Authorization for Approval of Costs Charged to Sponsored Projects

Issue Date: February 12, 2013

Revision History: March 20, 2024

Responsible University Office: Grants and Contracts Administration

The purpose of this procedure is to specify who may serve as an approver(s) for costs charged
to sponsored programs (awards made to Clemson University by external sources, including
grants, contracts and cooperative agreements and related funding mechanisms).

This procedure applies to all individuals who assume the role of initial approver for costs/charges
to sponsored programs.

2 CFR 200.303 Internal Controls

Principal Investigator – Individual designated as the party responsible for the fiscal and
programmatic conduct of the awarded project.

Co-Investigator – Individual identified in the award document in a co-leadership role in managing fiscal and programmatic conduct of the awarded project.

Department Chair – Individual identified by Clemson University as the chair of the department housing the PI and/or the Co-I.

Signatory Delegate – Individual verified by the PI, the Co-I, and/or the Department Chair with sufficient technical expertise and knowledge of the particular sponsored project to makeinformed decisions.

The Principal Investigator (PI) is the designated authority to provide approval for expenditures for his/her sponsored program project activities.

When the PI is not available, the Department Chair is authorized to sign or approve an expenditure without further documentation.

If an award specifies multiple PIs or co-Principal Investigator (co-PI), those individuals have signature authority without further documentation.

If a project is a collaboration between departments and the PI elects to budget funds in the coPI’s or co-Investigator’s (co-I) department, the co-PI or co-I has delegated authority without further documentation.

The PI may delegate signature authority to another individual with sufficient technical expertise and knowledge of the particular sponsored project.

If delegation of authorization/approval is needed, a memorandum for the record from the PI through the Department Chair must be provided to the respective college post-award office and Grants and Contracts Administration and retained on file for the duration of the project and maintained in the closed project documentation for a period of three years after the official end date of the project.

Published to the GCA website 4.2.2024

Update in PALS meeting 4.8.2024