Proposals That May Not Require Official Clearance

Certain types of proposals may not require institutional review and approval prior to submission, depending on the outcome of the proposal and administration of the award. 



Proposals submitted by the individual do not require clearance when:

  • the award is to be made directly to the individual, and
  • funds will not be administered by the University of Oregon (UO) or the UO Foundation

Commonly called individual applications, these proposals are often for a fellowship (such as the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowships for University Teachers, the Fulbright Scholar Award, the Kellogg Foundation Fellowship, or the Guggenheim Fellowship), travel award, a summer stipend, or a scholarship for faculty or students. 



Individual applications do not require institutional review and approval with the following exceptions:

  • The Individual application is a fellowship application and the faculty recipient requests benefits or additional salary from UO.
    • In this case, the proposal must be cleared by Sponsored Projects Services. An Electronic Proposal Clearance System (EPCS) record is required, and the PI must apply for salary/benefits per the "Payment of Uncompensated Salary and Other Personnel Expenses (OPE) on Major Fellowships" policy as it is posted on Human Resources' website under Faculty Awards.
  • The Individual application is not a fellowship application and the faculty recipient requests funds to be administered by the UO or the UO Foundation.
    • In this case, the proposal must be cleared by Sponsored Projects Services. An Electronic Proposal Clearance System (EPCS) record is required.

Pre-proposals, Letters-of-Intent or White Papers do not require clearance when:

  • an idea is presented for the potential sponsor's informal feedback
  • no offer is made (implied or otherwise) to do the work at the price indicated
  • no detailed budget or UO resources are committed at this stage
  • institutional signature is not required by the sponsor