PSF Signature Authority Reauthorization and New Fee-for-Service Process

The Office of Research is reaching out to update our list of the individuals in your school/college or center who have signature authority (or for whom delegated signature authority has been authorized) for the submission of proposals and fee-for-service agreements. As you know, in order to submit a proposal or negotiate an agreement with industry, Sponsored Programs and Industry Engagement require the Proposal Summary Form (PSF) to be signed by the Dean/Center Director or their delegate. A new process, outlined below, has been put in place for fee-for-service work. This now requires signature by the Dean/Center Director on the new Fee-for-Service Summary Form (FFSSF).

Fee-for-Service Process

The Office of Research has recently implemented a new process for processing and executing fee-for-service (FFS) projects between University researchers and external parties. An overview of the process can be found on the Research Support website.

FFS projects differ from traditional sponsored research programs in that this work is not generally expected to add to the body of fundamental knowledge in a given field and typically involves providing a service to an external party via a known process with a defined result. As a nonprofit academic institution, the University expects to pursue a limited number of FFS projects, all of which must align with the University’s mission, have academic merit for the researcher or their unit, and/or provide an educational opportunity for BU students.

The FFS process is initiated with the submittal of an FFS Summary Form (FFSSF), which is analogous to the Proposal Summary Form (PSF) for sponsored research projects. As with the PSF, you will be asked to approve and sign the FFSSF before the negotiation or project can proceed.

By signing the PSF and FFSSF you acknowledge that:

  • You have reviewed and approved all commitments including cost share if applicable, space, equipment, purchases, etc.
  • If this work is being done internationally or has a significant international component, you are cognizant of the potential risks and are prepared to take financial responsibility.
  • Full F&A has been applied to the project budget unless an F&A waiver has been requested from and approved by the Vice President and Associate Provost for Research on the Charles River Campus and the respective Dean (MED, SPH, or DENTAL) on the Medical Campus.

Signing Authority

While each FFSSF must be signed directly by the Dean/Center Director (at least initially, while we collect information about how often this form is being used), signing authority for PSFs may be delegated. Please email Diane Baldwin at dbaldwin@bu.edu if you choose to delegate your PSF signing authority, providing the name and title of the delegated person and whether the delegation is limited in any way (e.g., for cost sharing, F&A waiver requests, construction, etc.). We will update this information at least annually going forward. If your delegation should change, please inform Diane Baldwin.

We realize you may have delegated signing authority for PSFs in the past, but we ask that you reauthorize your PSF signature delegation as needed. Until we receive notification of any signature delegation, we will require your signature on all PSFs and FFSSFs.

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