Initiate Proposal

The first step in initiating a proposal is for the PI to complete the KickStart pre-proposal survey.  After you submit the information, your grant coordinator will contact you and initiate a proposal for you within the electronic research administration system (CloudExpress).

CAUTION: If the funding call has a limited submission (e.g. one submission per university), please review the Limited Submission guidelines before completing the KickStart survey.


Ready to Start a Proposal?


The KickStart survey gathers general proposal information, as well as information on anticipated institutional commitments, budget type, foreign influence, export control, potential conflicts of interest and project compliance needs.  The KickStart Summary provides an overview of survey questions.

The grant coordinator will use this information to initiate a proposal for you in CloudExpress, provide you with a detailed proposal needs assessment, and generate a planning timeline. 

See Frequently Asked Questions for additional proposal initiation information.

Last updated: 8/8/2025