Reminder

Compliance protocols MUST be approved and linked in SeRA to a SPO project record prior to award acceptance. 

See ORA's Award Acceptance Resources for additional information.
Stanford
Office of Research Administration

Transferring Awards

When an award is being transferred TO Stanford

When an award is being transferred FROM Stanford

Sponsor Specific Award Transfer Guidance

When an award is being transferred TO Stanford

Stanford processes incoming award transfers much like new proposals.  Thus, initiate, complete and route a SeRA PDRF to your institutional office for any awards being transferred TO Stanford.  In the notes of the PDRF you can indicate the PDRF is for an award transfer to Stanford.

The applicable program guidelines, transfer instructions, a detailed Stanford budget and budget justification for the amount being transferred to Stanford, a Stanford Statement of Work (SOW), and anything else relevant to processing the incoming award should be attached to the PDRF.

When an award is being transferred FROM Stanford

When faculty leave Stanford there are many considerations beyond transferring any active awards to the faculty’s new institution.  Thus, please confer with the faculty’s home department’s manager before initiating any award transfers to ensure the faculty has completed or is in the process of completing all required Stanford off-boarding action items, including but not limited to, lab wind down, equipment disposal, certifying final expenditures etc.

For an award to transfer from Stanford to another institution it first must be closed out here at Stanford.  Thus, all Stanford expenditures must be incurred prior to initiating a transfer request so that we can accurately report to the sponsor how much of the award remains available to be transferred to the new institution.

Once the department research administrator has confirmed and verified all Stanford expenses for a project that will be incurred actually have been incurred, the DRA can reach out to their OSR Post-award Research Accountant to initiate a closeout for an award transfer.

After the OSR Research Accountant advises the award is financially ready to transfer, the department research administrator can proceed with preparing the transfer request in the sponsor prescribed portal or system and within SeRA initiate a Central Office Request – Type: Preaward Other to request your institutional official to review and submit the transfer request to the sponsor.

Sponsor Specific Award Transfer Guidance

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

See NIH Grants Policy Statement Section 8.1.2.7 Change of Recipient Organization

National Science Foundation (NSF)

From NSF 23-1 PAPPG (VII.B.2.f)

Please note, when the amount of time and funds remaining in a project are modest, and if both the original and new organizations are in agreement, the original organization may issue a subaward to the new organization for completion of the project. This and other possible alternatives should be discussed with the NSF Grants Officer.

NSF grant transfer policy requires NSF transfer approval from one institution to another before the project performance period expiration.  NSF's grant transfer approval will be based on the following information:

1. Project has been relinquished by Stanford before the project performance period expiration
2. Facilities and resources at the new institution allows for successful performance of the project
3. PI plans no significant change in research objectives and level of expenditures as previously described in the approved project

To request grant transfer and continued support at a new institution, the PI must notify the NSF Program Office to request preliminary approval for transfer of the grant.  If NSF and both institutions agree, formal notification of the impending transfer should be electronically initiated by the PI through FastLane/Research.gov. The request shall include a:

  • Brief summary of progress to date
  • Description of work yet to be accomplished.
  • Completed on‐line transfer request, including total estimated disbursements to date. The transfer amount will be automatically calculated, based on the amount entered in total estimated disbursements. The relinquishing institution is responsible for including in the total estimated disbursements, any anticipated costs yet to be incurred against the original grant
  • Detailed line-item budget for the transfer amount and any outstanding continuing grant funding increments. The most current Federal Cash Transaction Report must be posted to NSF’s financial accounting system prior to submitting the transfer request.

The relinquishing grantee institution will need to electronically route the transfer request to the new institution to complete the process.

The new institution, in collaboration with the PI, will need to complete the request by:

  • Providing a detailed budget and budget justification for the transfer amount agreed to by both organizations. Upon transfer of the grant to the new organization, any monetary discrepancies must be resolved between the original and the new grantee. NSF will not intervene in any disputes between the two organizations regarding the transferred amount; and
  • Electronically signing the request when submitted to NSF.

Once the above material are submitted, NSF will review the request and, if approved, deduct the specified transfer amount from the original grant and re-establish it under a new grant number at the new institution. Award notification by the NSF Grants and Agreements Officer equates to NSF approval of the grant transfer.

The final step is for the PI to log-into and update his/her NSF account profile to change his/her institution affiliation.

Other Sponsors

Please refer to the sponsor's guidelines and website, as available.