OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS
CLOSEOUT MEMORANDUM
Case Number: 113030013 Page 1 of 1
This matter originated from a proactive review 1 of awards made to former NSF rotators (IP As)
within a short period of time after returning to their home institutions. Upon review of the award2
information along with the former IPA's dates of employment, it appeared that the IPA had taken
over as PI before the applicable "cooling-off' period had elapsed. Correspondence also indicated
the decision to fund the project may have been made before the proposal was submitted.ยท
Subsequent investigation, which included reviewing further correspondence, interviewing
relevant program officials, interviewing the current and former Pis, and reviewing the financial
records, revealed that the decision to fund this award was not made prior to the solicited
submission of the proposal, and that the former IP A did not violate any NSF regulations when he
was approved as the substitute PI. However, for approximately one year there was no oversight
of the project by the named PI because he had moved overseas. We recommended to the
university3 that it ensure all NSF awards have proper oversight by the named PI, as required by
NSF rules.
Accor'dingly, this investigation is closed.
NSF OIG Form 2 (11/02)
Grant Fraud
Published by the National Science Foundation, Office of Inspector General on 2014-05-16.
Below is a raw (and likely hideous) rendition of the original report. (PDF)