We have never reviewed expenditures from the perspective of "change of
scope." Don't know what type of purchases would indicate a "change of scope."

Both our Office of Research Development and Administration (academic
affairs), which I left recently,  and Research & Projects Fiscal Mgt
(financial affairs division) are concerned by unauthorized rebudgeting.

Purchase requisitions involving grant/contract funds are routed through
R&PFM, which is a special subunit within General Acctg. R&PFM signs off on
funds available and within budget allowances. (It questions purchase orders
for food, gifts, etc.)

If a PI for example process a requistion for a printer, R&PFM checks to see
if he has funds in the equipment line (if it is budgeted by line and cost
reimbursement). If the expenditure would put the account over the line
balance, the requisition is either returned or the fiscal officer is called.
FO then contacts us at ORDA. We review file and either agree or disagree
with R&PFM.  If we agree that agency prior approval is needed, we work with
fiscal officer to get OK from agency.

Here, with exception of Med School and some departments in Ag School, the PI
also serves as FO. Thus most of our rebudgeting work arises from PI request.

The equipment fund shortage used as example above also can involve
rebudgeting indirect costs into direct costs category since we use MTDC
basis. Faculty don't realize that to move $1000 into equipment they don't
have to reduce other categories by $1000--so they are happy when we save
them direct cost funds.

R&PFM kicks rebudgeting issues over to ORDA because we are the authorizing
unit on behalf of the President. We arrange any needed waivers of IDC for
PIs. But R&PFM is responsible for billing, preparing financial statements,
etc. It generates grant/contract close-out paperwork and we get
institutional officials signatures--excluding VPFinance which R&PFM handles.

I would be interested to hear just how institutions learn about any
significant change of scope which requires agency prior approval.

I learned about a change of scope on one project from the PI who had changed
what his group was doing for a commercial firm as a result of asking him how
the project was going. The change of activities had not be incorporated into
the contract by amendment.  However, there was no change in type or level of
expenditures involved in his unofficial cancellation of one Task and its
replacement with a different Task on a multi-task, multi-year project.) So
analysis of expenditures wouldn't have show a change!

Of course you at OSURF probably have 10 times the number of projects, thus
10 times the probability that a PI made a significant change in scope
without you knowing about it. But even at your place, it probably doesn't
happen more than once a decade.

I should note that I don't consider a 5-objective Year 1 project which only
works on 3 objectives that year as being "change of scope" in nature. Work
always lags behind proposed effort.