Research Administration Year-End Closure Information

In preparation for the year-end University closure, the information below is offered to researchers and staff so that they can plan ahead regarding the availability of services provided by Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA), Human Research Protection Program (HRPP), and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

Please see the separate post for year-end closure information for research operations.

Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA)
Thursday, December 9, 5 p.m.
Deadline for fully signed PRF, Budget, and Statement of Work for Industry-Funded Agreements that the sponsor requires to be completed (fully executed) by December 31, 2010. Note that because these negotiations also depend on the industry sponsor, SPA cannot guarantee that these agreements will be executed by December 31, but SPA will make every effort to have these completed. Industry-funded agreement materials submitted after this date will be worked on as well, but they will be given lower priority.

Monday, December 20, noon
Deadline for proposals, subaward information, invoices, and other transactions to be submitted to SPA to ensure that processing can be completed by 5:00 p.m. on December 23, before the winter closure period begins.  SPA has purposely set this deadline as late as possible to allow investigators and departments as much time as possible to prepare materials. It is highly unlikely that any extensions to this deadline will be approved. Please note that the deadline requires submission of  “complete, ready-to-submit or process materials.”

If incomplete information (e.g., a proposal missing some of its required elements, or a PRF without all required signatures, or a subaward invoice missing the PI’s signature)  is submitted to SPA, those transactions will not be considered  to have met the deadline, and will most likely have to be deferred for processing until January 2011. Materials that are complete but contain errors that are caught during the SPA review process are not considered “incomplete,” but PIs and departments are reminded that departmental personnel need to be available to make corrections in a timely manner to ensure that processing can be completed by December 23. If possible, please submit materials earlier than this deadline.

SPA will, however, have an emergency contact person available (with signature authority)  to handle true emergencies–i.e., materials that could not have been reasonably submitted prior to the published cut-offs listed above. This contact person is not expected, however, to handle proposals or other materials that could reasonably have been submitted but were not turned in on time. SPA will request a description of the nature of the emergency when the emergency contact person’s services are needed. Information to access this emergency contact person will be announced closer to the winter closure period.

See the SPA website for more detailed closure information and procedures.

Human Research Protection Program (HRPP)
The HRPP office will be closed from December 24, 2010 to January 2, 2011, including the furlough period of December 28-30. The Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) will not meet during the closure period. Any emailed submissions, responses to reviews, inquiries, etc., that are received during the closure will be triaged for action when the University reopens on January 3, 2010.

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)
The IACUC office will be closed from December 24, 2010 to January 2, 2011, including the furlough period of December 28-30. Any emailed submissions, responses to reviews, inquiries, etc., that are received during the closure will be triaged for action when the University reopens on January 3, 2010.