Starting and Working on Relinquishing Statements (SO)

When you search for relinquishing statements, there are three search types and five possible statuses.

Relinquishing Statement Search Type

You can search for awards that are eligible to be relinquished to other institutions, awards that have a relinquishing statement in progress at your institution, and awards that are in the progress of being relinquished to your institution.

Not Started. This option finds awards at your institution that are eligible to be relinquished to other institutions; that is, awards within the budget period.

Search for Awards. This option finds awards that have a relinquishing statement in progress at your institution

Search for Relinquishing Statements. This option finds awards that are in the process of being relinquished to your institution. These will be in either Submitted to Agency or Accepted for Consideration status. The only action an SO at the receiving institution can take on these awards is to View Relinquishing Statement (view the PDF of the relinquishing statement request).

Relinquishing Statement Status

When you do a search for relinquishing statements, you can click the arrow (circled below) to expand the item and show more information, including the status and the three-dot ellipsis menu, which shows available actions. The actions that are available depend on the status of the relinquishing statement.

SO Work in Progress. An SO has created the relinquishing statement and saved it. The SO, or other SOs at the institution, can edit the statement.

PD/PI Work in Progress. An SO has clicked Route to PI, which means the Contact PI for the award will see a Relinquishing Statement action in the Status module for the award, which opens the relinquishing statement. The PI can edit the receiving institution or the email contact at the receiving institution, and when finished, can route the statement back to an SO, who receives a notification email. While the relinquishing statement is routed to a PI, SOs can only view the read-only form or view its routing history.

Submitted to Agency. An SO has clicked Submit, submitting the relinquishing statement to the awarding agency for their review and consideration.

Accepted for Consideration. If a relinquishing statement is in Accepted for Consideration status, then the awarding agency is currently reviewing and considering the request. While in this status, SOs can only view a read-only PDF of the statement or view its routing history. The agency will either approve the request or set it to Returned, which means there is a concern or correction that needs to be made. If a relinquishing statement is in Accepted for Consideration, you can start a new relinquishing statement for the same award.

Returned. If a relinquishing statement status is Returned, that means it has been evaluated by the agency and has been returned to the initiating institution for more information or corrections. The SO can continue to edit a relinquishing statement in Returned status and can view comments made by agency staff by viewing Routing History.

Actions on Relinquishing Statements

Start a New Relinquishing Statement. This action appears on awards that are eligible for changing their institution. It opens a form where you define the terms of the relinquishment. An SO must use the Relinquishing Statement search in Status module and select the search type of Not Started to see awards with this action.

Edit Relinquishing Statement. After an SO saves the relinquishing statement (but does not submit), and while the statement is in SO Work in Progress status, the SO can look up the relinquishing statement via the Search for Awards search type and use this action to open the relinquishing statement for editing.

View Routing History. Opens a popup window showing all routing actions, including the date, relinquishing statement status, and comments entered by persons who did the routing.

Delete Relinquishing Statement. This can only be done by an SO on a relinquishing statement that is in SO Work in Progress status.

View Relinquishing Statement. This can only be done by an SO on a relinquishing statement that is in Accepted for Consideration, Submitted to Agency, or PD/PI Work in Progress status. In the first two statuses, the SO can view only a PDF of the submitted relinquishing statement. For the third status, the SO is taken to the Edit Relinquishing Statement web page, but all fields are read-only.

To start a new relinquishing statement:

1. Log in to eRA Commons with your signing official (SO) user ID and password.
2. In the Status module, select Relinquishing Statements from the Search Type dropdown.
   The Relinquishing Statement Search Type dropdown at the bottom of this screen lets you find relinquishing statements in different stages of being relinquished.
   
3. To find grants held by your institution that are currently eligible to relinquish (within the current budget period), select Not Started from the Relinquishing Statement Search Type dropdown.

4. In the search results, select Start a New Relinquishing Statement from the three-dot ellipsis menu for a grant.

The Start a New Relinquishing Statement screen appears.

NOTE:  You can email the PD/PI by clicking the PD/PI name at the top of the screen.

5. Identify the institution to which the award is being transferred in one of three ways:

6. To clear the identifier fields, click a Clear and Start Over link next to the UEI or IPF field.

7. Enter the requested termination date, the contact email at the *NEW* institution, and optionally list equipment that will transfer with the project. The termination date must be within the current project period.

8. Enter the Direct Cost and optionally the Indirect Cost.

9. Click Save to save the relinquishing statement. If you try to route or submit without saving, you are prompted to first save. After saving the form, its name changes to Edit Relinquishing Statement and you can edit further. The status of the relinquishing statement changes to SO Work in Progress. Once it is saved, clicking Cancel will NOT discard the form.

When finished with the form, you have four options:

• Click Cancel to discard the changes since the last time the form was saved.

• Click Route to PI so that the PI can review and edit it. A Relinquishing Statement action will appear in the Status module for the PI for this award. The status of the relinquishing statement changes to PD/PI Work in Progress. When it is in this status, the SO can only view it or view its routing history.

• Click Submit to Agency if you are sure all information is correct. Its status changes to Submitted to Agency. After it is submitted, you cannot edit or delete it. When it is in this status, the SO can only view it or view its routing history.

To edit a relinquishing statement, its status must be SO Work in Progress or Returned.

To edit a relinquishing statement:

1. Log in to eRA Commons with your signing official (SO) user ID and password.
2. In the Status module, select Relinquishing Statements from the Search Type dropdown.
3. In the Relinquishing Statement Search Type dropdown, select Search for Awards.
   The Search for Awards option shows relinquishing statements initiated at your institution that are in progress. When you select Search for Awards, the Relinquishing Statement Status dropdown appears to further narrow the search.

4. In the Relinquishing Statement Status dropdown, select either SO Work in Progress or Returned. Then click Search. (You can search for other statues, but you are only able to view them, not change them.) 

5. For the relinquishing statement you are looking up, click the arrow icon in the Application/Award ID column, which expands the row to show more information. More than one relinquishing statement can appear here.

6. Click the three-dot ellipsis menu for the relinquishing statement you want to edit and select Edit Relinquishing Statement.

The relinquishing statement opens in edit mode; see Starting a New Relinquishing Statement (SO) for details of the relinquishing statement form.

Follow the directions to either start a new relinquishing statement or edit an existing relinquishing statement (see above procedures), then click the Route to PI button while in the Relinquishing Statement screen. Click the Route button in the confirmation popup that appears.

To delete a relinquishing statement, its status can only be SO Work in Progress. If a relinquishing statement is already submitted to the agency, or if it is currently routed to the PI, you can ONLY view a read-only copy of the form.

To delete or view routing history:

1. Log in to eRA Commons with your signing official (SO) user ID and password.
2. In the Status module, select Relinquishing Statements from the Search Type dropdown.
3. In the Relinquishing Statement Search Type dropdown, select Search for Awards.
   The Search for Awards option shows relinquishing statements initiated at your institution that are in progress.
4. You can leave the Relinquishing Statement Status dropdown empty.

5. For the relinquishing statement you are looking up, click the arrow icon in the Application/Award ID column, which expands the row to show more information. More than one relinquishing statement can appear here.

6. To delete, click the three-dot ellipsis menu for the relinquishing statement you want to edit and select Delete Relinquishing Statement. (Deletion is possible only for SO Work in Progress relinquishing statements.)

7. To view a read-only relinquishing statement (that is either submitted, or routed to the PI), click the three-dot ellipsis menu and select View Relinquishing Statement. If it is submitted, you see a PDF of the submitted form. If it is routed to the PI, you see the form on the Relinquishing Statement screen.

A PI or agency user can choose to write comments on the relinquishing statement. For instance, if the agency reviewer sets the relinquishing statement to Returned, meaning there are corrections or concerns, the agency reviewer can write comments. The SO can see these comments, or PI comments, in the Routing History popup. The routing history of a relinquishing statement can be viewed in any status.

To view routing history:

1. Log in to eRA Commons with your signing official (SO) user ID and password.
2. In the Status module, select Relinquishing Statements from the Search Type dropdown.
3. In the Relinquishing Statement Search Type dropdown, select Search for Awards.
   The Search for Awards option shows relinquishing statements initiated at your institution that are in progress. You can leave the Relinquishing Statement Status dropdown empty.

4. For the relinquishing statement you are looking up, click the arrow icon in the Application/Award ID column, which expands the row to show more information. More than one relinquishing statement can appear here.

5. To view routing history, click the three-dot ellipsis menu and select View Routing History.

The Routing History popup appears. If the PI or Agency reviewer wrote comments, those comments appear here.