Office of Research Oversight

The Checklists below are tools produced by ORO to assist the VA research community (including investigators, administrators, and committee members and staff) in identifying and complying with current VA/VHA policies and procedures and other Federal requirements related to research.  Their internal use as a self-assessment instrument is not mandatory.  For example, VA research programs may choose to review or complete select checklists in preparation for an ORO site review, but unless otherwise directed by ORO, such checklist completion is not an expectation.  ORO will update these checklists as policies and other requirements are revised; therefore, periodic revisitation of this web page is advised, rather than relying on previously downloaded versions of the checklists which may become outdated over time.

The Research Compliance Officer (RCO) Audit Tools below are provided as examples; RCOs are not required to use these specific forms or format.  However, RCOs must audit, at a minimum, all the required information in the audit tools.