The sponsor requires a Notice of Intent (or White Paper or Pre-Proposal) prior to a full proposal. Does the Notice of Intent have to be routed?
Depends... Yes, if the Notice of Intent requires a budget, institutional signatures, or submission by a sponsored program office (SPO) or an authorized organizational representative (AOR). No, if the submission is purely technical in nature and can be submitted by the PI directly to the program manger or agency contact. In either case, should you be invited to submit a full proposal at a later time, you will have to route the full proposal. Remember that ORSP is always available to assist you in understanding agency guidelines/requirements, and preparing all submission documents, so it is to your advantage to involve ORSP early and often. It is useful to ORSP to have a copy of the Letter/Notice of Intent/White Paper/Pre-Proposal.
