Bureaucracy (non-IVF related)

I just must comment today on the reality of submitting grant proposals at this point in the history of our Dept.

First - you get grant guidance - inevitably a minimum of 30 pgs (usually more) describing the opportunity, what you must submit for the grant application, to whom, what must be included in each portion of the application, required forms, etc.

So you must meet with counterparts who may partner with you on this (internal, or external) to come up with a plan for applying.

Now, as soon as that is accomplished, you must submit information online for the Governance Committee so that they can ultimately decide if you can actually apply or not (they meet every other week).

In the meantime, you must: a) meet with the appropriate "affiliate group" of the Local Health Departments to ensure you are engaging them in the discussion, being fair in what you are asking for, and considering them in all stages of the application, b) prepare various summaries for various groups, and c) get budgets together for the proposal so that you can fill out the following forms:

1. Budget Impact Form
2. Division Summary Form
3. 16 pages of required federal forms

These must all be complete ~10 days before the application is due so that they can be reviewed throughout the chain of command in time to submit the application.

Hopefully the Governance Committee approves your application - changes *may* be needed in the prepared budgets, which would require updating of all of the forms listed above.

You must also prepare (in most cases) a narrative describing all of your proposed activities, why they are needed, and how you are going to measure achievement, etc.

We received a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) on Aug 3 that is due Aug 27. It includes three parts, so I am working with three leads to prepare our application. One person was two days late with their budget (due last Thurs, got to me yesterday), but everything is due from me tomorrow for the Governance Committee. This = me working today - 4 hrs so far.

If anyone wonders why I look like I've aged 5 yrs in 2 weeks since our vacation (as evidenced by my rapidly graying hair) - I think this could be contributing.

... oh I'm supposed to be avoiding/reducing stress... how do you do that when you are in my job???

I do have wonderful people who work for/with me - but sometimes these issues occur outside of that circle. Oh well. Hopefully everything will get done/come together nicely if we just keep plugging along.

BUT 20 pgs of forms for a combined 6 pg budget? Wow... so much for simplifying...!