Office of Sponsored Programs

Procedure  |  Budget Justification Requirement

Agencies almost always require a budget justification to accompany the budget, but even when they don't, the Office of Research will still require it for its internal records.  A carefully prepared budget and justification at the proposal stage can make life a lot easier when the award comes in.  The proposal budget and budget justification should, as accurately as possible, represent a financial narrative of the project and align with the statement of work (SOW) outlined in the project narrative. 

Just as the research process has to be very clearly articulated to the reviewer in the SOW, the budget and budget justification should be methodical as well in enumerating and explaining all reasonable, allowable and allocable project expenses so as to minimize prior approval requests and budget shortfalls before an award even begins. 

It is important to remember that a budget isn't just a collection of numbers on a page.  Should a proposal be awarded, the budget and budget justification will be used and referred to for a number of years by anyone administering the award.  Please find the budget justification template under the Research Toolkit on our website.