Interesting question. My immediate thought is of those changes which are
made to the proposal subsequent to it being signed by your AIO, whom you
say has limited time to sign proposals.

I think this is a potentially problematic situation because
"authorization" is being given without complete knowledge of the
proposal (assuming as I do that a proposal isn't complete until it goes
out the door or the submit button is pushed, and even then it may not be
finished). If something significant is changed (of course significant to
a research administrator may not be so to a faculty member) you are left
with either committing your institution to something you otherwise
wouldn't have, or having to contact the sponsor to try to make revisions
to a submitted proposal, or possibly declining an award.

If you are checking the proposal for any red flags wich could cause the
above situations, then maybe you are in a better position to be signing
for the institution than the current AIO.

Just my $.02.

--
Gardner Congdon
Assistant Director, Program Development
Office of Research Administration
Boston College
(617)552-2248
xxxxxx@bc.edu

"Farnsworth, Franci" wrote:
>
> Because our faculty have the responsibility for copying and mailing
> proposals (and because our "authorized institutional official" has limited
> time available for signing proposals) we often obtain the official signature
> well before the proposal is actually submitted.    Even with FastLane
> submission, I'll have the cover page signed many days before I actually
> press the SUBMIT button.
>
> I'd like to know whether any of you see any problems with this procedure.
> I'm especially concerned about electronic submissions, where the formal date
> of submission may be a week or more AFTER the date on the official signature
> page.
>
> Frances Vinal Farnsworth
> Coordinator of Sponsored Research
> Munford House
> MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE
> Middlebury, VT 05753
> Tel:  802-443-5889
> Fax: 802-443-2081
> email:  xxxxxx@middlebury.edu
>
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