Policies & Procedures

UC IRVINE ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Section 1

Organization and Administration

Sec. 103-12: Delegation of Authority and Signature Authorization Guidelines

Responsible Office: Administrative Policies & Procedures
Revised: October 2017

References / Resources

Contact: Manager of Administrative Policies at (949) 824-8713 or ucipolicy@uci.edu

A. Purpose and Scope

Presidential Delegations of Authority, and some Presidential Policies, redelegate authorities conferred upon the President by the Board of Regents to senior UC officers, including Chancellors, in published form. Some delegations to the campus may be stated in other Office of the President formats.

UCI Delegations of Authority are issued to define in writing the campus official(s) responsible for approving/implementing major, broad-based business activities on behalf of UCI which may involve significant areas of liability or public accountability.

B. Definitions

Delegations of Authority A delegation of authority documents the formal granting of significant authority and responsibility to a position title, not to an individual, for a specified matter. Delegations of Authority are broad in scope and state any limitations on the authority or restrictions on redelegating.
  • The term "delegation of authority" should be avoided in correspondence intended to assign routine administrative responsibilities or to appoint someone to act on behalf of another during an absence.
Irvine Delegation of Authority (IDA) Many Irvine Delegations of Authority are from the Chancellor to one or more senior position title(s). In some instances (when redelegation is permitted) one or more of the positions that receive authority under an IDA from the Chancellor will redelegate some or all of their authority to other position title(s). In a few cases a further redelegation will be made. Each redelegation is also listed in the IDA index as an IDA.

C. Responsibilities and Authority

Manager of Administrative Policies:
  1. Has been designated by the Chancellor to provide analysis, clarification, and interpretation of delegation of authority concepts and individual delegation issues, and to ensure that UCI's documents align with current UC Presidential delegations of authority, and are consistent with University policies and other regulatory directives.
  2. Prepares all IDAs to insure consistency with Office of the President requirements. As the primary campus authority, the Manager of Administrative Policies researches, prepares, distributes, and retains IDAs.
  3. Publishes UCI Delegations of Authority online, retains the original, signed document, and forwards them to the University Archives when they are superseded or rescinded.

D. Acting Authority During Temporary Absences

When Vice Chancellors, Deans, directors, department chairs, or other senior administrators will be absent for a short period of time, it is appropriate for them to appoint someone to act during their absence. Since acting positions assume all delegated authorities, appointments should approximate similar levels of accountability and jurisdiction. This is normally communicated via an email or memo stating who is being appointed and the inclusive dates for which the appointment is effective. This notification should be addressed to the next higher office with a copy to the Controller/Assistant Vice Chancellor–Accounting & Fiscal Services.

E. Signature and Online Access Authorizations

There are two methods by which Deans, department chairs, principal investigators, and administrative department heads can authorize responsible individuals to expend allocated University funds when there is no overruling written Delegation of Authority:

Unlike a Delegation of Authority, which is broad in scope, these forms are completed and issued by a department or program to notify administrative and service departments (Office of Information Technology, Accounting, Procurement, etc.) of a given person's authority to conduct a specified business transaction for the department or program. The Signature Authorization also provides a specimen signature for individuals to whom expenditure authority is given.

F. Research Administrative Documents

Responsibility for approving research administrative documents may be re-assigned to appropriate administrators as determined solely by Research Administration.