Can PIs designate members of their research staff for purchasing, hiring authority, etc.?
OMB Circular A-21 (C4d(4)) says “if the institution authorizes the principal investigator or other individual to have primary responsibility … for the management of sponsored agreement funds, then the institution’s documentation requirements for the actions of those individuals (e.g., signature or initials of the principal investigator or designee or use of a password) will normally be considered sufficient”. Thus, a designee can be identified but this must be done within the policies already in existence for each specified item of cost. This means that in some cases authority cannot be delegated because it is prohibited by other campus policies.
