Proposal Format

The proposal body must not exceed a maximum of eight pages, single-sided (four pages, double- sided) using 12-point font, exclusive of cover page, bibliography, budget pages, curricula vitae, and supporting materials.

• Cover Page: The Cover Page shall include the following information, in any format:

• Title:The full title of the proposal. A shorter running title is optional.
• Keywords (optional): A list of three to six keywords, indicating species, regions, research methods, or disciplinary areas of effort.
• Principal Investigator (PI): Please list only one (corresponding) principal investigator even if your proposal team consists of two or more co-equal investigators and institutions (also see instructions for Curricula Vitae).
• PI Contact Information: Address, phone, and e-mail for the principal investigator
• Financial Point of Contact (POC): An individual (with or without institutional affiliation, as appropriate) who will be responsible for contractual and fiscal matters. This may or may not be the same individual and institution listed as principal investigator.
• Financial POC Information: Address, phone, and e-mail.

• Proposal Body (suggested format)
• Abstract (optional): Provide an abstract of the proposal summarizing the problem or question to be addressed, the methods to be used to address the problem or question, possible outcomes of the work, and the utility of the research for advancing science and management related to marine mammals. Please limit the abstract to 200 words.
• Introduction, Background, or Problem Statement: Provide a review of past related effort by the research team or others. Indicate knowledge gaps, shortfalls of prior efforts, or challenges to further progress and describe how the proposed effort will address these issues.
• Goals and Objectives: Provide statements of both the general or broad goal of the proposed research and the specific objectives that will be addressed within the scope of this proposal to make progress toward that goal.
• Methods: Provide a detailed description of the methods of the investigation so that the reviewer can understand how you will address each of the specific objectives. If you are not conducting original research but are developing a workshop, review panel or other activity, describe the nature of the activity, the planned agenda or working format, likely attendees/participants, and tentative dates and location of the planned activity.
• Anticipated Outcomes: Describe the short-term outcomes, those anticipated to occur within the scope of effort and time span of the proposed project (e.g. completion of a workshop report, one or more peer-reviewed journal articles, an equipment prototype and report).
• Research and Management Utility (Long-Term Outcome): o Research and Management Utility (Long-term Outcome): Describe the anticipated long-term utility of the project and its implications for future research, management, or conservation activities.

• Budget and Time Line: Although there is no specified format for the budget pages, this section should provide sufficient detail to inform the reviewer of expenses or costs by general category (salary, equipment, supplies, travel, publication, overhead, miscellaneous) and by subtasks within the proposed effort, as appropriate. Include information on other sources of funding for the project, if applicable. For multi-year or multi-stage projects, include a timetable for completion of each phase as a means of gauging progress toward completion of the full proposed effort.

• Curricula Vitae, Research Team Qualifications: Provide a curriculum vitae or short biography of no more than two pages for all key members of the proposal team (those individuals whose unique background and experience are essential to completion of the project), including their experience or expertise related to the subject proposal. Although there can only be one corresponding principal investigator (see Title Page guidance), multiple co-investigators can be included in this portion of the proposal, if desired.

• Supporting Materials: Supporting materials such as recent publications, short descriptions of relevant work in progress or recently completed, organization charts or time lines will be accepted but should be limited to information absolutely essential to understanding the significance, approach, and context of the proposed work. It is highly recommended that supporting materials be limited to fewer than 30 pages or 5 Mb: the more material provided, the less likely it is to be used by the reviewers in developing their evaluations.

Submission process: Proposals should be submitted electronically in MS Word, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF format to the Research Program Officer, Marine Mammal Commission, e-mail address rpo@mmc.gov.

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