According to the letter, NIH policy excuses officials from participating in any federal funding decisions where they might have a conflict of interest.

The letter raises questions about the terms of the contract, pointing to the fact that the contract’s funding sources typically support research at NIH headquarters in Maryland, but this money was used to support a lab at Harvard.

The committee is also looking into the size of the contract, which the letter calls an “extraordinarily large amount” to be given at one time. The average NIH grant is $365,000, according to the letter.

The letter also questions whether the factors used to choose the grant recipient favored Schreiber and Harvard, due to Schreiber’s prominence in the field, his friendship with Klausner and his former position on the NCI’s Scientific Advisory Board.

The committee is requesting copies of any communications between Harvard and the funders of the lab, records of Klausner’s visits to Harvard and to Schreiber’s laboratory and the records of the Harvard Presidential Search Committee.

Casey said the University would “cooperate as much as we can with the investigation.”

—Staff writer Jessica R. Rubin-Wills can be reached at rubinwil@fas.harvard.edu.