A central research administration office has received the following email from an administrator in one of the departments at their institution. Please analyze each point explaining the concerns.

Dear Central Administrator,

I came to the University four months ago. I am responsible for the administration of Dr. B.'s awards. I have spent the past four months reviewing his awards and have a number of items which I need to address. I was told that I should forward a list of the items that I feel need to occur to you for review and discussion.

1. Prior to me joining this position, my position was vacant for 5 months. During this period, there was no one available to monitor the awards. As a result, I have noted that part of Dr. B's salary has been incorrectly charged to his NSF award when it should have went to his NIH award (based upon where his effort was actually provided). I plan to process salary transfers going back 9 months to correct this (moving salary from the NSF award to the NIH award).
2. I have found some charges that were charged to departmental accounts which I feel should be transferred to grants. They are as follows:
3. The consultant who was hired to work on proposals for a continuation to the work being done on the NIH award was charged to a departmental account. I plan to move those costs appropriately to the NIH grant.
4. Office supply costs were also charged to a departmental account. I plan to move those costs to the NIH and NSF award.
5. Lab supply costs for the past two months were charged fully to the NIH project because there were no further funds available on the NSF award. Once I process the salary transfer above, there will be funding available on the NSF award but less funding available on the NIH award. I plan to move part of the lab supplies to the NSF award.
6. I was unable to find the appropriate account to charge research team lunches to. These are for the monthly team meetings where they discuss research on the NSF and NIH projects (nothing else is discussed in these meetings). It is Dr. B. and his 4 lab assistants. I plan to split the costs between the NSF and NIH award.
7. Dr. B. included 50% of his time on his NIH award and 40% of his time on his NSF award. He is applying for an award from HRSA. In order to make his proposal look good, he is not including any of his salary in the budget, but in the narrative he states that he will commit approximately 25% of his time. I understand that he is already 90% committed to the project, but Dr. B works about 70 hours a week so we feel that this additional time can be provided by him as part of his effort above the 40 hour work week. (Dr. B. does not expect compensation for this.)

Please let me know if you have any concerns regarding my approach as outlined above.

Signed,

New Department Administrator