[Faculty] Correct Routing of Projects

[Chorover, Jon - (chorover)]

Dear ALVSCE faculty,

In the few weeks that I've been in my role as Interim Associate Vice President and Associate Dean for Research, confusion about when a project is appropriately routed as (a) a sponsored project, (b) a gift, or (c) a service contract has already arisen a few times. This email is intended to provide essential clarity via available resources and to make the distinctions between these categories easier to understand.

Sponsored Projects has provided definitions of each type of project at this link<https://research.arizona.edu/administration/getting-started/types-agreements>.  Financial Services has also provided an abbreviated matrix at this link<https://policy.fso.arizona.edu/fsm/800/812/routing>.  Please review these if you are uncertain of the distinctions.

Rules of thumb are that:


  *   If you must invoice the sponsor, it is either a sponsored project or service contract.
  *   If a project has a budget, scope of work, or deliverable, it is a sponsored project.
  *   Gifts must be truly voluntary and philanthropic; donors receive nothing in return.

These distinctions are important because incorrect routing of a project:  (i) reduces our overall research performance measures; (ii) fails to recognize the true cost of research (including infrastructure provided by the institution); (iii) donates state resources to the sponsor in the form of free facility and administrative resources (which violates university policies and state laws); and (iv) bypasses internal research controls that ensure safe, effective, and compliant research. For this reason, deliberately routing a sponsored project as a gift to reduce the overhead rate charged to the sponsor is against university policies and may result in disciplinary action against the PI.

Many thanks to everyone for your attention to this going forward! In the vast majority of cases, projects are routed correctly.

When in doubt, please refer to the links above, and don't hesitate to reach out to your unit's business officer or research embed with questions.

-----------------------------------
Jon Chorover
Interim Associate Vice President/Associate Dean for Research
Division of Agriculture, Life & Veterinary Sciences, & Cooperative Extension (ALVSCE)
College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences (CALES)
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
Phone:  (520) 626-5635
Email:  chorover at arizona.edu<mailto:chorover at arizona.edu>

I am on ancestral lands of the
Tohono O'odham and Pascua Yaqui.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.cals.arizona.edu/pipermail/faculty/attachments/20230905/928baba2/attachment.htm>