PI Termination Checklist

PI Termination Checklist

If you are the PI on any current or ongoing awards and you are leaving employment at UNT, the following steps should be taken.

Grant Closeout

If you are transferring to another institution and desire to move grant/contracts(s) to the new institution, you should contact your department head to initiate this discussion. Since the award is issued to UNT, whether a transfer will be allowed is determined by the institution and in conjunction with the sponsoring agency. After the transfer has been approved by the department head, contact GCA to identify the specific transfer requirements for your project’s sponsor. Most frequently on federal awards, a final financial report should be submitted that reflects the unexpended balance that could be moved to your new institution. Please work with the GCA analyst assigned to your award to finalize this balance.

If the grant/contract is to remain at UNT, a new PI must be identified, and the sponsoring agency must approve this person.Typically, this is accomplished with a letter requesting the change and a copy of the new PI’s vitae. A signature from the authorized representative for UNT may be required, depending on the sponsoring agency requirements.

Equipment

If you are transferring to a new institution, you may want to request transfer of any equipment purchased with grant funding during your employment at UNT. In order to initiate this process, you must prepare a listing to be presented to your department head for approval. Any release of equipment will be at the discretion of the department head and must be approved by the VPRI. A copy of the approved list will need to be supplied to the UNT Fixed Assets Manager so that accurate inventory records can be maintained,  and  the  UNT  property control tags get removed. For government owned equipment, the underlying grant/contract document will provide the disposition instructions to follow.

Final Reports and Deliverables

As the PI on a grant/contract it is your responsibility to ensure that the final technical report and any other deliverables as required under the contract documents are delivered to the sponsor within the allowable time frame and prior to your departure from UNT.

Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Balances

Once the PI terminates from their position at UNT any unexpended funds in the PI’s F&A account will revert to the Vice President for Research. If there are ongoing obligations it will be the responsibility of the department to request retention of these funds by supplying an outline of how the funds are to be utilized. The decision to release these funds to the department will be made at the discretion of the VPRI.

Closing a Sponsored Project Research Account

Closing a Sponsored Project Research Account

Close-out Notification

Preparing for close-out actually begins upon receipt of an award. The award agreement and prescribed terms and conditions must be reviewed to ensure accuracy throughout the life of the award. Expenditures should be reviewed at least monthly to ensure all charges are appropriate and allowable. Final corrections must be identified and adjusted within 90 days of the award end for most sponsors; however, some sponsors only allow 30 or 60 days.

60 days prior to the end of an award, a notification is sent to the PI by GCA requesting that that all required activities be completed to ensure an efficient and timely close out of the project. At this time, a full review of all direct cost categories (salaries, P-Card, equipment, supplies, tuition, etc.) should be completed in preparation for close-out. Generally, all materials and supplies must be received and services rendered prior to the expiration date of the project. It is the PI’s responsibility to carefully review the related COGNOS report to verify accuracy of all expenses. All accounts payable and payroll encumbrances must be liquidated prior to the award end date. Vendors should be contacted regarding the status of any unpaid invoices.

PI salary/effort should be reviewed to ensure it has been charged according to the sponsor authorized budget. Payroll appointments that continue past the award end date should be transferred to a different funding source. Verify that hourly employees have been fully paid. Cost sharing should also be reviewed to ensure that the fully committed amount will be expended by the aware end date.

Sub-awards are usually concurrent with the award period of the prime award. The PI is responsible for ensuring that the final invoice is received by the date specified in the award agreement. Sub-recipient invoices that are not received, approved and paid by the required deadline are subject to non-payment and de-obligation.