Principal Investigator/Program Director (PI/PD)

The Principal Investigator (PI) or Program Director (PD) is ultimately responsible for the direction of the sponsored project. The PI/PD is the primary individual in charge of a research grant, cooperative agreement, training or public service project, contract, or other sponsored project.

1. In consultation with the department chair, ensures sufficient financial administrative oversight to manage finances, reconciles individual expenses to the award amount, prepares reports and performs other administrative functions related to the grant.
2. In conjunction with the financial administrator, ensures compliance with all applicable financial regulations and Duke University policies and procedures.
    
   1. Initiates hiring/assignment of personnel working on the sponsored project (salaries and titles will be set in accordance with Human Resources policies).
   2. Reviews all charges on sponsored projects to ensure they are reasonable, allocable (solely benefits the project or is proportioned using reasonable methods), allowable and consistent with sponsor guidelines and Duke University procedures (GAP 200.320, Direct Costing on Sponsored Projects).
   3. Ensures that internally created "child" WBSE’s are managed appropriately and that both programmatic and financial matters are resolved in a timely manner to ensure timely project closeout.
   4. Initiates requests for re-budgeting of costs on the project.
   5. Initiates and proposes resolution of any cost overrun occurring on the project.
   6. Participates with the department and pre-award offices in the process of documenting cost sharing costs and is responsible for seeing that cost sharing/matching commitments are met.
   7. Identifies program income (income earned by a grant recipient from activities which are supported by the direct costs of an award) and notifies the Office of Sponsored Programs.
3. Is ultimately responsible for the completion, accuracy and timeliness of all technical and financial reports.
4. In conjunction with the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), approves final payment to subcontractors.
5. Responsible for validating his/her own effort certification report in accordance with the Duke General Accounting Procedure (GAP) 200.170, Effort Reporting. The PI is also responsible for validating the effort certification for any staff who work under the PI’s supervision.
6. Investigates non-fraudulent financial compliance questions/issues using available resources such as sponsor regulations, University policies and procedures, and the network of informed individuals such as the Departmental or Research Administrator, Business Manager, Chair or Dean. If the questions/issues remain unresolved or if it seems inappropriate to use the above resources, contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for assistance.
7. All instances of possible fraud must be reported to Internal Audit regardless of the value involved. Internal Audit provides a reporting hotline.