An award to the College from a funding agency is a document which legally obligates the College. An award may be made simply in the form of a letter issued by an authorized agent of the funder or it may consist of a lengthy contractual document. In some cases, acceptance by the College (and then by the agency) is required before the award is in force, while in other cases no formal acceptance is required.

The President, Chief Financial Officer, and the Comptroller, acting as Authorized Signatories, are authorized to accept and execute awards on behalf of the College at the recommendation of the Grants Office. The Grants Office will consult with the Principal Investigator if an award differs from the submitted proposal so that the award may be accepted, modified, or rejected. When an award differs from the grant proposal that has been approved by the President’s Staff, the Principal Investigator, Dean or Director must submit the revised award offer to the President’s Staff for approval with the modifications. No charges may be incurred against a grant-funded project until such time as the Chief Financial Officer has received and processed an original award notification from the sponsor, and an account number has been issued by Chief Financial Officer to the Principal Investigator.

In some cases, an award may be issued by the funding agency after a series of negotiations, which may involve revisions to the scope of the project and/or to the proposed budget. The Grants Office is the authorized agent for conducting and approving such revisions, but no changes to a project or a budget are authorized without the express consent of the Principal Investigator(s). Budget changes should also be approved by the Chief Financial Officer. Faculty researchers are reminded that the acceptance of a revised scope of work or budget is a judgment that only they can make; it is not a judgment or condition that may be unilaterally imposed by the sponsoring agency. If the agency requires the submission of a revised work plan or budget, this must be prepared by the Principal Investigator and submitted to the appropriate Dean or supervisor and Vice President, then to the Grants Office for President’s Staff approval and for forwarding to the agency.

Upon receipt of an official award, the Principal Investigator will receive an award notification informing him/her of pertinent award information and of the account number established for this project.