Faculty coming aboard:Best Practices for PI Transfers

Who we are

• Karen Sack, Administrator, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of Maryland School of MedicineKSack@som.umaryland.edu

• Janet Simons, Director, Research Policy, University of Maryland Baltimorejsimons@umaryland.edu

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Agenda

• Faculty incoming!– Getting started– Transferring awards– Other considerations

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Communication

Principal Investigator

Sponsor’s Program Officer Sponsor’s

Grant/Contract Officer

Department Administrator

Central sponsored programs administrator

Co-investigators, staff, subrecipients, students

IRB, IACUC, etc

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Human resources

Getting started

• Negotiation process – grants to transfer, equipment, people, start-up funds, space and resources

• Is anyone coming with the faculty member? – Senior faculty may bring students, postdocs, staff,

co-investigators– If yes, are any grants or fellowships associated with those

individuals?– Is anyone on a visa?

• All these items impact the offer letter

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Initiating award transfers

• Offer is accepted!• Ask your new faculty member

– To provide copies of current awards (including proposals)– Whether they are co-investigators on any projects– For contacts at their current institution (department and central)– For a list of equipment being transferred

• Contact your counterpart• Remind the PI to

– Contact each program officer (phone call and follow-up email)– Contact collaborators, subrecipients, students, post-docs, colleagues

• Bring your sponsored programs office into the loop

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Options for each award

• Award transfers to new institution– A sub to the former institution may be needed to support continued

project activities there

• Award stays at former institution with a sub to the new institution

• Award is terminated at the former institution and is resubmitted/renegotiated from the new institution

• Pending proposal is resubmitted from the new institution• Nothing (at the new institution)

– The award does not transfer; it stays with the prior institution

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Other information to gather

• What documents does the sponsor need from your institution? – (work with your sponsored programs office)

• How much $$ is available to be transferred?– (work with the financial contact – department or central – at the

former institution)

• Request a courtesy copy of the relinquishment document from the other institution– (work with the financial contact)

• Will the other institution issue subawards for awards that will not transfer?– (work with the PI and with your counterpart at the former institution)

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Budget issues 1

• Budget period– When will the award transfer – appointment date? award anniversary

date? – Effective versus actual transfer date

• Institutional base salary; salary cap issues• Effort commitment for PI/key persons: consistent with

originally proposed commitment (or sponsor-approved change)

• Graduate student stipend rates, fringe benefits, other “local” rates

• F&A

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Budget issues 2

• Any need to issue subaward back to former institution (to support existing co-investigators or students)?

• New co-investigators from your institution?• Routine charges for items such as LAN use, shared

resources, shared positions• Consider pre-award spending until the award

officially is transferred

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Commonly requiredtransfer documents

• Forms as required by sponsor• Budget for transferred funds• Resources page for new institution• IRB, IACUC, IBC approvals for new institution• Description of changes to the project• Sign-off from all proposed consultants and

subrecipient organizations

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Proposal routing• PI access for internal systems before actual transfer

date• eRA Commons affiliation for PI (or corresponding

requirements inother sponsorsystems)

• Internal sign-offs• Submission and

institutional officialsignature

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Transfer Follow-up

• For Federal awards, ensure that the other institution submits the relinquishing form AND the final FSR so that your institution receives any remaining unobligated balance

• Ensure that the award document is received– Especially important if pre-award spending was authorized

• Be prepared to wait• Stay in communication with your counterpart and the

Sponsor

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Timeline: Navigating the Transfer Process

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Rough seas: Managing problems

• Delays• Visas for international

fellows or staff• Walking new faculty

through unfamiliar processes

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Recruiting & Hiring Project Staff

• Identify positions that will need to be filled• Strategize best plan to fill non-key positions• Budget dollars and effort for shared positions

(e.g., glassware washer, statistician, project coordinator, animal tech)

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Other considerations

• Introduce the new PI to key offices• Identify senior faculty to mentor new junior faculty• Identify potential collaborators and introduce the new PI• Log-ins for institutional systems, eRA Commons, etc• Required regulatory/compliance training• IRB – IACUC – IBC protocol submission• Material transfer agreements• Technology transfer• Export control review• Recommended: create and customize a checklist/toolkit for

your new faculty17

Ideas for checklist/toolkit• Acronyms• New employee activities/timelines

(e.g., ID badge, parking, computer set-up)• Useful resources (e.g., libraries, core research facilities)• Training and/or credentialing requirements• List of important offices to tour and individuals to meet• Useful websites• Sample grant proposals (for junior faculty)• Template “resources” information for proposals• Schedule information (seminar series, journal club, faculty meetings,

grand rounds)• E-mail distribution lists• Safety and emergency information (e.g., signing up for alerts and

messages)18

Smooth sailing!

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Questions?