Biosketch and Other Support
The Biosketch and Other Support (BSOS) application, available in access.caltech.edu, is designed to collect other support information in one place to aid researchers (principal investigators, senior and key personnel) in creating a Biosketch and Other/Current and Pending/In-kind support documentation for federal sponsors to be disclosed in proposals and annual reports, as required.
The BSOS gathers data from each researcher's annual Disclosure of Financial Interests and Commitments (DFIC, formerly known as the COI Disclosure) and several other Caltech financial resources.
From the DFIC, the BSOS collects any commitments or appointments that should be reported in a researcher's Biosketch, and any financial interests or collaborative relationships that could be interpreted as Other Support by the federal agency sponsors. One section of Other Support is fully editable and there is functionality for researchers or their designees to add sources of other or in kind support that are not related to the researcher's financial interests or commitments. This section also allows researchers or their designees to provide an Excel spreadsheet with collaborators or other sources of other support. Here is a link to the Other Support Worksheet Template:
Other Caltech financial systems also supply data to the BSOS. These data include the researcher's Caltech sponsored grants, contracts and gifts, any accounts that the researcher charged time to in the last year, and any external funds that postdocs in the researcher's lab may receive.
Researchers should review the information that is provided in the application and decide which components should be provided to their sponsor.
Finally, the BSOS application allows the researcher to designate personnel on campus who can view their information. It is recommended that each researcher designate their Division Operations Officer and their Grant Manager so that they can assist the researcher in creating their Biosketch and Other/Current & Pending/In-Kind Support for submission. If the researcher is a co-investigator, postdoc or research staff member, it is recommended that they also designate their PI/supervisor so that any information in the application can be incorporated into their PI's other support, as necessary. Designees are also able to edit certain sections of their designating researcher's BSOS. The information in the BSOS is viewable by certain authorized organizations on campus for business purposes.
Please see the BSOS Help Guide for detailed instructions:
