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rfa-checklist-plain-prompt

Slugrfa-checklist-plain-prompt
Version1.0.0
Statusexperimental
Last fully evaluatednone
Eval stateno validated eval cases
Categoryextraction
Domainresearch-administration
Manifestationsprompt
Created2026-10-23
Updated2026-10-23

Tags: rfa foa nofo grants pre-award checklist plain-prompt baseline markdown

Audience: sponsored-programs-staff, pre-award-teams

Manifestations in repo: prompt.md

A single natural-language prompt of the kind a research administrator might write when asking a general-purpose AI tool to turn a funding announcement into a pre-award checklist. It is the plain-prompt comparison condition for the governed rfa-checklist-extraction workflow v3.1.0: same 11 checklist sections, none of the workflow's decomposition, schemas, or rendering rules.

Output contract: free-form checklist organized under the 11 named sections; no schema Contract scope: repo-local

Inputs

The full funding announcement (RFA / FOA / NOFO / program solicitation), attached the way a user of the tool would attach it, usually as the sponsor's PDF.

Outputs

A checklist in whatever format the tool produces, organized under the 11 sections named in the prompt. The prompt asks for "Not stated" where the announcement is silent. There is no JSON contract, so outputs are not directly comparable field by field with the workflow's extraction fragments.

Contract scope

Repo-local. The prompt names checklist sections that mirror the rfa-checklist-extraction workflow v3.1.0 Markdown deliverable, but it owns no structured output contract and does not align to shared AI4RA-UDM fields.

Triad integration

  • Evaluation datasets: none yet; no runs have been collected.
  • Harness notes: none yet. The tools, models, input handling, replicates and scoring approach for this condition have not been decided.
  • Shared UDM relationship: none.

Manifestations

Evals

No eval cases yet. See evals/.

Provenance

Drafted 2026-10-23 with Barrie Robison for the NCURA Region VI & VII RM2026 session "The Good, the Bad, and the Ungoverned," as the plain prompt most research administrators would write instead of a governed workflow. Adapted from the section list and section descriptions of the rfa-checklist-extraction workflow v3.1.0 (this repository, commit 9c0935e).

Contract scope

  • Output format: markdown_document

  • Contract scope: repo_local_human_readable_checklist_contract

  • Notes: Repo-local plain-prompt condition for RFA checklists. One natural-language prompt, of the kind a research administrator might write, asks a general-purpose AI tool for a checklist under the 11 sections of the rfa-checklist-extraction workflow v3.1.0. It has no JSON output schema and none of the workflow's decomposition or rendering rules.

  • Machine-readable catalog entry: component_catalog.json

Triad integration

  • Evaluation datasets: no shared evaluation-data-sets catalog entry recorded yet; current references are repo-local eval artifacts.

  • Harness notes: No runner or scoring yet. Tools, models, input handling (attached PDF or text), replicates, and how a free-form checklist is checked against a validated reference are undecided. Outputs are not field-for-field comparable with the workflow's extraction fragments.

Prompt body

Source: prompt.md.

Show prompt

RFA Checklist — Plain RA Prompt

Purpose: A single prompt of the kind a research administrator might write, used to ask a general-purpose AI tool for an RFA checklist. It is the plain-prompt comparison condition for the governed rfa-checklist-extraction workflow v3.1.0.

Expected input: The funding announcement (RFA / FOA / NOFO / program solicitation), attached to the conversation as the user would supply it.

Expected output: A free-form checklist in whatever format the tool chooses, organized under the 11 sections named in the prompt. No schema.

Relationship to other components

This prompt keeps the 11 checklist sections of the rfa-checklist-extraction workflow v3.1.0 (Red Flags, Dates & Deadlines, Eligibility, Award Information, Budget Requirements & Policies, Submission Details, Application Components, Compliance Risks, Foreign Influence & International Components, Special Requirements, Important Notes). It deliberately leaves out the workflow's machinery: the ten parallel extraction prompts, JSON fragments and field schemas, sponsor-standard component merging, the consolidation rendering rules, and institution-specific routing. Keep it that way. Adding structure would remove the difference this condition exists to measure.

Prompt

I work in a sponsored programs office. I've attached a funding announcement (RFA). Please read the whole document and make a checklist I can share with the PI and the proposal team, so we know what's required before we start writing.

Organize the checklist into these sections:

  1. Red flags: anything that means extra work, a long lead time, or that our office needs to look at early. For example: cost sharing or matching, limits on indirect costs, a limit on how many proposals our institution can submit, letters or signatures from institutional officials, and unusual terms (intellectual property, publication restrictions, indemnification, foreign involvement, or classified or controlled information).

  2. Dates and deadlines: every deadline and key date, such as letters of intent, preliminary proposals, full proposals, and required reports, with times and time zones.

  3. Eligibility: which kinds of institutions can apply, who can be a PI or senior personnel, and any limits on the number of proposals.

  4. Award information: how long awards last, how much each award can be, how many awards are expected, and when they'll be made.

  5. Budget requirements and policies: funding limits, cost sharing, indirect cost (F&A) rules, allowable and unallowable costs, and any requirements for personnel effort.

  6. Submission details: how and where to submit, and who has to submit it.

  7. Application components: every document the proposal needs, with page limits, any sections the announcement requires inside those documents, optional documents, and formatting rules.

  8. Compliance risks: human subjects, animals, biosafety, export control, data security, or anything similar the announcement mentions.

  9. Foreign influence and international components: foreign collaborators, work or travel outside the U.S., and any related disclosures.

  10. Special requirements: anything specific to this program that doesn't fit above, such as required partnerships, evaluation plans, or mentoring plans.

  11. Important notes: anything else we shouldn't miss.

Only use information from the announcement. If something isn't stated, write "Not stated" instead of guessing.

Quality Standards

  • Use the prompt text above verbatim. Record any change as a new version in CHANGELOG.md.

  • Supply the announcement the way a user would in the tool being tested, and record how it was supplied.

Changelog

Source: CHANGELOG.md.

All notable changes to this component. Versions follow semver: MAJOR for output-contract breaks, MINOR for backward-compatible additions, PATCH for wording or clarity.

[1.0.0] — 2026-10-23

  • Initial version: a plain research-administrator prompt for an RFA checklist, keeping the 11 sections of the rfa-checklist-extraction workflow v3.1.0 without its decomposition, schemas, or rendering rules.