American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

Faculty and Staff Presentations September, 2009 Sue Ross Bruce ElliottDirector Office for Sponsored Research, Evanston CampusChicago Campus Mike DanielsJennifer Wei Senior Associate Controller/Executive DirectorEffort Reporting Research ManagerOffice of Financial Operations Jane Roy-Singh Associate Director Accounting Services for Research and Sponsored Programs

I. ARRA Overview II. PI and Department Admin. Responsibilities III. Reporting Requirements and Timelines

ARRA Overview ARRA enacted 2/17/09 $Billions investment to science ($10.4B NIH, $3B NSF, $5.5B DOE) Stimulus funding – looking for impact on employment  $68M ARRA awards to date, more expected Rigorous accountability and reporting requirements Audit risk is high

ARRA Proposal Data Strong Northwestern response to ARRA funding opportunities Proposals submitted specifically for ARRA 601 for a total of $386.6 mil 350 ARRA proposals in April 2009 alone

ARRA Award Data $68M awarded through 9/11 (125 awards) Sponsors: NIH, NSF, DOE(nergy) Northwestern has exceptionally high volume (per CIC [Big Ten] data) Award profiles on Office for Research web site (

ARRA Recipient Reporting Process ARRA funds are separate from other agency funds Distinct CFDA Numbers Set up in separate chart strings Drawn down separately from non-ARRA funds Accounting for ARRA funds a rigorous and frequent process Who is required to report under ARRA? Prime Recipients who receive Recovery Act funds. Prime recipients may delegate certain reporting responsibilities to sub-recipients (NU will report subrecipient’s data)

ARRA Recipient Reporting Process What reporting is required under ARRA? Total amount of funds received; and of that, the amount spent on projects and activities A list of projects and activities funded by name to include –Description –Completion status –Estimates on jobs created or retained  Details on sub-awards and other payments

ARRA Reporting Requirements Quarterly (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct) 10 calendar day deadline Transparent – full public view New portal (FederalReporting.gov) New data elements

ARRA Reporting Timeline Days 1-10 – NU uploads data to FederalReporting.gov Days – data is public, data validation and corrections begin (phase I) Days – data validation & corrections (phase II) NOTE: If an award is missing from initial report, penalties include risk of award being suspended

Contextual View of Reporting

ARRA New Data Elements Jobs created/retained (prime recipient, subrecipients, vendors) Research progress (not started, 50%, complete) Project description (abstracts) Project activity codes (need PI input) Aggregate and individual subawards issued Vendor purchases > $25,000 (item description and purpose) Demographic data (DUNS, Cong. Districts, etc.)

PI and Department Responsibilities Begin work, spend ARRA funds right away Charge payroll ASAP to reflect jobs created/retained For NIH ARRA supplements, give the supplement priority Be prepared to provide descriptions of products or services provided by large (> $25,000) vendor purchases

ARRA Reporting Specs Must submit first report by 10/10 Drawing data from several NU systems May submit web, Excel, or XML OMB provides data definitions, format Potential 99 fields for each award Each report submitted individually

Current Status of NU Reporting Northwestern registration in FederalReporting.gov complete Data mapping complete Database design complete XML coding in process Subcontracts issued ASAP OSR gathering abstracts Process for PI data review complete

ARRA Key Info Quarterly Reports IN ADDITION TO existing reports Funds 611 and 621 identify ARRA funding 1 st Report includes all awards issued through 9/30 Northwestern reporting jobs and expenditures through prior month close to ensure data is as complete as possible Example – 10/10 report to cover jobs and expenditures through August close

ARRA Data Review Process 1) Stimulus report review with link to spreadsheet distributed 2) Spreadsheet has pre-populated data of all ARRA awards 3) PI (or designate) locates individual project data on spreadsheet 4) Confirm data or provide specific feedback via stimulus report review 5) Stimulus report review release 9/21 ( and 12/21, 3/22, 6/21) 6) Responses due by 9/25 (and 12/29, 3/26, 6/25) 7) If no response, pre-populated data will be reported

ARRA Data Elements

ARRA Jobs Created and Retained Formula dictated by the Office of Management and Budget and interpreted by NIH, NSF One combined number reported for jobs created and retained Report requires description of positions

ARRA Jobs Created and Retained Example #1 - Exempt (e.g. faculty) –# of jobs created or retained is calculated based on the paid effort charged to the ARRA grant divided by the total salary on a quarterly basis

ARRA Jobs Created and Retained Example #2 – Non-exempt (e.g. Biweekly Paid) –1 Full-time FTE is based on 489 hours per quarter –Default hours for hourly paid employees (biweekly regular or biweekly temporaries) *Note: Two weeks constitute 1 pay period

ARRA Jobs Created and Retained Example #3 – Non-exempt (Biweekly Paid)

PI Responsibilities Begin work, spend ARRA funds right away For NIH ARRA supplements, give the supplement priority Complete the Stimulus Report Review 9/21-25 Be prepared to provide descriptions of products or services provided by large (> $25,000) vendor purchases

Department Responsibilities Establish payroll ASAP to reflect jobs created/retained Serve as a back up for the Stimulus Review Report 9/21-25 Be prepared to provide descriptions of products or services provided by large (> $25,000) vendor purchases

ARRA Assistance We are here to help you! Northwestern ARRA Hotline Northwestern ARRA web site Questions?