal
Pre-Proposal
Solicited Proposal
Renewal and Continuation Proposals
Limited Submissions
Revised Budgets
Solicited Proposal
Renewal and Continuation Proposals
Limited Submissions
Revised Budgets
Pre-Proposal
This type of proposal is requested when a sponsor wishes to
minimize an applicant’s effort in preparing a full proposal. They are usually
in the form of a letter of intent or a brief abstract of what the PI plans to
do, how the PI will conduct the project and why this project has merit. A
pre-proposal establishes a foundation for discussion; it does not commit the PI
or the University to anything. However, since these proposals often do become
the basis for negotiation for funding, if a budget is included in the
submission, Proposal Services will route it for the appropriate University signatures.
When requested by the sponsor, the pre-proposal may be used to determine how
well the project fits the agency’s priorities. Also, the preliminary proposal
may determine selection for the next stage of the application, help in the
selection of possible reviewers and possibly offer a chance for feedback to the
PI. After the preproposal is reviewed, the sponsor notifies the investigator if
a full proposal is warranted.
Solicited Proposal
Sponsors solicit formal proposals by publishing specific
program announcements. These solicitations are often called Request for
Proposals (RFPs), Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs), Broad Agency
Announcements (BAAs), etc. Researchers responding to the program announcement
write the proposal to meet the sponsor’s program guidelines. Deadlines may
recur annually or several times a year.
A response to a Request for Proposal (RFP) is one type of solicited
proposal. Most RFP’s have a stated deadline and are one-time solicitations for
specific needs of the sponsor, not expected to recur. The proposed project must
respond to the specific work statement in the Request for Proposal.
Renewal and Continuation Proposals
A competing renewal proposal (also
called a competing continuation)
is a request for continued funding of a project for which the funding or
project period is about to terminate. Such proposals are similar to
"new" proposals and must be routed and approved in the same manner.
Noncompeting continuation proposals, which request the next year’s
funding within a multi-year grant, generally consist of a progress report,
budget, and other relevant materials such as research results, reprints, vitae
for new personnel, etc. They sometimes include a financial status report
showing the unobligated balance for the current year. Generally, sponsors
require the signature of the institutional official and investigators.
Noncompeting continuation proposals are routed through UAccess Research, even
if a budget is not required.
Limited Solicitations
Occasionally, sponsors announce program funding
opportunities, limiting the number of proposals that may be submitted by each
institution/applicant. Research, Discovery & Innovation distributes
the program applications to the appropriate deans and center directors, who, in
turn, distribute to the appropriate faculty, depending on the subject matter of
the program. Faculty interested in submitting proposals send a one-page
description of the proposed project and copy of their curriculum vitae to their
Dean. The major criterion for selecting proposals is the relevance to the
program selection criteria and the potential for successfully competing in the
sponsor’s competitive process. Faculty whose pre-proposals survive the
institutional pre-competition will prepare a complete application to submit to
the sponsor.
Revised Budgets
When a sponsor wants to fund a proposed project at an amount
different from that originally proposed, the sponsor asks the investigator to
submit a "revised" budget supporting the amount to be funded. A
revised budget must be routed through the University proposal routing process
to document the signatories’ approval of the budget revisions. If the sponsor
reduces the budget, the investigator must determine whether the originally
proposed scope and objectives of the project can be met under the revised
budget. If not, the investigator and sponsor must redefine the scope and
objectives in writing before the University accepts the award.
If the original budget contained cost share or matching, the
cost share or matching amount may need to change to reflect the budget
revisions.
Important
The importance of business proposals
- One of the major reasons why business proposals are written is in order to propose a product or service to a prospective customer or buyer.
- Business proposals are written in order to offer solutions to the problems faced by prospective customers.
- Business proposals enable businesses to sell their products or services. A business proposal is one of the most effective tools that can be used by a person or business to sell a product or services.
- Business proposals help businesses to compete without even needing to send marketers or representatives to physically go to the prospective customers to pitch or to try and sell their products or services. The business proposal, if written very well would on its own be able to do all the promotion and selling.
Writing an Informal Proposal
Follow these steps when writing a proposal:
- State your purpose. Do this clearly and concisely so that the reader knows immediately why you are writing.
- Give some background information about why you are proposing your suggestion so that the reader has a better understanding of the problem.
- State a solution to the problem; this is where you give specifics about your suggestion.
- Continue with any costs that will be involved.
- Conclude by restating the problem and proposed solution.
Sample Proposal Letter
|
|
|
|
TO:
|
The Loss Mitigation Department of ABC Lenders
|
|
ATTN:
|
Janice Johnson, Loss Mitigation Specialist
|
|
FROM:
|
Alice Agent
|
|
RE:
|
Short Sale Proposal for 123 Main Street, Anytown, USA
|
Dear
Ms. Johnson,
We have a signed real estate purchase contract with your borrower Daniel and Sandy Smith, the owners of 123 Main Street, Anytown, USA. The Smiths have agreed to sell their property to Lee and Sandra Jones for a purchase price of $375,000.
The current loan balance for loan #456781239 is $450,000. The Smiths are five payments behind in the amount of $9,000. Since their real estate taxes were not escrowed, the current taxes in the amount of $8,000 are also due. Daniel has lost his job as a manager of a large home improvement company and Sandy is a stay‐at‐home mom with their four children.
Please
review the enclosed information.
Our market
analysis of the property and overview of the market as well as the situation of the seller indicate that it is in the best interest of both you as the lender and the Smiths to accept this buyer’s offer.
We look forward to doing business with you.
Sincerely,
