What I learned at NCURA Shelley goes to Washington, DC

We all have the same issues Cost Transfers  Too many, too late, failure to document the reason for the transfer, transfer for budgetary control  We don’t adhere to our own policy. Do you know what the policy is at UAA? I’ve attached a copy and it is on our website. 20Cost_Transfer_Policy.doc 20Cost_Transfer_Policy.doc  “…Cost transfer policies tend to be nonexistent, incorrect or confusing, and the requirements for making appropriate cost transfers are often misunderstood by institutional officials, especially PI’s and departmental administrators…”

Audits-Everyone is getting them If you want to see something really scary, visit What have they been concentrating on recently? One of the current favorites is “Unallowable Cost Transfers due to Inadequate Policies and Controls”. The False Claims Act allows a private individual or “whistleblower”, with knowledge of past or present fraud on the federal government, to sue on behalf of the government to recover stiff civil penalties and triple damages. This is also known as “Qui Tam” or he who sues for the King as himself. The “relator” can receive as much as 15-25% of the total amount. Northwestern University paid $5.5 million to resolve a False Claims Act suit. The relator, a former employee of the Office of Research Sponsored Programs, received $907,500.

Effort - What is required? Effort Reporting  Document, document, document the reason for the transfer.  If you have to do them, make them timely. At UAA, this would be within our 60 day policy.  Who signed and do they have “direct personal knowledge”  OMB Circular A21 Section J10 provides guidance which describes “Compensation for personal services covers all amounts paid currently or accrued by the institution for services of employees rendered during the period of performance under sponsored agreements….”  Nowhere in OMB Circular A21 does it talk about people working more than 40 hours in a week and getting paid for it. It isn’t there and we can’t let faculty keep thinking that way. Percentage of Effort  People, even faculty, cannot have more than 100% effort  We should not pay overloads on restricted funds….ever.  Most universities don’t allow faculty to be charged more than 60% on restricted funds (example is Cal-Tech). UAA has no policy at present but we need one.

Grants.gov All grant applications will transition to Grants.gov by the end of The next big submission date will be the NIH R01’s on 2/5/2007. NIH Electronic SF424 Application Process through Grants.Gov is nicely explained at Know the due dates. Allow at least five days from the time you submit the paperwork to OSP to the submission date for the application. No one, but no one, likes Grants.gov but it is something we can live with if we play nicely together. Make sure you PI has contacted the Office of Sponsored Programs as soon as they know they are applying. Encourage your faculty to communicate with you, as their departmental partner, and us, as their central administration partner.

Improvement at UAA will start with departmental staff not with central administration. You are the front line. You have the relationship with the PI. You know about the project. Central administration is there to assist you. You can develop a better, more compliant UAA:  By asking questions when you aren’t sure.  By seeking guidance from OMB Circulars, the BOR policies, the OSP website, the agency policy manuals, and the grant award itself. Make sure you get a copy of it and make sure you and the PI have read it.  By persisting in pursuit of a greater understanding accomplished by attending trainings when offered and soliciting training for your school or college. Michele Bates in Grants and Contracts is available at  By using your unique talents and intelligence to promote positive change.  By informing your Principal Investigators of the regulations that come with accepting restricted funds. They just want to do their work. We are the ones to make sure the work is accomplished in a lawful manner compliant with all applicable requirements.

Resources at UAA Check our website at Contact Kristi Elkins at or Shelley Chapman at in the Office of Sponsored Projects. You had us at “Hello”. It is never too early in the process to contact Kristi or Shelley with questions on how to build a proposal budget, allowable costs, and any other technical question we can assist you in answering. We will work with you to meet your research goals. Our job is to assist researchers. We will offer extra help and alternative ideas should you require them.

NCURA –An Opportunity to learn more about Research Administration If you want to download the handouts from the annual meeting they are available on the NUCRA website, here is the address: Membership in NCURA gives you access to their bi- monthly newsletter. Check out NCURA’s website at The annual meetings for NCURA are always in Washington DC and always the first week in November. Annual regional meetings are held in various west coast locations usually in April. NCURA also sponsors SPA (Sponsored Project Administration) I and SPA II training at various times of the year in various locations.

Feedback Are there subjects that you would like to receive training on? What is the most effective way to present trainings? Audioconferences? Departmental based trainings where we come to you? CD’s that can be checked out? Trainings through groups like the Academic and Research Managers group? What is missing from the Research website? Are there forms or instructions that you need but can’t find? Suggestions for improving how we provide information to the University community. Our newest Grants and Contracts member is Michele Bates. She is taking the lead in training for our campus. Contact her with your feedback at