Award Review and Approval

Conflict of Interest (COI) compliance approval notices are sent to select COI Staff approvers when investigators indicate “Significant Financial Interests” on the “Investigators” tab on Award IAF or AIAF submission. A COI approval is required for an award to be fully processed or receive advanced funds, when requested. This compliance approval is required before an Internal Order (IO) can be generated from SIMS to SIMBA (System for Integrated Management, Budgeting, and Accounting), Penn State's financial accounting system.

Each COI approval notice (see below) will be sent from epiaf@psu.edu with the subject line “ACTION REQUIRED: Award Compliance Approval Notification” and is sent when an Award IAF or AIAF is submitted to the central processing office by the unit or through an IAF match action.

Each compliance approval notice includes detailed information on the award with a link to the IAF record.