[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 7, Volume 15] [Revised as of January 1, 2005] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 7CFR3411.7] [Page 400-401] TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE CHAPTER XXXIV--COOPERATIVE STATE RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND EXTENSION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE PART 3411_NATIONAL RESEARCH INITIATIVE COMPETITIVE GRANTS PROGRAM --Table of Contents Subpart A_General Sec. 3411.7 Use of funds; changes. (a) Delegation of fiscal responsibility. The grantee may not, in whole or in part, delegate or transfer to another person, institution, or organization the responsibility for use or expenditure of grant funds. (b) Change in project plans. (1) The permissible changes by the grantee, principal investigator(s), or other key project personnel in the approved grant shall be limited to changes in methodology, techniques, or other aspects of the project to expedite achievement of the project's approved goals. If the [[Page 401]] grantee and/or the principal investigator(s) is uncertain whether a particular change complies with this provision, the question must be referred to the Administrator for a final determination. (2) Changes in approved goals, or objectives, shall be requested by the grantee and approved in writing by the Department prior to effecting such changes. Normally, no requests for such changes that are outside the scope of the original approved project will be approved. (3) Changes in approved project leadership or the replacement or reassignment of other key project personnel shall be requested by the grantee and approved in writing by the Department prior to effecting such changes. (4) Transfers of actual performance of the substantive programmatic work in whole or in part and provisions for payment of funds, whether or not Federal funds are involved, shall be requested by the grantee and approved in writing by the Department prior to effecting such changes, except as may be allowed in the terms and conditions of a grant award. (c) Changes in project period. The project period determined pursuant to Sec. 3411.5(b) may be extended by the Administrator without additional financial support, for such additional period(s) as the Administrator determines may be necessary to complete, or fulfill the purposes of, an approved project. Any extension, when combined with the originally approved or amended project period, shall not exceed five (5) years (the limitation established by statute) and shall be further conditioned upon prior request by the grantee and approval in writing by the Department, except as may be allowed in the terms and conditions of a grant award. (d) Changes in approved budget. The terms and conditions of a grant will prescribe circumstances under which written Departmental approval must be requested and obtained prior to instituting changes in an approved budget. [56 FR 57952, Nov. 14, 1991. Redesignated at 60 FR 63368, Dec. 8, 1995, as amended at 61 FR 45319, Aug. 29, 1996]