The June 2013 COGR meeting presentation by Carol Blum addresses responses from the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR), Association of American Universities (AAU), and Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) to the National Science Board’s Request for Information on reducing investigators’ administrative workload. The document identifies significant sources of administrative burden, such as an overabundance of regulations, complexities from shared governance, evolving processes, and constrained institutional resources. It highlights specific burdens including subrecipient monitoring, compliance training, personnel management—especially concerning foreign nationals—along with challenges related to Institutional Review Boards (IRB), Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC), and the grant proposal process.
To address these issues, the respondents advocate for regulatory harmonization, performance-based and flexible approaches, improved data management systems, and full cost recovery reflecting the current regulatory climate. They suggest focusing monitoring and training resources on high-risk areas, streamlining compliance for international collaborations, and recalibrating reporting and proposal processes to avoid unnecessary complexity. Additional recommendations include the adoption of modular, just-in-time budgeting and reforms at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) level, such as permitting direct costing for administrative support and modifying effort reporting requirements. Overall, the presentation endorses a more risk-based, efficient, and adaptable regulatory framework to better support research activities.
