MODULE 3: Proposal Preparation and Processing
Proposal Budget
Preparation of the budget is an important part of the proposal development process. Sponsors and peer reviewers are responsible for comparing the level of funding requested to the work proposed. Therefore, the budget section of the proposal should reflect, as accurately as possible, the funding necessary to carry out the project.
As noted earlier, many of Princeton's departments are required to use the Coeus proposal development and submission module for preparing the proposal and submitting it for necessary internal approvals. Coeus includes a budget function, in which certain calculations are done automatically by the system. In addition, all of the institutional and financial data in the ORPA rate sheet is already programmed into Coeus. This includes fringe benefit rates, F&A rate, and other relevant information needed in the preparation of the budget, and required references such as the University's DUNS number, federal employee ID number, federal assurance numbers for animal care and human subjects, etc.
The two most common categories which comprise a budget, direct costs and facilities and administrative (F&A) costs are described below.