At my institution--University of Wisconsin-River Falls--the only folks with
the authority to commit the resources of the institution are the Chancellor,
Vice Chancellor/Provost, and Assistant to the Chancellor for
Administration.  I normally go to the VC for signatures on grant proposals;
in a pinch I'll find one of the other two.  (I confess that I have coerced the
Associate VC into signing on a few occasions and once had to go to the
senior dean on campus--everyone else was gone.)

I don't want to have signature authority.  I suppose it might make my life
easier, some days, if I didn't have to track down a senior administrator to
sign.  But I _don't_ have the authority to commit the institution's
resources, and that's what grant proposals do.  If a proposal causes
unforseen problems, the three with signing authority have both the
authority and responsibility to fix it--I don't.  Furthermore, I frequently get
to tied up in a proposal that I can't take an objective look at it; the
institution is better served if someone else has to sign off.  Finally, I think
it's good for the faculty to have the VC review and sign off on their
proposals--that way the administration is constantly reminded of what
faculty, both individually and collectively, are doing.

Bill Campbell