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Institutional Letter of Commitment or Support Request

The Vice President for Research (VPR) is pleased to provide an Institutional Letter of Commitment or Support when required by the proposal solicitation or when allowed by the sponsor, to enhance the competitiveness of the application. Letters must be carefully prepared when committing the university to any types of support or deliverable. Letters of support should not commit UH for cost share or other monetary contribution unless required by the sponsor in the solicitation.

Process and Timeline

Steps Responsible Party Timeline

Prepare Draft letter

Principal Investigator (PI) /Dean/Chair

OCG Review, Revise, Finalize letter 

Assistant Vice President for Sponsored Research Administration David Schultz dschultz@central.uh.edu with a cc to armerwin@uh.edu 2 days

Second Review and approval

Department Chair or Dean 2 days

DOR review and approval/signature

Dr. Amr Elnashai, VC/VP Research & Tech Transfer 2 days

University President signature (as needed)

Provost or Chancellor +5 days
Submission to the Sponsor PI and Pre-Award RA

Cost Sharing

For letters requiring commitment statements of cost share that the university will provide if the proposal is funded, there must be internal documentation that supports who is proving what and in what amount. This includes all contributions of cash or in-kind support that is being made to the award.

Support Statement

General commitment and support statements, as opposed to cost share commitments, are non-monetary support that will be available to the project, without providing specific dollar amounts that could be construed as auditable cost sharing by the sponsor. This includes information on institutional resources and/or initiatives that could strengthen the reviewer’s impression of the application.

Information to expedite the process

When requesting an Institutional Letter, please provide the following information:

  • Contact information for person(s) requesting the letter of support;
  • Sponsor’s name, program title or RFP/Solicitation number;
  • Brief description of project and any other information that will help make the proposal more competitive;
  • Any relevant approved committed cost-sharing, or other available resources;
  • PI achievements, alignment with University strengths or initiatives, impact of research.

When monetary or space contribution is needed in a letter of support, a separate written internal agreement must be signed that indicates what parties are involved, what will be provided, and the cost. The institutional letter would then reflect the commitment as one consolidated amount.

To ensure the availability of the signatory, principal investigators should allow at least 5 business days lead time for processing the letter. Please note that while we will accommodate your request to the best of our ability, the Vice President for Research will need sufficient time and information to prepare the letter and obtain signatures. When the President and/or Provost’s signature needs to be obtained, the VPR will require 10 business days to process.