Research Insights
NSF Proposes to Debar PIs Who Fail to Submit Final Reports on Time
The National Science Foundation’s Office of the Inspector General promised in a written report recently to use every compliance and enforcement tool at its disposal to ensure compliance with federal rules and regulations.
The National Science Foundation’s Office of the Inspector General promised in a written report recently to use every compliance and enforcement tool at its disposal to ensure compliance with federal rules and regulations.
The current Inspector General proposes to expand debarments to include Principal Investigators (PIs) who are not current with submission of required final reports. Debarment is a tool that ensures, for a defined period of time (often three years), that the entire federal government will not conduct additional business with individuals or organizations whose improper conduct leads to questions regarding the party’s honesty, ethics, or competence.
All UGA PIs receiving funds from NSF should take note of this threat and ensure that any and all final technical reports on projects for which they have received NSF funding are submitted in accordance with grant terms. Failure to timely submit required final technical reports to the NSF could torpedo your ability to apply for funds from any federal agency for periods up to three years.