Office of Sponsored Research

Office of Sponsored Research (OSR)

The Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) fosters and facilitates research and scholarly activity at Seattle Children's Research Institute. OSR performs six (6) major functions:

  • Institutional review and approval for extramural research proposals and related actions (such as certifications, JITs, etc.) in accordance with applicable policies, regulations, and best practices. 
  • Negotiates legal terms and signs sponsored agreements (inbound and outbound), including Grants, Contracts, Clinical Trial Agreements, Research Agreements, Subawards, Confidentiality/Non-Disclosure Agreements, Material Transfer Agreements, etc.
  • Processes awards and authorizes account setups, coordinating with Center Support Services (IRB, Finance, ORC, etc.) and Center Business Offices (CBOs)
  • Facilitates institution-level dissemination of sponsor information as it may affect proposals and award management (such as regulatory updates and NIH notices or process changes).
  • Performs annual and contractually prompted sub-recipient organization monitoring and risk assessments.
  • Secondary to CBOs, provides contract and regulatory interpretation and guidance

OSR and Center Structure Overview

OSR is staffed with 6 Sponsored Projects Officers (SPOs) who are agents, authorized to approve proposals and accept or sign awards/agreements on behalf of the Institute. 

OSR is the centralized contracting office the research institute. Communication should be directed to the OSR central inbox. The inquiry will be assigned to a SPO within one (1) business day, and follow-up will occur on an individual basis.

In most cases, external stakeholders can work most effectively with a SCRI Principal Investigator and the assigned Grant & Contract Administrator (GCA) from their Research Center’s Business Office (CBO) until the official contracting phases. Generally, proposals and awards are initiated by a PI and GCA, then routed to and finalized by OSR. 

Research CBOs are a SCRI PI’s primary resource for the administrative management of their proposals and awards. Matters not immediately requiring institutional acknowledgement, concurrence, or approval can be communicated directly with a PI or CBO (GCA). 

OSR processes proposals, awards, and other agreements on a first come, first serve basis utilizing a Production Line model. These items are processed by SPOs as team workload capacities permit.

Other Helpful Information for Stakeholders

SCRI’s Federal F&A Rate Agreement and OMB Circular A133 Audit Reports can be found on the Office of Research Finance’s (ORF) website.