Transcript Grant Submission at Tufts: Offices and Internal Policies

Grant Submission
and Research Policies at Tufts:
Review and Updates
JANUARY 8, 2013
SESSION 1 OF YEAR 3
AAPLS
( APPLICANTS & ADMINISTRATORS
PREAWARD LUNCHEON SERIES )
Goals of this Session
 Review the steps needed to apply
for a grant
 Outline roles and responsibilities
for all those involved in this process
 Provide updates on internal
policies
Steps for Submitting a Grant Application
 Identify funding opportunity
 Download application forms and instructions
 Engage departmental administrators during the
completion of required forms in application package
 Complete and route for approvals the internal forms
for each application
 Approved internal forms and the complete
application are sent to ORA for review and
submission to the agency
Steps for Submitting a Grant Application, cont.
 Send completed applications and internal forms to
ORA five (5) – FIVE!!! business days prior to the
deadline
 ORA can review budgets and forms in advance of
submissions
 ORA submits proposals to funding agencies. Some
non-federal sponsors require investigators to submit
proposals directly. Review and approval by ORA is
always required prior to submission
 See the proposal process overview on the ORA web
site: http://researchadmin.tufts.edu/ under
“Write and Submit a Proposal”
Steps for Preparing a
Sponsored Research Agreement
 Processed by both ORA and OTL&IC
 ORA is only involved when the agreement carries
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funding
Budgets are reviewed by ORA
Internal forms must be sent by the departments to ORA,
not to OTL&IC
ORA distributes fully executed agreements with
supporting paperwork to Sponsored Accounting
Either ORA or OTL&IC can negotiate agreement terms
Intellectual property (IP) terms are primarily negotiated
by OTL&IC
Internal Approval Process
 Letter of Intent (HNRCA only) - required for each
extramural grant application
 Intellectual Property Form - required once per an
investigator’s tenure at Tufts University
 Internal Sponsored Coordination Form - required
for each extramural grant application and progress
report
 Financial Interest Disclosure Form - required for
each extramural grant application and progress
report; is needed for each investigator-level
position
Key Players
 Principal Investigator
 Staff Assistant
 Department Manager/Grants Manager
 ORA Associate
 OPD
 OTL&IC
 CFR
 SPA Post-Award Financial Specialist
Revised Internal Sponsored Coordination Form
 Revised September 2012 and available at
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http://viceprovost.tufts.edu/researchadmin under Forms
Previous versions of the form accepted but discouraged
More user friendly: a fillable pdf document; drop down
fields for ease and uniformity of completion
Eliminated redundancy and unused fields, some minor
fields are added
Most significant change - subcontract amount and number
of subcontracts are listed on the budget table
Strengthened compliance monitoring: added tax
determination about Safe Harbor (completed by ORA at the
time of the award)
Changes to Financial Conflict of Interest Policy
 Changes effective August 24, 2012
 Minimum threshold of Significant Financial Interest
(SFI) decreased. It is now $5,000, including any
payments and any equity interests (was $10,000 or
5% equity)
 Investigators are required to disclose SFI related to
their institutional responsibilities (before: only SFI
related to the research project)
 Any reimbursed or sponsored travel must be
disclosed, including travel details
Changes to FCOI Policy (cont)
 Details of FCOI are reported to PHS for NIH-funded
projects
 Tufts must respond in writing to requests for
information from the general public about FCOI on
PHS-funded projects within 5 days of any request
 FCOI training (via CITI – Collaborative Institutional
Training Initiative) is required before engaging in
federally-funded research and every four years
thereafter
 For PHS grants only subrecipients must confirm that
they have compliant policies or abide by Tufts policy
Revised Financial Interest Disclosure Form
 Revised FIDF is available at
http://viceprovost.tufts.edu/researchadmin under
Forms
 Previous version of the form is not accepted
 Has a new field for the date of completion of FCOI
training
 Has fields for travel reimbursement information:
dollar amount or value; purpose of the trip, identity
of the sponsor/organizer, destination, and duration
Subrecipient Monitoring under FCOI Policy
 Tufts must take reasonable steps to ensure that any
subrecipient Investigator complies with FCOI policy
 For PHS projects, subrecipients must fill out a financial
disclosure form at the proposal stage to certify that the
subrecipient has FCOI policy in place that meets the PHS
requirements
 If the subrecipient is listed on the Federal Demonstration
Project (FDP) Institutional Clearinghouse
http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/fdp/PGA_0705
96, then this requirement is met and no disclosure form
is required
Risk Assessment of Subrecipients –
Tools Underway
 New form tentatively titled “Annual Subrecipient
Prequalifying Questionnaire” is in the works
 Will be required annually for each subrecipient at the
time of issuing subcontract
 The new form is geared towards risk assessment of
collaborators
 Terms of subcontract agreements (reports,
payments, supporting documentation for invoices,
etc) may vary depending on whether the collaborator
is low, medium or high risk