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Administration of Multiple-Investigator Awards

Date: January 27, 2020
PolicyID: 2.510
Status: Final

Contact Office:
Assistant Dean for Research Administration
POBox 800793
Charlottesville,VA22908
Phone:434-982-3967

Oversight Executive:
Senior Associate Dean for Research
POBox800793
Charlottesville,VA22908
Phone:434-982-1806

Applies to:
All federal Multiple Principal Investigator (PI) awards and federal awards that have separate, discrete projects and cores such as NIH Program Project and Center grants.

Reason for Policy:
In accordance with federal guidance, the purpose of this policy is to ensure that each Principal Investigator/Project Director or Project PI on the above awards, receives appropriate academic and financial recognition and is given responsibility proportionate to his/her role on the overall project. Grant and contract portfolios are used as measures of academic success, affecting salary increases, promotion and tenure decisions, and the allocation of space.

Policy Statement:
At the time a federal grant application with multiple-PIs or discrete projects/cores is sent to the School of Medicine Office of Grant sand Contracts for review, the PI and his/her department must provide separate budgets for the discrete projects associated with the grant and a description of the Oracle account structure at the University of Virginia. At the time of the award, the budget for each discrete project must be identified by the lead PI( or PIs ). Each PI who leads a project or core will there by be credited with in UVa’s financial system for that work.

Definition of Terms:
Administrative Core–Separately budgeted administrative functions supporting large scale projects .

Leadership Plan–For Multiple PI applications, a section of the proposal describing the responsibility for scientific and fiscal decision making and he resolution of any conflicts that may arise during the course of the project.

Multiple PI award –A sponsored research project for which more than one individual is formally responsible and accountable to the sponsoring agency for the proper conduct of the project, including fiduciary and academic responsibilities and submission of all required reports.

NIHP-series award–Research Program Projects and Center awards.

NIHU-series  award–Cooperative agreements for complex programs and/or specialized centers.

Oracle account structure–The Oracle Project and individual Oracle Awards to be created in the UVa Integrated System and the academic units and PIs responsible for their administration, if a proposal covered by this policy were funded.

Oracle project- A primary unit of work or discrete activity that represents a use of funds within the Integrated System.

Procedures:
Account Structure
Multiple-PI R01s – A single Award shall be created under the name of the NIH- designated Contact PI and his/her department. Projects for other PIs and their departments will be established under the Award. The F&A generated by each separate project budget shall accrue to the Project PI’s home department, per the School of Medicine policy.

Multiple-project P- and U-series awards-The Oracle Award and the Oracle Project for the Administrative Core shall be established in the lead PI’s home department, with direct costs managed by and F&A costs accrued to that unit.Individual research projects and cores shall be awarded separate Oracle Projects, with direct costs managed by and F&A costs accrued to the PIs’ home department(s). If applicable, a PI’s center would share F&A generated per School of Medicine policy.

Accounting and reporting responsibilities

For multiple-PI awards, the department or center administration for each Oracle Project will be responsible  for payroll, ordering, and reconciliation activities. The  roles and responsibilities of PIs must follow the Leadership Plan approved by NIH.

Multi-project awards will follow the administrative responsibilities as above, except that the PI and his/her department or center administration will be responsible for overall conduct of the award.

Related Documents:
NIH Multiple PI Notices:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-06-036.html
http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/multi_pi/overview.htm#dist
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/multi_pi/sample_leadership_plans.pdf

PolicyHistory:

Implemented October 16,2006.Revised4/12/10; administrative updates 2/25/15; reviewed with administrative updates 1/27/20

Approved 1/27/2020 by
David S. Wilkes, MD
Dean