Best Practices for Retaining Sponsored Project Records & Confirmations

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 16:27:06 -0400

Greetings,

Partly due to some of the recent rumors that have been circulating over the past several weeks, OSP would like to remind UMBC’s Research and Creative Achievement (RCA) community of best practices regarding sponsored projects.

Principal Investigators should retain a copy of ALL deliverables that have been submitted to a Sponsor as well as ANY record of confirmation or acceptance of the deliverable by the Sponsor. Sponsors will often send formal acceptance emails of deliverables and reports that have been submitted. Grant portals, such as research.gov or eRA Commons, will also have a record of these submissions and confirmation which may be printed (print to PDF or paper) or saved with a screen shot (as a PDF or picture).

All of the documentation should be retained for no less than three (3) years after the end of the award to comply with federal record retention regulations.

Best Regards,

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP)