This Important Notice is being sent to IUPUI Fiscal Officers, Chairpersons, Deans and Chancellors.  Please forward to others who have a need to know.  This document can be found at http://www.ovpra.indiana.edu/cg/imp_notice/ .

Recent Changes:

The signature of the Principal Investigator (PI) is no longer required on National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications, progress reports, or prior approval requests.  Instead, the NIH requires the applicant organization to secure and retain assurances from the PI prior to submission. To comply with the new NIH requirements, the IU ERA route sheet has been revised to incorporate the necessary assurances.  This electronic route sheet is located at https://onestart.iu.edu.  In order to accommodate investigators on the IUPUI campus who prefer to submit a paper copy of the route sheet, a route sheet has been created which can be completed, printed, and submitted non-electronically.  This form is available at http://www.iupui.edu/%7Eresed/srs/spoadmin/forms/rf_output.pdf.

These NIH changes necessitate that the following items require a route sheet:

New Items:

·          All renewal proposals including non-competing progress reports

·          Any NIH request which requires prior approval from the funding agency

·          NIH Just-In-Time documents

As in the Past:

• New proposal
• Competing renewal proposal
• Supplemental funds  (including income over budget)
• Budget revision to an active project where any of the following conditions apply:
  • Increase in funding or cost share
  • Adding a subcontract or increasing the amount of an existing subcontract

• Change of Project Director or Co-Project Director
• Transfer of grant (including Relinquishing Statements)

• Termination of award
• Amendment to decrease award

A route sheet is NOT required for any of the following.  However, administrative review by Sponsored Research Services prior to submission to the agency is required.       

• Budget revision with no increase in funds or cost share commitment
• Time extension
• Change in submitting University department.  A memo requesting the change should be initiated by the project director and approved by the department Chairs and Deans of both the original unit and the new submitting unit.

Neither a route sheet nor an administrative review is required for the following:

·          Final invention statements (send these documents directly to Contract & Grant Administration, Poplars Building, Room 433, Bloomington campus)

·          NIH training grant appointment forms and termination notices (send these documents directly to Contract & Grant Administration, Poplars Building, Room 433, Bloomington campus) 

Why is a Route Sheet Required?

Route sheets are required because the University must authorize all requests for funds and all commitments of resources (space, equipment, etc.).

As more granting agencies develop systems that allow proposals and related documents to be submitted electronically it is easy to forget that these documents have to be routed internally prior to submission to the granting agency, especially when agencies appear to be encouraging individuals to submit proposals directly to the agency.  Please remember, all proposals, whether submitted electronically or by paper, must be internally routed prior to submission to the granting agency. 

Internal Routing

The documents, together with a route sheet, goes first to the submitting department/school, then to all collaborating departments/schools, then to Sponsored Research Services (SRS) in the IUPUI Research & Sponsored Program (R&SP) Office which forwards the documents  to the granting agency.

See also: Financial Policy III-20 “Negotiating with Agencies and Routing Proposals” http://www.indiana.edu/~vpcfo/policies/contract/iii-20.html