Non-Competing Continuations

Effective September 1, 1999, OSR will no longer require sign-off on the OSR-1 form by each investigator, co-investigator and their respective department chairs/center directors and deans when there is no significant change to the proposal (i.e., scope of work, level of effort, etc.) or any change to the original commitments (conflict of interest, cost sharing or matching, compliance with applicable policies, etc.). Instead, a photocopy of the original OSR-1 form with the new budget period, the direct and indirect costs, and an original signature of the PI is all that will be required. "Significant" change in effort is defined as a variance of 25 percent or more of proposed effort. This definition may be superceded by specific funding agency guidelines, if such guidelines are more restrictive.

The PI's signature on the OSR-1 form provides assurance that there are no changes as noted above. If there are changes, all traditional signatures are required on the OSR-1 form, with the exception of Co-PIs unaffected by the change and their respective chair or center director and dean.

Signatures of PIs, Co-PIs, chairs, center directors and deans on an OSR-1 form provide a variety of commitments and assurances. For example, the endorsement of chairs/center directors and deans provides certification that the proposed work is consistent with department, school, or center objectives, that commitments and obligations described are acceptable, and that responsibility will be taken for year 2000 compliance issues regarding project deliverables.

Obtaining these assurances is critical. However, endorsing a "new" or "competing renewal" application provides assurances for the entire proposed project period, which in most instances, incorporates more than one budget year. If funded, most sponsors (NIH for example) require an abbreviated proposal submission for the non-competing budget years. Some sponsors, such as NSF, have moved away entirely from continuation proposals to obtain outyear funding, requiring only a technical progress report. The vast majority of these non-competing applications have no changes from the initial submission. In these cases, OSR will no longer require the full complement of signatures on the accompanying OSR-1 form.