Award Acceptance

When a proposal has been funded and the award letter has been received, ORS acts as the signatory office for the campus colleges, schools, and centers. ORS is charged with officially accepting the award and completing the final acceptance process. In addition to processing the award, ORS is responsible for:

  • negotiating and accepting grants and contracts on behalf of the University,
  • serving as the principal liaison between the University and its sponsors, and
  • approving programmatic and budgetary changes.

Visit the Awards page to see a list of recent award announcements.

Preaward Procedure 

SPONSOR

  • Sends award letter to Duke University

DEPT

  • If the PI receives the original copy of an award letter it should be immediately forwarded to ORS, with all accompanying documentation, including checks
  • The PI is not to sign an award acceptance letter unless directed to by ORS

ORS

  • Receives the award notification by mail or email from sponsor (typically) or PI (rarely)
  • Changes the status of the proposal in SPS Web to Award in Progress
  • Reviews the award letter, terms and conditions, and awarded budget to ascertain if there are any differences from the submitted proposal
  • If the awarded budget is different from the proposed budget, an Award Specialist (AS) may request a revised budget from DEPT
  • If the terms and conditions are not acceptable to Duke the Assistant Director will open negotiations with the sponsor.
  • If the award letter requires a signature, the Assistant Director or appropriate signatory will sign on behalf of Duke University
  • If necessary, ORS sends signed, full- or partially-executed award letter to Sponsor
  • If only partially executed, ORS awaits the return of the fully-executed award letter and may request a WBSE pending award acceptance
  • Award Specialist sends the sponsor's award notice and the ORS award memo to PI, DEPT SPOC, and TBS
  • SPOC forwards these to the appropriate Grant Manager
  • Award Specialist attaches completed award in SPS Award.

TBS

  • Reviews and approves the WBSE request in SAP which automatically generates the code and sends it to ORS and the DEPT and populates SPS
  • Enters the awarded budget into SAP

DEPT

  • Completes the Award Management Checklist and contacts ORS if they have any questions

DOCUMENTATION OFFICES OF RECORD

  • Keeps documentation in award file
  • Keeps award file in office (retained for 7 years from the termination date of the project)
  • Keeps award documents and financial records (retained for 7 years from the termination date of the project)

SPECIAL NOTES The information listed above is a general overview of the award acceptance process.

Keep in mind that each sponsored project may have specific requirements before an award is considered fully-executed.