Function

We approach our work with grantee business officials, the principal investigator, National Institutes of Health (NIH) staff, and NCI review and program staff with a common goal--the accomplishment of the project for which the grant is awarded. 

In our grants management role, we continually seek new and better ways to promote an environment in which principal investigators can pursue their research in the most productive and cost-effective manner possible. We place emphasis on problem prevention. We accomplish this by working with grantee officials to ensure that they have adequate management systems and internal controls to properly safeguard resources. We work with review and program staff to ensure the effective utilization of Federal funds and uniform administration of various grant programs in accordance with Federal grant requirements. Our goal is to support biomedical research through administrative excellence. 

The American public is the Department of Health and Human Services'(DHHS) customer. The American public expects grants that work and help the Department achieve its health and human service goals. Additionally, the public expects DHHS' grants to be well managed. The general goal of grants management is to provide quality stewardship of grants. Open, fair, and objective selection of grantees with the highest potential for success is a key component of quality stewardship. 

The Office of Grants Administration directs the following statement of purpose to the grantee community and our colleagues within the NIH, as a pledge to:

• Negotiate and issue quality NCI grant awards within the appropriate timeframe, thus facilitating cancer research through administrative excellence. 
• Serve as the NCI's resource point for providing grants business-related information. 
• Coordinate the NCI response as the authorized Federal official with whom the grantee, program staff, or other NIH organizational elements can interact to obtain guidance, direction, and assistance regarding the review and interpretation of policies and administrative requirements as they apply to research grants and grantee institutions. 
• Monitor the financial and management aspects of grants to ensure the effective utilization of Federal funds. 
• Focus on building and maintaining a partnership with the grantee and NCI program and review staff to ensure the issuance of award documents that clearly communicate grant requirements and protect the NIH from waste, mismanagement, and costly disputes. 
• Provide quality service promptly both within the NIH and to the grantee community reflecting a continuing commitment to improve grants management, thus enabling the grantee to perform its research unfettered, in an open Federal research environment free of unnecessary record collection and reporting requirements.

Leo F. Buscher Jr. 
Grants Management Officer
National Cancer Institute