Proposal Selection Process for OSEP IDEA Discretionary Grants Once a proposal is submitted to the U.S. Department of Education under the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), it undergoes a structured, multi-stage peer review process designed to ensure fairness, transparency, and alignment with federal priorities. Unlike private funders, federal agencies use clearly defined selection criteria with assigned point values, which are published in the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) in the Federal Register (U.S. Department of Education [ED], 2023). First, proposals are screened for eligibility and compliance with application requirements, such as page limits, formatting, required assurances, and alignment with the specific competition priority. Applications that do not meet this threshold requirements are not advanced for review (ED, 2023). Eligible proposals then move to peer review, where panels of external reviewers with subject-matter expertise independently score applications using a standardized scoring rubric. Reviewers assess proposals based on criteria such as significance, quality of project design, quality of project evaluation, adequacy of resources, and quality of management plan. Scores are aggregated, and applications are ranked accordingly. Final funding decisions are made by the Department of Education's authorized officials, who consider peer review scores along with factors such as geographic diversity, program balance, and alignment with national ne