Award Transfers to MSU

It is important to note that awards are made to institutions and not Principal Investigators (PIs). When a PI changes institutions during the period of an active award, it is up to the sponsor and awarding institution to decide what they would like to do with the project. The institution has the right to keep the award and appoint a new PI, or they can agree to relinquish the award and transfer it to the PI’s new institution. Regardless, to change the PI on a project or transfer the award all together, the institution must receive prior approval from the sponsoring agency.  Likewise, when a faculty member leaves MSU, their MSU Chairperson must approve the relinquishment of any current award and related equipment to the PI’s new institution. Award transfers are a very time-consuming process which could take up to a year to process.

There are a few different options when deciding how an award should be transferred when a new PI is hired at MSU:

1. New award to MSU – The entire award is transferred from the original institution to MSU.
2. New subaward to MSU – When most of the work stays at the original institution, and the portion of the project moving to MSU is issued a subaward. 
3. New award to MSU with a subaward back to original institution – The majority of the work is being transferred to MSU and a portion that is left behind at the original institution is issued a subaward.

Please follow the steps below to initiate the award transfer to MSU, including processing a new PD in KR:

• Check individual sponsor requirements to ensure the sponsor has been given enough lead time to approve the transfer.
• Start a new PD for each project transferring to MSU.  Send a separate email notice for each PD to your OSP proposal team.
  • Use the following instructions if the PI doesn’t have a current appointment at MSU. 
    • Future Faculty - If a faculty member has accepted a position at MSU and would like to submit proposals through MSU prior to their effective date, they must take additional steps to gain access to the Kuali Research (KR) System. Visit the Future Faculty webpage for instructions.
• Documentation to upload to the PD:
  • A copy of the original award, which can be obtained from the PI or the administrator at the original institution.
  • A copy of the original solicitation
  • A relinquishing statement from the prior institution. This should include a specified transfer date and an estimate of the amount to be transferred.
  • If possible, obtain correspondence that the PI received from the sponsor or their sponsored office in response to the PI’s notice of transfer. 
  • A statement of work that applies to the transfer.  Sometimes this is included in their transfer request/report submitted to the sponsor. 
  • If the transfer includes subawards we will need subaward budgets, budget justification, statement of work and updated subaward commitment forms. 
• The PI and the research administrator work together to create a budget that matches the amount relinquished from the prior institution.  For the F&A rate, if the previous institution had a lower rate than MSU’s applicable rate, MSU will accept and use the rate from the previous institution without having to request a waiver.  If, however, the sponsor will give additional dollars to fund the increased F&A rate (NIH) we should use MSU’s applicable rate. Note that using a lower F&A rate only applies until the end of the project period.  If the previous institution’s F&A rate was higher than MSU’s applicable rate, we must use MSU’s rate with the transfer. 
  • Send the draft budget to OSP for review and approval.
• Submit any Human Subjects / Animal Use / etc. applications to the MSU compliance offices.  Once compliance approvals are received, provide a copy of the approval letter to your OSP Proposal Team. The approval letters typically need to be provided to the sponsor with the transfer application.
• Complete the transfer application per the sponsor requirements. Contact your OSP Proposal Team if you have any questions on the application, and when the transfer application is ready to be reviewed and submitted.
• After the transfer application has been submitted and the PD has been processed, consider requesting a Hardship account.  This will allow the PI to incur expenses for the project while waiting for the transfer application to be approved and an award to be made to MSU.  Please note, any applicable compliance items (e.g., IRB and/or IACUC approval, COI requirements) must be completed/approved prior to a hardship account being set up.
• See the Roles & Responsibilities list below for any questions about workflow.

For information pertaining to transfers of federal awards and related sponsor requirements please see this article in the Spring 2023 SPA Newsletter.

If a PI is leaving MSU, please be sure to review the following information:

CGA’s Separation Guide Instructions 

CGA’s Equipment Transfer/Disposals Information