Grants, Contracts, and Cooperative Agreements to Finance Sponsored Programs

Executive Summary

The University encourages its faculty and post-doctoral fellows to pursue external support for research, training, action, and faculty development projects. External support for these activities is provided through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. Such arrangements must be reviewed and approved by the President of The University of North Carolina, who has delegated to the Chancellor the authority to approve grant applications. The Chancellor has authorized the Vice Chancellor for Research to approve grant contract applications and agreements. This Policy details the procedure for preparing grant or contract applications and includes the Internal Processing form and an outline of the Proposal Approval Process.

I. Policy

The University encourages its faculty and Postdoctoral fellows to pursue external support for scholarly activities such as research, training activities, and faculty development projects. Such scholarly activities are beneficial to the University, its faculty and the community it serves. Faculty members are evaluated, as a part of their tenure track appointment, on their teaching performance, their university and professional service, and their research achievement. External support is an important component of their evaluation in the area of research achievement. In addition to expanding the institutional capability to participate in scholarly activities, it provides a significant resource for faculty to grow and develop as scholars.

External support for research and other scholarly activities is generally provided through grants, contracts and cooperative agreements. The contractual nature of such agreements, the potential impact on University resources, inherent risks in certain types of research, and compliance with state and federal regulations necessitate a formal review process for grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. University regulations require that such arrangements be reviewed and approved by the President of The University of North Carolina. The President has delegated to the Chancellor or the Chancellor’s designee the authority to approve grant applications. The Chancellor has authorized the Vice Chancellor for Research to approve grant and contract applications and agreements for UNC Charlotte.

Under a program to decentralize the handling of proposals, the Chancellor has also authorized College deans and certain other university officials to sign specific types of proposals. The list of people authorized to approve proposals is available in the Office of the University Attorney and the Office of Research Services. All proposals are reported to the Vice Chancellor for Research, who maintains the official record of grant and contract activity and reports to The University of North Carolina Office of the President and the University community.

Applications requiring advance approval by the President:

1. Those under which The University or the institution assumes an expressed or implied responsibility to continue the program or activity beyond the life of the grant or to retain personnel initially employed under the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement.
2. Those involving the creation of a new organizational unit (a department, center, institute, school, etc.) within The University or a constituent institution.
3. Those involving the planning or establishment of a new degree program or program track.
4. Those requiring matched funds or contributions that cannot be provided from current institutional resource levels.

II. Procedure

In preparing a grant application, the faculty member and Postdoctoral Fellow should be aware of the following general criteria utilized in the review process:

• Adequate budgetary support, both direct and indirect, is to be provided by the funding agency and other appropriate sources, and no unauthorized obligations are to be assumed by the institution.
• All sponsored programs and projects must be compatible with the over all mission of The University of North Carolina and UNC Charlotte.
• Projects and proposals must be consistent with all pertinent University policies and regulations.

Assistance in proposal and budget preparation is available in the Office of Research Services and in the college-based research offices. Information about The University mission is available through the various academic units. The Internal Processing Form, available in the Office of Research Services and the college-based research offices, will provide a guide to several special policy or procedural considerations related to grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements.

Detailed information for proposal submissions is available in the Office of Research Services and online.

Related Resources

• Office of Research Services & Outreach (ORSO)

Authority

Chancellor

Policy Revisions