Alas, the idea is not new--we've encountered here it several times,
though never with the motive of avoiding the task of transferring a
grant. Many schools have a policy defining the threshold conditions a
person must meet to serve as PI; one of these is employment--you have to
be employed by the awardee in order to serve as PI.
There's this caveat, though--two or three times we've been warned by
contract reps from the Army not to try to transfer U.S. Army awards, and
they were right: the transfers (or, if you prefer, the "bother) took >6
months. When the PI can be persuaded to do so, we name a new PI who
becomes responsible for the project here, and subcontract to the old PI
at the new institution.
Peter J. Dolce, Ph.D., Director
Office of Research Support Services
Meharry Medical College
1005 D. B. Todd Boulevard
Nashville, TN 37208
Phone 615 327 6703
Fax 615 327 6716
-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On
Behalf Of Steinert, Bruce, W
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 3:14 PM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Remote PI?
Brilliant! Why didn't NIH think about this? One remote 'Super-PI'
overseeing all grants? Wow, think of the savings. I'd like to eavesdrop
on the call to the agency to explain this one.
Sorry, this is someone's feeble attempt to prevent a revenue drop on the
funding report. The 'remote PI' is just a short hop to a 'virtual
disaster'. Compliance is tough enough with a PI just down the hall. Or,
you could order a few dozen orange jumpsuits in various sizes. No sense
waiting until the last minute.
Bruce Steinert, PhD, CCRA
Director, Clinical Trials Administration
Children's Mercy Hospital
Kansas City, MO
-----Original Message-----
From: Patricia Hagen PhD [mailto:xxxxxx@SLU.EDU]
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 1:59 PM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: [RESADM-L] Remote PI?
Good afternoon friends.
One of the more creative divisions of our university has come up with an
interesting new twist to avoiding grant transfers. It's called the
"remote PI."
What this means is that when a faculty member leaves the institution to
take a faculty position at another institution, this division proposes
to keep the grant here at our institution and subcontract the PI work to
the new institution. Then, one doesn't have to go through "bothersome"
grant transfer paperwork and also we get to keep paying people at the
original institution off the grant.
I think the whole concept is LOONY. I see all kinds of compliance
worries related to the situation where the institution which is
responsible for the grant has a P.I. which is no longer its employee.
The latest attempt at this creative approach involves a Department of
State grant. A predecessor approved the "remote pi" idea for this
particular grant, but the Department of State is not completely
comfortable with this, so they've come up with yet another
alternative--they'll approve the "remote PI" situation if our
institution contracts the work directly to the individual faculty
member, and not to her new institution. They could care less if the two
institutions contract with one another! Oy vey! Am I on another
planet?
Please, colleagues, am I being too overcautious when I shout "NO!" into
the phone? Be honest. I am all about service.
Thanks,
Patty Hagen
Saint Louis University
======================================================================
Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including
subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
======================================================================
======================================================================
Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including
subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
======================================================================
======================================================================
Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including
subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists")
======================================================================
