As Principle Investigators (PI’s) you have an important role in facilitating the due diligence process, and should be aware of the due diligence process detailed within the REO Due Diligence Policy/Process document.
You should assess the level of risk of a project by considering the level of funding and the country risk by referring to the Global Corruption Index and the Overseas Business Risk web pages. A small project in a country which is deemed to be less corrupt is clearly less risky than a large project in a country which is deemed to be more corrupt.
You should also be aware of any Trusted Research requirements which refers to principles and policies that support the integrity of international research collaborations for UK research institutions.
Projects indicating a higher risk will require a more comprehensive approach to due diligence, so that the University is satisfied that it is managing the risk appropriately. This is known as a full due diligence check. You can see the criteria for both light touch and full due diligence checks within the REO Due Diligence Policy/Process document.
When a letter of award is received and the due diligence process is ready to begin, the REO Governance team will forward you the relevant questionnaire to send on to your partner(s) for completion. This will either be the the Light Touch Due Diligence Review Questionnaire (if the award is less than £25,000) or the Full Questionnaire (if the award is greater than £25,000). The criteria for Light and Full Touch due diligence is also detailed within the REO Due Diligence Policy/Process document. If you have any questions or queries regarding due diligence, please contact please contact the Due Diligence Team. The forms are to be completed and signed by the overseas partner(s). For the full due diligence questionnaire it will help if you could request that the partner organisation supply the required documentation in an easy to follow method. For example if Question 2.1 of the questionnaire asks for the “Anti-fraud, corruption and bribery / whistleblowing” Policy, the organisation should send this policy in a folder marked “2.1”. This will greatly assist with the review of the information received and generally speed up the review process. All documents should be provided in English language wherever possible.
The completion of the full due diligence questionnaire can take some time as there are a number of questions along with several documents that are required. We therefore recommend that wherever possible you make the partner aware of this requirement at the application stage.
When you receive the completed questionnaire (Light Touch or Full) from the partner organisation, you should then send this to the REO Due Diligence Team who will carry out appropriate and proportionate due diligence checks as detailed in the REO Due Diligence Policy/Process document. You will be kept informed on progress or if further information is required. When the checks have been completed, you will be notified by the due diligence team.