Research Security

The Office for Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) helps campus faculty and staff navigate required research security requirements throughout the research lifecycle. As defined by COGR, research security encompasses the policies, requirements, and best practices designed to safeguard all aspects of federally funded research from malicious influence, while promoting mutually beneficial, transparent international collaborations. Federal regulations reflect the National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 (NSPM-33)  and the Chips and SCIENCE Act.

Training and disclosures to satisfy agency requirements must be made by Principal Investigators (PIs) and all “covered personnel” prior to ORSP authorizing a proposal submission to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency. When these agencies award funding, there are post-award certifications that the PIs and all covered personnel which are generally required annually on federal awards.

Note that as agencies have not harmonized which personnel are considered “covered individuals,” there is considerable variation. Covered individuals may range from principal investigators, co-principal investigators, and senior personnel or even expand more broadly to include each individual employed by the recipient to work on a grant. To ensure all relevant personnel on a project have completed the certifications, we encourage researchers to review the matrix here: https://www.secure-center.org/rsb2-6 .

Please reach out to us at ORSP@hofstra.edu if you have any questions or need clarification.

Training Requirements and Documentation Required (4 items):

1. Research Security Training: A copy of the Certificate of Completion (a screenshot or printout) is produced at the end of the Consolidated Training Module (CTM).
   • To complete this training, go to the main page at https://www.secure-center.org/ctm; complete the training with the actual web certificate in the interface at the end. That link will be: https://www.securecenter.uw.edu/CTM-1-1/story.html.
2. Certification that PIs and covered personnel are not participating in a Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program (MFTRP) via SciENcv forms for the Biographical Sketch and the Current and Pending (Other) Support forms
   • Certification is made through the NSF Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support forms, which include this certification as part of the submission process in the SciENcv at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/.
   • Current and Pending (other) Support also requires
3. Conflict of Interest Training
   • ORSP uses CITI (https://about.citiprogram.org) Conflict of Interest (COI) Training to satisfy the training requirement. COI training must be updated every four years to be compliant, or as required by FPS#33a.
4. Significant Financial Interest Disclosure Form
   • The Significant Financial Interests (SFI) disclosure form is currently available with the Internal Review Form. Eventually, it will migrate to Cayuse in the third phase of Hofstra’s implementation of this electronic Research Administration (eRA) platform. See FPS#33a to ensure disclosures are being made annually for applicable SFIs as well as updating the form as SFIs are discovered or acquired or values need updating. COI disclosures will eventually be a module within the new electronic research administration platform.