Although awards are made to the institution, determinations are often made based on the qualifications of the Investigators and other Senior or Key Personnel. Typically, any time there are changes in the PI, Co-PI, Co-Investigator, or other Senior or Key Personnel, including decreases to their effort commitments, the Sponsor must provide Prior Approval.
Any time there is a change in UF PI, other Investigators, or Key Personnel, UF generally must get prior approval from the Sponsor. For any such changes, route a UFIRST Award Modification, selecting Personnel as the modification type. Upload support documentation including a letter indicating how the work as originally proposed will be completed, any named replacements, and the Sponsor’s required forms for approving the replacement. This generally includes a biosketch or CV and Other Support documents.
Most Sponsors require Prior Approval when a Principal Investigator will not have active direction over the project for more than 90 consecutive days. If such is anticipated to be the case, route a UFIRST Award Modification, selecting Personnel as the modification type. Upload support documentation including a letter indicating how the work as originally proposed will continue, provide any named replacements, and describe the impact to the project timeline and budget.
Each Sponsor’s terms and conditions regarding tolerance for changes in levels of effort for key personnel differs. The award terms and conditions should always be consulted. Some sponsors have no tolerance for reduction; others allow reductions of up to 10% time; others 25%. For any awards where the Sponsor requires Prior Approval of your anticipated change or according to University Effort Procedures and Directives, any reduction in effort commitment greater than 25%, must be routed through UFIRST as a Personnel modification..