1. ADVANCE SPENDING REQUESTS – DEVELOPING REVISED PROGRAM Lynelle A. Gehrke, Associate Director Office of Contract & Grant Administration Campus Cost Transfer & ECERT Focus Group Meeting June 13, 2013

2. Current Process Advance Funding Approval subject to Firm funding commitment Firm start date Estimate of when the University might expect to receive the actual award for review, negotiation, if necessary, and formal acceptance Provision of alternate non-federal unrestricted fund to absorb expenses if award is not ultimately issued by sponsor Problems/challenges Sponsor Grant/Contract Officers unwilling to commit to award; yet Program Officer advised PI that award was pending from sponsor Current form requires too much information and is time consuming Detailed financial breakdown of proposed costs by account and sub- account Salaries, General Assistance, S&E, Equipment, Travel, Benefits, etc.

3. The current process in practice Extended time to gain approval for advance funding Too many approvers Requires sponsor Grants Officer confirmation who will not confirm until the award is issued (which is too late) Other funds are charged to support expenditures that are occurring by PI’s When award fund is set up, numerous transfers from those other funds to federal funds are processed raising red-flags and causing significant work More prudent to set up fund/index for those lower risk circumstances so that expenditures are processed on the correct fund/index without transfers We are aligning our process to the already sanctioned allowance by federal sponsors (FDP) to advance spend by 90 days.

4. Proposed new Process Identify federal grants with low risk Identify non-federal sponsors with low risk Accept Program Officer confirmation of pending award Program Officer is in most likely position to confirm award pending Establish conditions that qualify the pending award as high risk Continue the provision of alternate non-federal unrestricted fund to absorb expenses if award is not ultimately issued by sponsor New form will only require essential information, making completion of form quicker/easier Limit number of approvers/signatures based on level of risk Publish new process/form on Blink

5. Conditions that will not allow approval of advance spending request Because the effective start date is not until the date of contract execution – primarily federal contracts Where UC reserves the right to negotiate terms and conditions as a condition of submitting a proposal due to unacceptable terms Problematic Sponsor Award terms conflict with UC policies Repeated protracted negotiations Contracts with industry, and certain non-profit foundations Sponsors known to withhold awards due to outstanding reporting obligations (financial, technical, property, etc.) on unrelated awards

6. Plan and timeline OCGA will complete draft New form New procedures Publish guidelines and forms via Blink Coordinate with OPAFS to align process with fund set-up Pilot for a 6 month period Evaluate pilot and adjust program