Instructions for Accessing and completing your DEPA

Beginning January 1, 2022, the Conflicts of Interest and Commitment Office is requiring renewed submission of the Disclosure of External Professional Activities (DEPA) form for all faculty and staff members whose work relates to the design, conduct or reporting of research. As of January 1, 2022, proposal submission and award actions, including processing new funding, cannot happen unless a disclosure has been filed within the 12 months prior to the intended action, or an updated 2022 DEPA form has been submitted. Beginning May 1, 2022, proposal submission and award actions require that an updated 2022 DEPA form be on file, regardless of the date of the last disclosure. The process of accessing this form, and how the information entered is recorded, is very similar to that of the 2021 DEPA. To complete your 2022 DEPA form, please follow these steps:

Please note that these instructions apply to access via the Google Chrome browser. If you are experiencing issues, please try switching your browser to Google Chrome.

Accessing Your DEPA

1. Access your CU Resources Home page, available here, or through MyCUinfo, Buff Portal or simply via Google. You will need to log in using your CU identikey.

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2. From the CU Resources Home page, select the �Faculty Reporting & DEPA� tile.

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2. In the subsequent window, select the "Login to eRA/InfoEd" button.

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2. This should bring you to this initial infoEd page where you can select your campus from the drop-down menu, as shown.

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2. After selecting a campus, you may need to login again, but will ultimately be directed to the infoEd homepage. From here, select "DEPA form" from the list menu to the left-hand side of the screen.

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2. Selecting "DEPA form" will load this page, from which you should select "Create/Update Disclosure"

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2. Watch the required training video on the DEPA, or read the associated transcript. This video/transcript will afford you the basic standards of disclosure for the DEPA. You must watch the video in its entirety, in order for the DEPA form to become available. Once you have completed this training, you can access the DEPA form from this same page.

Completing Your DEPA

1. Upon entering the DEPA form, it is important to note that the first aspect of question 1 (Investigator Confirmation - �Are you responsible for the design, conduct or reporting of research?�) does not only apply to work conducted for NSF, and the �yes� box should be checked if you are responsible for the design, conduct or reporting of research for any sponsor. The �yes� box associate with the second aspect of question 1 (Investigator Confirmation � �Are you involved in the delivery, development or assessment of NSF-funded educational activities?�) should be checked if you are involved in the delivery, development, or assessment of NSF-funded educational activities, independent of the first aspect of the question.

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2. Question 2 on the DEPA form establishes your relationship to the university. As CIRES personnel, you will check �yes� to the first sub-question, of course, and should complete the following two sub-questions as is appropriate to your situation.

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2. Moving into the �Federal Reporting Obligations� section, you will need to disclose first, whether any federal agency or office funds any of the research that you are designing, conducting or reporting, and second, which agencies or offices these may be. You should disclose any and all agencies (which may be multiple) that support your research and are external to CIRES or the University of Colorado, Boulder.
   
    

To enter NOAA as a funding agency (or any federal agency that does not appear on the check list), select �other� and enter to the description box �National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)� (or the name of the unlisted federal agency), as shown below. If you work within DSRC, it is highly likely that you will need to add NOAA as a funding federal agency. NOAA does not appear on the preset checklist because it does not maintain any agency specific disclosure requirements.

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2. If �Any office or agency of the Public Health Service� is selected, you will be prompted to complete the �NIH Training�. Once you check the box confirming your completion of that training, a new section will appear entitled �PHS/NIH Significant Financial Interests�. Please read each question completely and carefully for disclosure standards. For certain questions, if you select �yes�, you will be prompted to disclose the relevant entity�s information.
   
    
3. If �National Science Foundation (NSF)� is selected in the previous question, a new heading will appear entitled �NSF Significant Financial Interests�. Please read the questions completely for disclosure requirements, and disclose any appropriate information for any entity with which you may have an SFI.

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2. Next, the form requires disclosure of any �Other External Interests and Activities (�Significant Interests�)�. Be sure to read the question thoroughly for standards of disclosure, and be aware that disclosure requirements are not limited to the listed criteria. Disclosure of all significant external personal or financial interests is required.
   
    

If you select �no� to this question, you may move on to the next section. If you select �yes� the following text entry box will appear, in which you should enter the relevant entity, organization or institution information. Select the �+ Add Entity� button to disclose for multiple entities.

If a federal agency which is funding your research is paying you to interact with a foreign entity, this does not constitute a reportable activity in this section. If all value received and obligations created are housed with NOAA, this does not need to be reported through the DEPA. However, if a researcher is receiving value from, or has a personal obligation to, a foreign entity, this would need to be reported via the DEPA. Therefore, regarding collaborations for publication of scientific articles, if no value is received or obligation created then this would not be a reportable activity for the DEPA.

Please only enter entity information that has not been previously disclosed in other sections of this form. If you are a CIRES employee housed at DSRC, you do not need to re-enter your affiliation with NOAA as they fund your research, and are indicated in the "Federal Reporting Obligations" section.

Scientists co-located in NOAA facilities please note: research and office space at DSRC does not need to be disclosed in the �Other Financial and Personal Interest� section, as it is provided in support of the work conducted on our CIRES Cooperative Agreement.

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2. The next section of the DEPA refers to value gained from distribution of �Self-Authored Materials� to any classes that you may teach. Similar to the previous section, if you answer �no� then you may move on.
   
    

If you answer �yes�, you will be presented with an �add� button. Select this button, and fields will appear for you to enter prompted information.

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2. Under the �Conflicts of Commitment Acknowledgement� header, you will be asked to acknowledge that you are aware that external activities must be approved by your academic department and/or Supervising Authority.
   Please note: you must check the �Approval Received� checkbox to acknowledge that you understand this requirement, regardless of whether or not you were actually required to gain approval for external activities.

Forms used to gain approval can be found here. Once forms are completed, they should be kept on file with the authority who has provided approval, as well as with the discloser. Please also provide copies of executed approval forms to the CIRES DEPA liaisons, Cameron Walker (cameron.walker@colorado.edu) and Ted De Maria (demaria@Colorado.EDU).

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2. The last section of the DEPA form addresses �Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs�. As with previous sections, if you select �Yes� to answer this question, text boxes will appear to enter additional information.
   
    
3. Be sure to complete the DEPA form fully and as accurately as you are able, and click the �Certify and Submit� button when you have finished.
   
    

Please keep in mind that disclosure is required at least annually and within 30 days of a discloser�s change in status.

This instructional page is designed as a simple guide for accessing your DEPA. For further instruction on accessing and completing the DEPA form and for in depth description of functions within the DEPA form, visit the Research and Innovation Offices DEPA informational page at:
https://www.colorado.edu/researchinnovation/coi/disclosure-form-depa

Or the COIC disclosure PI Disclosure Guide at: https://www.colorado.edu/researchinnovation/sites/default/files/attached-files/coi_pi_infoed_guide_2021-01-05.pdf.

More information is also available at the InsideCIRES informational pages at:
https://insidecires.colorado.edu/finance/depa/faq.html

If you have any questions, please direct them to Cameron Walker or Teddy L De Maria with CIRES Finance.

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to COIC at: coi@colorado.edu