Cooperman responds to threats from NIH

After receiving a threat from the National Institutes of Health regarding financial report submissions last month, Vice Provost for Research Barry Cooperman sent a letter to principal investigators at the University asking for their cooperation. "Several weeks ago the National Institutes of Health expressed to us their concern about the tardiness of our financial report submissions to them, and raised the prospect that our grant administration tasks could become more onerous if the situation did not improve," Cooperman stated in the letter, which was dated November 17. "Specifically, they threatened to lift what are called 'expanded authorities' that have been granted to the University in its administration of NIH funds." According to Cooperman, these "expanded authorities" are essential to the effective utilization of NIH funds. "The administration would be more difficult and people would have more difficulty in switching funds," Cooperman said this week. He explained that scientists often find that they need to transfer funds after the discovery of new information during their research. "It's very frequent that people will deviate from their original plan, especially during a four or five year plan," Cooperman said. "It's an important flexibility to have." Cooperman's letter also explained the role of financial reports in the administration of funds. "The NIH, in common with all federal agencies, and virtually every other research sponsor, require a financial report at the completion of each year of a project," he wrote. "This report must be submitted within 90 days of the end of the budget year." Cooperman added that this issue with the NIH is several years old. "A couple of years ago they began to be more [demanding]," he said. "We as the University have been a little slow to respond." The conflict arose after a combination of a change of policy by the NIH and a failure to respond quickly enough by the University, Cooperman said. "What they are asking for is not unreasonable," he said. "They certainly are within their rights. We are on the case now." Cooperman wrote to the principal investigators, recognizing their importance in the process of submitting financial reports. "I am requesting that you make it a priority to work with your department's business administrator to provide the requested information in an expeditious manner," he wrote. "Reports that have to be filed without your input, in order to meet the deadline, may omit allowable cost items, thus depriving your program and the University of needed resources." Cooperman explained that the NIH request did not represent the general nature of the University's relationship with the organization and that the University was not alone in its failure to comply with NIH requests. "They had no other complaints," he said. "There are several other universities that were in the same situation.

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