Grant and contract administrators on Sponsored Projects’ Pre-Award team are responsible for reviewing all sponsored awards received on behalf of Brown. Staff members negotiate and accept sponsored agreements to ensure that Brown’s academic freedoms are upheld and that the agreements:

• allow for flexible operation under the University’s regular policies and procedures;
• permit free publication of results;
• conform to principles of Brown’s patent and copyright policies;
• permit the University and principal investigator (PI) to exercise administrative, programmatic and scientific control and responsibility for performance of the activity; and
• reimburse the University for both direct costs and facilities and administrative costs related to the research.

At the pre-award stage, staff members also prepare the award for setup by verifying that the investigator has completed all necessary training, submitted appropriate documentation and received approvals from Brown oversight committees, such as the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for human subjects research and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for work involving animal subjects, among other requirements. 

The Pre-Award staff is also responsible for working closely with department administrators to prepare, review and submit nonfinancial post-award changes, including no-cost extensions, rebudgeting, change of PI and award transfer.

Grant and Contract Compliance (GCC) is charged with management of the University's risk assessment and due diligence process for evaluating any reputational or legal risks pertaining to potential research sponsors.

The unit is an auxiliary branch of the University Pre-Award team and has a reporting line to its director. The unit proactively and reactively collects, analyzes, synthesizes, interprets and appropriately disseminates information about research sponsors (excluding state and federal governmental agencies) in support of the University’s research priorities.

The GCC team manages the process for post-proposal submission evaluation of new sponsors added to the Brown grants management system. Importantly, GCC prepares for review by the University’s senior leadership including the Vice President for Research, Provost, President and Faculty Gifts and Grants Committee.

Research Subcontracting staff members are responsible for the creation, issuance, negotiation and execution of subaward agreements; completion of subrecipient monitoring; and submission of federal reporting requirements related to subaward agreements. When a new award with a subaward is made to Brown, the PI or department administrator initiates a subaward request by submitting a subaward order form for each subcontract along with revised budget and statement of work, as necessary, to the Research Subcontracting contact.

Research Subcontracting staff members provide the Post-Award team with requests to create and distribute funding to subaward accounts in Brown’s grant management and financial systems. The Research Subcontracting grant and contract administrator drafts and, if necessary, negotiates the subaward agreement.

Once the terms are agreed upon and the partially executed agreement is received, an authorized official representative from Research Subcontracting will fully execute the agreement. A copy of the fully executed subaward is returned to the subrecipient and the Brown PI and department administrator are notified.

• Subrecipient Profile Questionnaire (PDF)
• Subaward Order Form (PDF)

Post-Award staff members provide assistance to faculty and staff in managing sponsored awards that support scholarly activities, throughout the life of the award. The Post-Award team provides guidance to assure proper stewardship of funds that are received and works closely with faculty and department administrators to ensure financial compliance and proper accounting of externally sponsored funds. 

The Post-Award team’s financial management responsibilities include cash management, financial reporting, award closeout and effort reporting.

An independent Sponsored Projects unit and trusted partner to the University’s finance teams, Research Financial Compliance (RFC) is responsible for supporting sponsored project-related audits and specialized financial reporting, cash management and financial quality assurance/quality improvement.

The director serves on the senior leadership team within Sponsored Projects and as a liaison to partner offices at the University, including the Office of Information Technology/Workday Program, Controller, Advancement and Internal Audit.

The team also maintains ongoing relationships with the University’s federal, nonfederal, corporate and foundation sponsors as needed and in concert with other University representatives and their roles. 

The Division’s Research Integrity team partners with investigators and staff to ensure that all requisite protocol approvals for human and animal subject activities are secured prior to the start of research. The team also works with Sponsored Projects to facilitate compliance with conflict of interest assurance, disclosure and training requirements and to identify any potential export control compliance requirements at the proposal submission stage, and throughout the lifetime of an award.

The Research Integrity team continues to support investigators once an award is made by providing education in the ethical and responsible conduct of research and handling allegations of possible research misconduct. Research Integrity’s primary goal is to facilitate research at Brown and its multidisciplinary team offers a variety of resources tailored to investigators’ needs.