The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has provided a regulatory waiver under 5 CFR 2640.203(c), for SGE Federal advisory committee members employed in one university of a State multi-university system to review applications from a separate university of the same system, provided the member has no conflicting multi-institutional responsibilities.
Example 1: An SGE member of an NIH advisory council is from California (Cal) State Fullerton. The SGE may participate in formulating the committee’s recommendation to award a grant to a researcher at another university of the California State University system, so long as the SGE’s employment at Cal State Fullerton entails no responsibilities at the other university.
Therefore, with this recent OGE guidance and contrary to previous regulations, the separate universities of the California State system are now considered separate entities in the same way as the separate universities of the University of California system had been, under 45 CFR Part 73, Subpart J. However, the separate campuses within, for example, Cal State Fullerton are not considered separate entities for purposes of this policy.
Example 2: A member of the Board of Regents at a State university is asked to serve on an advisory committee established by the Department of Health and Human Services to consider applications for grants for human genome research projects. An application from another university that is part of the same State system will be reviewed by the committee. Unless the member receives an individual waiver under section 208(b)(1) [for Federal employees] or (b)(3), [for SGEs], the advisory committee member may not participate in matters affecting the second university that is part of the State system because as a member of the Board of Regents, he/she has duties and responsibilities that affect the entire State educational system.
Policy for Private Institutions and Affiliates
In addition, an SGE member of an advisory committee who is employed by a private institution may participate in the review of a grant application submitted by an affiliate of the private institution if the SGE:
- does not hold a joint appointment with that affiliate,
- does not have affiliate-wide responsibilities, and
- has a waiver to do so.
Example: A professor at Harvard may review a grant application from Beth Israel, a Harvard affiliate, if that professor does not hold a joint appointment with Beth Israel, does not have affiliate-wide responsibilities, and has a waiver which states the following:
Additionally, I recommend that you grant [name of individual] a waiver that would allow this individual to participate in specific matters that may affect any of the affiliates of [name of institution]. I believe that such a waiver is appropriate because [name of individual] does not hold any joint appointments with the affiliates and has no affiliate-wide responsibilities.
An SGE who holds a joint appointment at a private institution and at one of its affiliates may participate in a review of a grant application submitted by another affiliate if the SGE:
- does not hold an appointment with the affiliate that has submitted the grant application,
- does not have affiliate-wide responsibilities, and
- has a waiver to do so.
Example: A doctor at Harvard Medical School who also holds an appointment at Massachusetts General Hospital, a Harvard affiliate, may review a grant application submitted by Beth Israel if the doctor does not hold an appointment with Beth Israel, does not have affiliate-wide responsibilities, and has a waiver which states the following:
Additionally, I recommend that you grant [name of individual] a waiver that would allow this individual to participate in specific matters that may affect any affiliates of [name of institution] other than [name of affiliate in which the SGE holds an appointment]. I believe that such a waiver is appropriate because [name of individual] does not hold any joint appointments with any other affiliate and has no affiliate-wide responsibilities.