Office of the Vice President for Research: Guide for Principal Investigators

AWARDS

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The principal investigator will receive a complete copy of the award document from Pre-Award. The PI is responsible for reviewing the award document thoroughly for agency requirements and is responsible for compliance with all agency regulations including proper expenditure of funds and meeting required obligations. If the PI receives the original of the award document directly from the funding agency, it must be delivered immediately to Pre-Award. Contracts or grants may only be signed and accepted for the University as delegated by the President. Delegations are shown in the UNM Business Policies and Procedures Manual, Policy #2010 – Contract Signature Authority and Review http://www.unm.edu/~ubppm/ubppmanual/2010.htm. For the main campus, contracts and grants are signed by the Controller; for the Health Sciences Center, contracts and grants are signed by the Associate Vice President for Finance and Administration or the HSC Associate Controller.

Pre-Award Costs/Request for Approval to Spend Funds
In some cases, the PI may request permission to spend a specified amount of money during a specified period against an award prior to the receipt of a fully executed award. The following criteria must be met.

  1. There are no restrictions by the funding agency or the University precluding approval of pre-award costs.
  2. A firm commitment exists by a funding agency to place an award.
  3. There is a justifiable need to an advance commitment of funds.
  4. Other unrestricted funding is identified and committed by the PI’s department, college/school, or other unit to cover the risk of a delayed start date or failure of an agency to make an award as anticipated.

A form entitled “Request for Approval to Spend Funds” may be obtained from the Pre-Award web site. The completed form is to be returned to Pre-Award. Pre-Award confirms the commitment with the funding agency, if applicable, and the PI receives notification of approval and the approved request is forwarded to Post-Award to complete the processing in the UNM BANNER Financial System and request for an Index Code. The principal investigator will then receive notification of the assignment of an Index Code for that award from Post-Award.

This form may also be used to continue an existing BANNER Index code pending receipt of an anticipated renewal, extension or continuation from the Sponsoring Agency.

The form may be accessed online at: http://hsc.unm.edu/financialservices/preaward/internalforms.shtml