1. Top 10 Things that Can and Do Go Wrong at the Department Level
CReATE
CReATE ver. 04/08 © 2008 Florida State University. All rights reserved

2. Number One
Failure to submit proposal to SRS for review and approval prior to submission to sponsor

3. Number Two
Principal Investigators, Chairs and/or Deans sign and accept award on behalf of FSU

4. Number Three
Failure to obtain Chair and Dean approval for cost sharing/matching commitments or requests for indirect costs waivers prior to submitting to SRS

5. Number Four Applying wrong indirect cost rate in a proposal
(i.e., using main campus rate when work will be performed at NHMFL;
using off-campus rate when work will be performed on campus;
using OSA rate for a research project)

6. Number Five
Treating FSU faculty in proposal as a consultant

7. Number Six
Expectation of receiving a salary increase simply because proposal included funds to cover an increase

8. Number Seven
Performing work and/or delivering the results to a sponsor prior to receiving an award

9. Number Eight
Authorizing personnel without an appointment to work on a project

10. Number Nine
Subcontracting out more than 50% of an award

11. Number Ten
Making inappropriate charges to projects and untimely initiation of cost transfers

12. Number Eleven
Documenting or certifying an effort report without “a suitable means of verification” (i.e., first-hand knowledge) of work performance

13. Number Twelve
Failure to satisfy and/or properly document cost sharing commitments

14. Number Thirteen
Nepotism – PI employing relatives on a project

15. Number Fourteen
Relying on a program officer’s authorization for prior approvals required by terms of award

16. Questions