oversight

                                                NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
                                                 OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
                                                   OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS

                                           CLOSEOUT MEMORANDUM

Case Number: 1-16-0116-0                                                                   Page 1of1




        NSF OIG received an allegation that a letter of support a PI 1 submitted with a CAREER
        proposal2 contained a materially misleading statement. Specifically, the PI's department chair
        (Subject) 3 stated in the letter that the Subject was eligible to receive a CAREER award, despite
        knowing that the PI had recently been denied tenure. Because a condition for receiving a
        CAREER award is that the PI be in a tenure-track or equivalent position, the Subject's statement
        in the letter was material to the funding decision.

        The Subject himself infonned NSF of the PI' s ineligibility two days after NSF made the award4
        and, when asked about his inaccurate statement, said that the letter was accurate at the time of
        submission because the PI could still have appealed his tenure rejection and won. The
        University5 subsequently relinquished the award prior to any expenditures.

        We sent the Subject a questionable practice letter, reminding him of the need to accurately
        represent information contained in letters of support and to be extra cognizant of the unique
        conditions for CAREER awards when writing such letters. Accordingly, this case is closed with
        no further action taken.




NSF OIG Fonn 2 (11/02)