Internal Procedures

The Department of Contracts and Grants (DCG) is responsible for reviewing and approving all proposals submitted to external sponsors for research and educational activities. In addition, the Department negotiates and accepts awards, establishes account numbers, writes agreements and subcontracts, and has a number of post award administration responsibilities. The Department is organized into teams, each of which serves a set of departments. Get more information about the Contract and Grant Administrators.

Proposal Approval Record

The Proposal Approval Record (PAR) is a 2-page document (University Park Campus) or a 3- page document (Health Sciences Campus), which should accompany each proposal and serves two purposes. It provides basic information about the proposal such as the name and department of the principal investigator, the amount requested, and the term of the proposed support. The information it provides is used by the Department of Contracts and Grants in maintaining the Sponsored Projects Information System through which a variety of reports related to sponsored projects activity are generated. In addition, in requiring signatures of the principal investigators, department chairs, deans, and the vice president, it provides evidence that the appropriate campus reviews and approvals of the proposal have taken place. The completed PAR should be submitted to the Department of Contracts and Grants when the final proposal is submitted for signature. For both campuses, the principal investigator's department is responsible for obtaining the principal investigator, chair/director, and dean/director signatures. The Department of Contracts and Grants is responsible for obtaining the appropriate senior vice presidential signatures.

Access a copy of the PAR.

Human and Animal Subjects

Investigators are responsible for obtaining the appropriate approvals for the use of human and animal subjects.

Animal Subjects

If the use of laboratory animals is proposed, a Department of Animal Resources protocol synopsis form and a copy of the technical portion of the proposal should be submitted to Donald Casebolt, D.V.M., Department of Animal Resources Director, for review and presentation to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The Department of Animal Resources Office is located in the Hoffman Medical Research Center, Room 214. Questions concerning laboratory animals should be directed to the Department of Animal Resources Office at (323) 442-1692. (A link to the Department of Animal Resources web page will be placed here as soon as it is available.)

Human Subjects

Health Sciences Campus: All proposals must be certified as either involving or not involving the use of human subjects. No certification signature is required on the PAR. If a proposal involves human subjects, it should be delivered, with the required documentation, to the Research Committee Office, General Hospital, Trailer No. 25., on or before the deadline date. This will prevent delays in the review process at the agency. It is the responsibility of the principal investigator to follow-up on the approval process. If no human subjects are involved, a "Proposal with No Human Subjects" agreement should be signed and submitted with a copy of the proposal to the Research Committee Office. Questions should be directed to the Research Committee Office at (323) 223-2340.

University Park Campus: only proposals that involve the use of human subjects need to be reviewed by the Institutional Review Board. A copy of the proposal, along with the 15 copies of the Human Subjects forms, and a curriculum vitae for everyone who will have contact with the subjects, should be submitted to the IRB Chair, Office of the Vice Provost for Research, ADM 203. Questions regarding the procedure should be directed to the Provost's Office at (213) 740-6709. Information and Procedures Manual and application forms are available at http://www.usc.edu/admin/provost/irb.

Note about Gifts/Grants

Proposals that will result in gift funding should be coordinated with the Development Office. Proposals that request funding through gift solicitations, including non-programmatic foundations, corporations, or individuals, should be processed through the Development Office, which may be contacted at (213) 740-1216. Proposals that will result in grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements should be reviewed and approved by the Department of Contracts and Grants. The distinction between gifts and grants is sometimes unclear. If any one of the following conditions appears in an award, the award is generally considered a grant or contract, rather than a gift.

• The proposed work binds the University to a specific line of scholarly or scientific inquiry which requires either a work statement or the testing of specific hypotheses, methodology, or validation of particular approaches.
• A specific commitment is made regarding the level of personnel effort or items of output, or achievement of specific performance targets is contemplated as a condition of funding.
• A line item budget detailing expenditures by activity, function, and project period must be adhered to as a condition of funding, or detailed fiscal reporting is required at intervals during the course of the work or at the end of the project.
• Any unexpended funds must be returned to the sponsor at the end of the project.
• The proposed agreement with the sponsor provides for the disposition of either tangible property (e.g., technical reports, records, equipment, theses or dissertations), or intangible property (e.g., rights in data, copyrights, inventions) which may result from the project.
• Acquisition of equipment, alteration or renovation of facilities or construction projects which are subject to any of the above requirements as a condition of funding.