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The RGC’s Grants & Contracts Officer (GCO) assists faculty and researchers in negotiating and executing contracts with sponsors (local, state and federal government agencies and private sponsors) by facilitating discussion and negotiation of contractual clauses affecting intellectual property, confidentiality, publications and other contractual concerns. The GCO also handles all aspects of processing subcontracts to outside entities involved in the substantive and/or programmatic aspects of a specific portion of a research project.

Received Notice of Award 

When the funding sponsor decides to fund your proposal, a Notice of Award is typically emailed by the sponsor to the Office of Research, Grants & Contracts and/or the Principal Investigator. Once received, then the Grants & Contracts Officer (GCO) will review the accuracy of the award and coordinate the execution of the final award/agreement with the funding sponsor.

Received Agreement Or Contract For Signature

In most cases, the funding sponsor will submit a draft agreement or contract for review and signature. Please note: faculty are not authorized to sign any agreement or contracts on behalf of the university. Should you receive communication directly from the funding sponsor with an agreement or contract, please forward it to RGC@nku.edu and the GCO will provide the proper review of the document(s).

Within the agreement/contract, special terms and conditions of the award are identified, including cost-sharing commitments, and key personnel responsible for assisting in the administration of the project. The GCO will confirm with the PI regarding any need to modify the terms and conditions within the documents received. After execution of the initial agreement/contract, any subsequent changes in terms and conditions, additional funding, time extensions, and other modifications must be sent to the Grants & Contracts Officer for review and processing.

Subcontractors Involved On The Project

The GCO will communicate directly to any subcontractors included on the project to finalize sub-recipient agreements, pay schedules and deliverables involved. The PI will be included on communications between the RGC office and the subcontracting entity. For any subcontractors included on an NKU grant proposal, a Subrecipient Commitment Form is required, in addition to other supporting documents needed to complete the proposal submission to the sponsor. 

Final Agreements And Grant Account Information

Immediately upon receipt of award notification, the GCO will set-up the award within the internal grants system and will notify the comptroller's office regarding the incoming research award. The Comptroller's office will handle most all financial-related post award tasks regarding your research project. Inquiries related to account balances, allowability of expenditures, etc. should be directed to the Comptroller's office. Any post-award requests requiring the approval of the funding sponsor, should be directed to the GCO.

Financial Related Post Award Support

Once a grant award has been processed through the RGC and the internal grant number has been assigned in the SAP system, then the award file is transferred to the Post Award Grants & Contracts Administration unit in the Comptroller’s office to set-up your detailed grant budget and prepare the awarded project to be able to incur expenditures. Additional information and resources related to the post-financial award process may be located on the Post Award Grants & Contracts Administration website.

Please reach out to the RGC Grants & Contracts Officer regarding any specific questions regarding the award or contract process at RGC@nku.edu.