Top 10 Things that Can and Do Go Wrong at the

Department Level

CReATE ver. 05/13 © 2008 Florida State University. All rights reserved

Russell Lentz

Associate Director

Sponsored Research Services

Number One

Failure to submit proposal to SRS for review and approval prior to submission to sponsor

Number Two

Principal Investigators, Chairs and/or Deans sign and accept award on behalf of FSU

Number Three Failure to obtain Chair

and Dean approval for cost sharing/matching commitments or requests for indirect costs waivers prior to submitting to SRS

Number Four Applying wrong indirect cost

rate in a proposal (i.e., using main campus rate when work will be

performed at NHMFL;

using off-campus rate when work will be performed on campus;

using OSA rate for a research project)

Number Five

Treating FSU faculty in proposal as a consultant

Number Six

Expectation of receiving a salary increase simply because proposal included funds to cover an increase

Number Seven

Performing work and/or delivering the results to a sponsor prior to receiving an award

Number Eight

Authorizing personnel without an appointment to work on a project

Number Nine

Subcontracting out more than 50% of an award

Number Ten

Making inappropriate charges to projects and untimely initiation of cost transfers

Number Eleven Documenting or

certifying an effort report without “a suitable means of verification” (i.e., first-hand knowledge) of work performance

Number Twelve

Failure to satisfy and/or properly document cost sharing commitments

Number Thirteen

Nepotism – PI employing relatives on a project

Number Fourteen

Relying on a program officer’s authorization for prior approvals required by terms of award

Questions