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Verbal Approval

After a proposal has been approved for funding by an agency, instances sometimes arise whereby administrative issues at the agency delay the issuance of an award document, resulting in a delay of the establishment of financial accounts. This delay could have a detrimental impact in terms of salary to personnel, purchasing of equipment and a significant delay in the beginning of a project. This policy establishes an internal administrative process to initiate the project while awaiting official agency award documents.

A written request for the establishment of a financial account must be submitted to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) by the Principal Investigator and countersigned by either the Dean or Department Chairperson. This request must contain at a minimum the following three components:

  • Identification of the project for which an account is to be established;
  • Requested dollar amount and period of performance for the account;
  • An acknowledgement that the College and/or Department will be responsible and will reimburse the institution for all costs incurred if for any reason the award is not forthcoming.

Once OSP receives this request, they will seek verbal and/or written assurance from the sponsor that acknowledges the dollar amount of the award and period of performance, focusing on the start date. Once this assurance has been given to OSP, a Notice of Award Summary (“Green Sheet”) will be issued.

The release of any matching funds and/or the issuance of any subawards associated with the project will be withheld pending receipt of the official agency award document.

OSP reserves the right to decline the request for financial accounts if the agency’s assurance is not obtained. Further, if your project involves human subjects, animal or biohazards and institutional approval has not been granted by the appropriate committee, a financial account will not be established until written evidence of such approval has been provided to the OSP. See  Verbal Approval Request draft.

Questions?

Contact AIM unit:
(304) 293-3998
AIM@mail.wvu.edu