Award Negotiation and Acceptance

When a sponsor agrees to fund your project, a notification of award will be issued. The award notice can appear in many different formats and may be sent to the PI, the Dean of the Graduate College, the University President, the VP for Research and Economic Development, or the OSRP Director. Regardless of how an award notification is conveyed, contact the Director of Sponsored Research and Programs immediately to confirm that he or she has received a copy.

Because the University assumes liability for all sponsored projects, and because the award terms and conditions may require negotiation, only an authorized representative of the University may sign an award acceptance.

PIs are not authorized to sign an award acceptance.

After the award has been negotiated and accepted, an e-mail notification will be sent to the PI, Co-PIs, Department Head, Dean, Grants Accountant, and publications office. The project will be transferred to a grants accountant (Office of Financial Services) to establish an account, assign an account number to the project, and to assist in post award management of the project. The PI also may receive electronic notification at other times during the “life” of the project such as an extension of project time or additional funding.

Negotiation of Award

A substantial percentage of grant applications go through some degree of negotiation and revision before the award is made. When a funding agency decides to support a project, it may fund the project at a different level from that requested. The sponsor may want changes in the proposed work or in the services provided by the project. If so, the sponsor will notify the University to negotiate the award agreement. At that time, the OSRP Director, in cooperation with the principal investigator, will contact the negotiator for the funding organization. This negotiation session can be accomplished via telephone in most cases.

If the agency wants a minor budget change, OSRP staff in conjunction with the PI can agree verbally to the change. If the budget change is major, a corresponding reduction in the scope of work may be required, necessitating revisions to the proposal and the budget.

After the funding organization fully approves the project, an award notice will be sent to SMSU. Depending on the funding agency, this document may be sent electronically to OSRP or mailed to the President of the University and then forwarded to OSRP. In some cases, the funding agency also sends an award notice to the principal investigator. If a PI receives an award notice from a sponsor, he or she should contact OSRP and immediately forward the award notice to the OSRP office.

Upon notification, awards are processed by OSRP as follows:

• OSRP electronically sends an Internal Award Notice (IAN) to the PI for his or signature. The PI then returns the signed IAN to the OSRP office.

• OSRP, in collaboration with the PI, negotiates the final contract.

• OSRP electronically sends an Internal Award Notice to the grants accountant and requests that an account be established.

• OSRP verifies approvals for use of human subjects or laboratory animals.
  

When all steps in the coordination process are completed, the award document is presented for the acceptance signature of the institutional official, the Associate Vice President for Research and Economic Development.

If the document has previously been signed by the granting agency, the award is then fully executed and OSRP distributes copies to affected offices on campus and to the agency. The process is not complete, however, until the granting agency has signed the award document.