Prior approval requirements vary by agency. It is recommended to contact the Awards Group at awards@cga.msu.edu for specific questions about prior approvals and for submission of the requests.
Prior approval requests that are not submitted via an online agency system need to be initiated at the department level with a memo to the agency Contracting Officer (not Program Officer) signed by the PI. The memo must include the information recommended below. Once completed, the memo needs to be sent to the CGA Awards group at awards@cga.msu.edu. The memo will then be co-signed by an authorized signer for the university and submitted to the agency. The PI and Department Administrator will be notified when a reply is received from the agency.
No-Cost Extension
For no-cost extensions, the following information should be included in the request, which needs to be signed by the PI.
- The agreement number
- The date you want the agreement extended to
- A technical justification as to why the extension is needed
- A brief description of what will be done during the extension period
- A comment regarding if the scope of work is being revised
- If effort is reduced more than 25% during this time you will need to seek agency approval of the reduced effort on the project.
- If the request is being submitted after the end date, then you will need to provide an explanation as to why the request is being submitted late.
PI Change Request
The signed memo from the PI needs to include the effective date of the change, the new PI’s curriculum vitae, and comment if the scope of work is being revised.
Revised Budget Request
The award agreement will specify the restrictions for budget revisions. The signed memo from the PI needs to include why the budget revision is necessary for the project, if the scope of work is being revised, along with the revised budget.
