If you are the PI on an award being transferred to Pitt from your previous institution, there are a few general considerations to keep in mind.
- PIs should discuss the potential transfer of their awards with their program official prior to starting any transfer requests. If the PI and PO agree that a transfer is in the best interest of the award, you may proceed with the transfer processes outlined below.
- You should initiate the transfer paperwork at your previous institution as early as possible. Under the best circumstances, grant transfers can take six months or longer, and most sponsors require at least 90 days for change of grantee institution requests. See below for sponsor specific guidance.
- Although you may consider this an existing award, from Pitt’s perspective it is new; and since all awards must be preceded by a Funding Proposal (FP) in PERIS, Pitt’s online grants management portal, your pre-award administrator will have to route a new FP before the Office of Sponsored Programs will take any action on your transfer.
- Some sponsors are not supportive of transfer requests, and will instead require that the award remain at the original institution, but will consider the addition of a subcontract to Pitt. In such instances, your previous institution would have to submit a request to add a subcontract, along with a request for a replacement PI to take over the award at the previous institution (since one cannot be both lead PI and subaward PI on the same award).
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NIH Award Transfers
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- The first step in initiating the transfer of an NIH grant to Pitt is for your previous institution to submit a Relinquishing Statement to NIH. This should be done as far in advance as possible. If any NIH-purchased equipment is to be transferred along with the award, this must be included on the Relinquishing Statement, along with the requested termination date (i.e. that date on which the previous institution agrees to give up the award) and the estimated unexpended direct and indirect cost balances on that date.
- A Change of Institution Application will then be submitted by Pitt based on the estimated remaining direct costs balance on the Relinquishing Statement. Your pre-award administrator will work with you on this application. If the Change of Institution request is approved, NIH will issue a notice of award based on the estimated direct cost balance.
- Later, after the previous institution has submitted the final financial report expenditure data, a revised notice of award may be issued to address any discrepancies between the estimate on the Relinquishing Statement and the actual final expenditures.
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NSF Award Transfers
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- The first step in initiating the transfer of an NSF grant to Pitt is for your previous institution to submit a request for “Subawarding, Transferring, or Contracting out Part of an NSF Award” in Research.gov. This request will include a brief summary of progress to date, a description of work to be completed, and detailed budgetary info on any unspent balance and/or anticipated future funding increments.
- Once this request is complete, the previous institution forwards the request to Pitt in Research.gov. This is Pitt’s opportunity to concur with or dispute the estimated transfer balance and enter a detailed budget based on the current salary and rates at Pitt, which will most likely differ from the previous institution. Any discrepancies on the amount to be transferred must be resolved before the final request is submitted.
- The budget detail must be entered in the PI’s Research.gov account, but only Pitt’s Office of Sponsored Programs has the authority to submit the completed request to NSF.
- When Pitt’s portion of the request has been submitted, NSF will review the request and, if it is approved, issue a new award to Pitt.
- Alternatively, if the remaining balance or period of performance is insufficient to justify a transfer, NSF may advise that the award remain at the original institution, and that a subaward be issued to Pitt to allow for the orderly completion of the work.