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.