Research administrators can be assisted in resolving issues with awareness of the critical period of policy formation divulged in the Joseph Warner Papers. He and his colleagues on the Subcommittee on Grants and Contracts Provisions of COGR adopted the philosophy that research administrators needed flexibility and reduced paperwork and costs. Federal principles needed standardization without stifling the diversity that is the strength of American higher education. Of note were attempts to reduce the burdens associated with property and procurement matters. In this and other matters, the subcommittee's federal counterparts respected and cooperated with the erudition of the subcommittee's members about issues that curtailed research administrators from their duties and threatened to raise costs of accounting for federal awards. The subcommittee's goal was to ensure revision of the OMB Circular A-110 after it was first published on July 1, 1976. The COGR subcommittee's successes are causes for celebration and recognition that research administrators' common sense and experience count in shaping federal principles. Thus, this article uses a critical era in the history of research administration to retrieve a new and deeper understanding of A-110 and why the experiences of research administrators and their networks are critical in shaping continual evolution. This knowledge presents a deeper appreciation for principles. All parties in the research effort--scientists, researchers of every discipline, executives, and controllers--need to get this message to continue the necessary work of transforming the vision for the public good. (Contains 1 table.)