We consider these person property and prohit the purchase by policy.  We make exceptions for documented business needs, however the item does not become the personal property of the individual.  It must be available for use by others and another phone must be used for personal calls.  These items are kept in a central location in the department as inventory and checked out when needed.

Charlene Blevens, CPA, CFE, CRA, MBA
Assistant Vice President & Deputy Controller
Florida International University
305-348-1122
305-934-8755
________________________________________
From: Research Administration List [xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On Behalf Of Anna Grove [xxxxxx@GWU.EDU]
Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 9:33 AM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: [RESADM-L] Charging smart phone to a federal grant

Hi All,

A PI came to me with the following request: he wants to know if he can charge the purchase and usage of a smart phone (BB, iPhone etc) to a NIH grant. This was of course not budgeted.... This particular grant has subs in Australia and Boston and the PI also travels to Russia. While he is away from the office he wants to stay connected. His current phone is not a very good one meaning he  doesn't get emails on it.

Is it possible to charge a phone and the usage to a federal grant and if so what are the regulations? Must he only use it to communicate with people on that specific grant? How is it tracked? How will an audit look at it? etc....

Has anyone come across something like this before?

Thanks,

Anna Z. Grove, MBA
Research Administrator
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine
The George Washington University
Ross Hall, Room 733
2300 Eye Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Phone: 202.994.3635
xxxxxx@gwu.edu

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 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")
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