To ensure compliance with the National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement and other sponsors' agreements, UCAR has adopted the following procedures for the Investigator Financial Disclosure Policy.
Definitions
Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest exists when a Significant Financial Interest could directly or indirectly affect the design, conduct, or reporting of NSF-funded or other sponsored research or educational activities.
Investigator
The term "Investigator" means the principal investigator and any co-principal investigators responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of research or educational activities funded or proposed for funding by NSF or any other sponsor.
Significant Financial Interest
The term "Significant Financial Interest" means anything of monetary value, including but not limited to salary or other payments for services (e.g., consulting fees or honoraria); equity interest (e.g., stocks, stock options or other ownership interests); intellectual property rights (e.g., patents, copyrights, and royalties from such rights) and gifts over $1000.
The term “Significant Financial Interest” does not include:
- salary, royalties or other remuneration from UCAR or other non-sponsors;
- income from seminars, lectures, or teaching engagements sponsored by public or non-profit entities;
- income from service on advisory committees or review panels for public or non-profit entities;
- an equity interest that, when aggregated for the investigator and investigator's spouse and dependent children, meets both of the following tests: (1) does not exceed $10,000 in value as determined through reference to public prices or other reasonable measures of fair market value, and (2) does not represent more than a five percent (5%) ownership in any single entity; or
- salary, royalties or other payments that, when aggregated for the investigator and the investigator's spouse and dependent children, are not expected to exceed $10,000 during a twelve month period, excluding salary, royalties and other remuneration specified in a above.
Procedures
Disclosure Requirements. Prior to submitting a proposal and on an annual basis for the life of the award, Investigators must file a confidential "Disclosure of Significant Financial Interests" form with their Director (NCAR Laboratory or UCP Program). Investigators must also file an updated disclosure form when any new reportable Significant Financial Interest arises.
The Investigator shall disclose all Significant Financial Interests of the Investigator (including those of the Investigator's spouse and dependent children): (i) that would reasonably appear to be affected by the research or educational activities funded or proposed for funding by NSF or any other sponsor; or (ii) in entities whose financial interests would reasonably appear to be affected by such activities.
The Director shall treat the disclosure as confidential information and use it only to conduct a conflicts of interest review.
Disclosure Review. The disclosed information is reviewed by the Director in consultation with the Investigator, Vice President of Finance and Administration, and legal counsel as necessary prior to initiating expenditures from grants and contracts awarded by NSF and other sponsors. When a conflict of interest is identified, the matter will be referred to the appropriate member of President's Council for review along with a plan for how such conflicts may be managed, reduced or eliminated.
The designated reviewing official for NCAR Associate Directors or UCAR/UCP Program Directors, entity directors, and the President of UCAR, when named in a proposal as an Investigator, shall be the next higher level of authority.
Reviewers should consult the Guidelines for Review at the end of these procedures.
Management of Conflict of Interest and Enforcement Mechanisms. In cases where conflicts of interest are identified, the NCAR Laboratory or UCP Program Director has the responsibility for developing a plan, acceptable to both the Investigator and UCAR, to manage, reduce, or eliminate the conflict of interest. No funds will be expended prior to the development and acceptance of this plan. For new conflicts that arise during an active grant or contract, an acceptable plan must be developed within sixty days of the disclosure.
In the case of proposals involving Investigators from two or more laboratories or UCP Programs, the Vice President for Finance and Administration along with the laboratory or program Directors will jointly determine whether or not a conflict exists and how it will be managed, reduced or eliminated.
If the Director(s) determines that imposing conditions or restrictions would be either ineffective or inequitable, or that the potential negative impacts that may arise from a Significant Financial Interest are outweighed by the interests of scientific progress or technology transfer, then the Director(s) may propose to the Vice President of Finance and Administration and the appropriate member of the President's Council that the research proceed without such conditions or restrictions.
Examples of conditions or restrictions include, but are not limited to:
- public disclosure of Significant Financial Interest;
- monitoring of research by independent reviewers;
- modification of the research plan;
- disqualification from participation in the portion of the NSF-funded or other sponsor funded research that would be affected by Significant Financial Interests;
- divestiture of Significant Financial Interests; or
- severance of relationships that create conflicts.
False reporting will be handled in accordance with the UCAR policies on Research Misconduct and Anti-Fraud.
Appeal Process: Any employee whose conflict of interest is under review may appeal a management strategy decision to the President's Council. Within 14 days of receipt of a written appeal, the President's Council will either endorse, reverse or modify the decision.
Reporting Requirements: In accordance with NSF and federal regulations, prior to the expenditure of any funds on grants or contracts resulting from proposals submitted to NSF or other sponsors, the Office of Sponsored Agreements will notify the NSF or other sponsors in writing of all identified conflicts of interest, including those which UCAR is unable to satisfactorily manage, reduce, or eliminate.
Record Retention: UCAR will maintain records of all financial disclosures and of all actions taken to resolve conflicts of interest for three (3) years beyond the termination or completion of the grant or contract to which they relate, or until the resolution of any NSF or other sponsor action involving those records, whichever is greater.
For more information, see
Investigator Financial Disclosure Guidelines
(related to Policy 2-4)
Guidelines for First Level Review by the NCAR Laboratory or UCP Program Director and Vice President of Finance and Administration (as necessary)
Negative Disclosure:
Retain record for three years beyond the termination or completion of the grant to which they relate, or until the resolution of any NSF or other agency action involving those records, whichever is greater.
Positive Disclosure:
Evaluation:
Has all relevant information concerning the Investigator's activities been acquired (i.e., has there been full disclosure)?
Do the Investigator's relevant financial interests exceed predetermined thresholds of acceptability, where specified?
Do the Investigator's reported external commitments exceed permissible levels?
Is there any indication that research results have not been faithfully and accurately reported?
Is there any indication that the Investigator in his or her professional role has improperly favored any outside entity or appears to have incentive to do so?
Has the Investigator inappropriately represented the institution to outside entities?
Does the Investigator appear to be subject to incentives that might lead to inappropriate bias?
Is there any indication that obligations to UCAR or the sponsor are not being met?
Could the Investigator's circumstances represent any possible violation of federal, state, or local laws and requirements?
Do the current engagements of the Investigator present any conflicts between outside interests (e.g., working on projects simultaneously for competing business entities)?
Guidelines for Second Level Review by the UCAR Vice President of Finance &Administration or a person delegated by the Vice President of F&A.
Will the negotiation of relevant research affiliations or other contracts be handled by truly disinterested representatives of the institution?
Will the research work plan receive independent peer review prior to its initiation?
Are there mechanisms in place to prevent the introduction of bias into research projects
Will the project be supervised by someone with authority and no conflicting interests?
Are there means to verify research results (e.g., independent corroboration in another lab)?
Will data and materials be shared openly with independent researchers? If not, who determines accessibility to such resources?
Will the product of the collaborative effort with an outside party be published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature?
Will the sponsorship and relevant interests receive acknowledgment in public presentations of the research results?
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