Title
Office of Sponsored Programs - 200.03, Procedure 1 - Preparing a Waiver Request for Principal Investigator Eligibility
Corresponding with:
Purpose
In accordance with University eligibility policy, a faculty member is eligible to serve as a Principal Investigator (PI) on externally sponsored projects if they have:
- a permanent EHRA faculty appointment and
- 0.75 to 1.0 Full-Time Equivalency (FTE) hours.
A formal PI eligibility waiver request must be submitted when the above eligibility conditions are not met.
Procedure
If it is determined that a PI eligibility waiver is required, the PI Eligibility Waiver Request Form and any supporting documentation (publications, similar research, letter of support, etc. showing qualifications for the proposed Lead PI) must be uploaded to the applicable RAMSeS Internal Processing Form (IPF).
- If a faculty member's FTE is between 0.50 and 0.74, the waiver form must be approved and signed by the responsible dean, director, or department head/chair of the faculty member's appointing department.
- If a faculty member's FTE is less than 0.50, the waiver form must be approved and signed by the responsible dean, director, or department head/chair and sent to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) for approval.
- For all non-faculty appointments, the waiver form must be approved and signed by the responsible dean, director, or department head/chair and sent to the OSP for approval.
If OSP review and approval is required, the Proposal Specialist listed in the RAMSeS IPF should be contacted to route the waiver form to the appropriate signatory. An employee with an approved PI Eligibility Waiver may continue to use the same approved form on subsequent proposals (only if OSP approved), provided their appointment type and position conditions listed on the approved waiver remain unchanged. The approved waiver must also be submitted in the RAMSeS IPF for all proposals where the employee intends to serve as Lead PI.
Contact Information
For questions regarding this procedure and its related operating standard, please contact SponsoredPrograms@unc.edu.
For questions regarding Pre-Award management or Post-Award administration, please contact the assigned OSP Sponsored Programs Specialist/Officer (SPS).
For invoicing, reporting and other financial matters, please contact the assigned OSP Sponsored Projects Accountant.
OSP staff assignments may be found in RAMSeS or on the OSP website.
History
History Table
Date |
Description |
09/11/2024 |
Revised to clarify what constitutes as supporting documentation with PI Eligibility Waiver request submission |
09/09/2024 |
Revised to reflect updated PI eligibility requirements and waiver request process |
07/01/2022 |
Revised to reflect new office name. |
05/15/2018 |
Revised to coincide with the release of the new OSP Website. |
The operating standards in the Office of Sponsored Programs Operating Standards & Procedures Manual supersede any OSP operating standards, procedures and appendices previously included in the University Business Manual, a publication of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Division of Finance.