Responsibilities and Accountability

Roles and Responsibilities

The administration of funds granted by an Agency is carried out by the grantee, the institution and the Agency. Refer to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Roles and Responsibilities in the Management of Federal Grants and Awards for more details on administration of funds granted.

In accordance with federal laws and policies regarding grants, the Agency verifies eligibility for and entitlement to grants.

Grants are awarded to eligible researchers and are administered through the institution's administration systems. The grantee authorizes expenditures in accordance with Agency policies and requirements, as outlined in the relevant Agency guide on its Web site, or as stated as a condition of a grant, and with institution policies. No one may initiate or authorize expenditures from a grant account without the grantee's delegated authority.

Each institution establishes appropriate procedures, systems and controls to ensure that Agency policies and requirements are followed. The institution has the right and responsibility to withhold and withdraw approval of expenditures proposed by a grantee that contravene the Agency's requirements or the institution's policies and, when appropriate, seek advice or ruling from the Agency as to eligibility of expenses.

Administrative, personnel and accounting procedures must conform to the standards, practices and policies of the grantee's institution.

Deviation from Proposed Activities and/or Budget

All conditions specified in the formal grant notification and relevant program requirements must be respected. Unless otherwise specified, grantees may generally deviate from the proposed research activities and/or schedules. Furthermore, they are not required to adhere strictly to the allocation of funds set out in the application as long as they use their grant for the broad purpose for which it was originally awarded.

Financial Monitoring of Accounts

Representatives of the Agencies will visit institutions periodically to:

• assess whether grantees have the necessary financial/administrative tools to properly and effectively manage their research funds;
• review the effectiveness of procedures, systems and controls in place at the institution to ensure that the Agencies’ policies and requirements are followed and that research funds are well managed;
• review expenditures from grant accounts to ensure that these were made in accordance with the established policies and requirements and for the broad purpose intended; and
• share and disseminate information on policies, requirements and expectations for financial accountability.

Non-Compliance

Non-compliance with the requirements outlined in the Agencies' guides, located on their Web sites, may result in the freezing or closing of the grant account(s) of an individual grantee or of all grant accounts at the institution. If grant funds are used to pay expenditures contrary to the Agency's policies, they must be repaid to the grant account or to the Agency. In cases where grantees disregard the requirements outlined in the Agency's guides, institutional policies, or principles of sound financial management, the Agency may decide to take certain actions, including terminating the grant or declaring a researcher ineligible from applying for future funding.

In cases of allegations of non-compliance with the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide, the Tri-Agency Process for Addressing Allegations of Non-Compliance with Tri-Agency Policies applies.

Matters involving financial mismanagement, where there is evidence of fraud or criminal activity, are referred to the appropriate legal authority as per the Treasury Board  Directive on Losses of Money or Property.

Acknowledgement

Support for research by an Agency grant is an investment by Canadian taxpayers. The Agencies' accountability regarding this use of grant funds includes informing the public about who receives the support, the type of research that will be conducted and how funds will be administered.

Grantees are required to acknowledge the Agency in publications arising from the supported research, in conference or congress materials, and on equipment and facilities purchased and/or developed with grant funds.

Intellectual Property/Patents

The Agencies:

• do not retain or claim any ownership of, or exploitation or proprietary rights to, intellectual property, copyright or inventions developed/resulting from research supported with Agency grant funds;
• do not pass judgment on the eventual commercial success of the research.

The institution must disclose to their grantees their policies on intellectual property rights and ownership arising from supported research. This requirement for disclosure is not intended to supersede any policy on disclosure that the institution might already have in place.

Should grantees decide to pursue commercialization of any results of the research, including all partnered initiatives, they must adhere to institutional and Agency policies governing the assignment of intellectual property.

Recipients of NSERC funding must comply with NSERC's Policy on Intellectual Property.

Recipients of SSHRC funding must comply with SSHRC’s Policy on Intellectual Property.

Archiving of Research Data (SSHRC and CIHR only)

SSHRC only

SSHRC is committed to the principle that research data collected with grant funds belong in the public domain. Accordingly, SSHRC has adopted a policy to facilitate making such data available to other researchers. All recipients of SSHRC funding are required to comply with the  SSHRC Research Data Archiving Policy.

CIHR only

Grantees must deposit bioinformatics, atomic and molecular coordinate data into the appropriate public database immediately upon publication of research results (e.g., deposition of nucleic acid sequences into GenBank). Refer to the  Annex of this policy for examples of research outputs and the corresponding publicly accessible repository or database.

Data retention, as already required by the majority of institutions, is mandated by CIHR. Grantees must retain original data sets arising from CIHR-funded research for a minimum of five years after the end of the grant. This applies to all data, whether published or not. The grantee's institution and Research Ethics Board may have additional policies and practices regarding the preservation, retention and protection of research data that must be respected.

Ownership of Collections and Specimens

Collections of animal, culture, plant or geological specimens, or archaeological artifacts (“collections”) collected by a grantee with grant funds are the property of the institution. These collections obtained with Agency grants will be made available to the research community. Such collections must be deposited as quickly as possible in an appropriate repository.

Grantees are required to comply with all legislation, as well as, the Tri-Council Framework for Researchers Working with University-Based Collections. Should there be a conflict between legislation and Agency policy, the former shall prevail.

The Agency's intention is not to restrict standard and recognized procedures of exchange of material and specimens between grantees and institutions, but to better ensure their continuing good condition and future availability.

For additional details on the proper care, maintenance, ownership and eventual transfer of university-based collections, refer to the Framework for Researchers Working with University-Based Collections.