PROJECT ADMINISTRATION AND REPORTING

Navigating though oceans of federal, state, and university regulations, not to mention your sponsor's specific terms and conditions, and helping you to keep your research project on budget and on course is another responsibility of the Office of Sponsored Programs. At any one time, we are responsible for supporting some 3,000 sponsor awards and 1,000 cost-sharing projects in the research, instruction, and extension divisions. So, although we can and do provide you with valuable information and assistance, we need your participation to make the fiscal and administrative aspects of your project as successful as you expect your research results to be.

REVIEWING AND FULFILLING CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

The transmittal letter we send you, accompanying your copy of the award document, will highlight terms and conditions of the document that you should pay particular attention to.

For example:

You are responsible for fulfilling whatever technical reporting requirements the sponsor sets. Please note the schedule and due dates of these reports. In the past, sponsors have held up funds while awaiting technical reports called for in their awards. We will be responsible for preparing and submitting whatever fiscal and administrative reports the sponsor requires.

You should note any restrictions placed by the sponsor on your expenditure of funds. Sponsors often require that they approve in advance expenditures for items such as foreign travel, equipment not already in the approved budget, general purpose equipment, subcontracting part of the project, or hiring outside consultants. Another key area of prior approval may involve a change in the amount of the principal investigator's effort to be spent on the project.

Our office is responsible for working with the sponsor to obtain approval for any items requiring the sponsor's prior consent. If you have a need to obtain prior approval, please contact your assigned OSP team member. The same holds true for all equipment requisitions and payment requests from subcontractors or consultants.

ENSURING SOLID FISCAL PERFORMANCE

It is your responsibility as Principal Investigator to monitor the day-to-day fiscal performance of your project as well as the technical aspects of the job. We regularly provide you with information to make this part of your job easier.

We will provide you with a fund statement on your project each month. (Insert link for a sample project account statement and for detailed information on what you should be looking for). In general, you should make sure that salaries and equipment are being charged accurately. If you spot any problems, we will work with you to make sure that cost transfers are done on a timely basis. If transfers are not made within 90 days (including 30 days to get through the university accounting system), University policy requires supporting justification in order for those transfers to be made. So please contact us as soon as possible.

We also review the project account statements and will let you know if we spot any problems. The key is to track your budget reports carefully. If you have spent 80 percent of

your budget, are you roughly 80 percent finished with your project? Or have you had difficulties along the way? The earlier fiscal difficulties are spotted, the more likely they will be solved without major expenditures by your college or department.

If your project should be overspent, we will let you know that it has been flagged, which means that no additional expenditures can be made until the overdraft problem is solved. We'll be happy to work with you to clear up any problems, and, if necessary, transfer costs to the appropriate college overhead account.

The greatest percentage of costs for any research project is in salaries and benefits for the personnel directly involved in that project. (Insert link for an in-depth discussion of direct and indirect costs and how they are charged. ) It is extremely important that you submit personnel forms, particularly the Personnel Activity Report (PAR), in a timely fashion, and that you fill these forms out carefully to assure that expenditures are correctly charged to your project. The same holds true for cost-sharing projects. We can't emphasize this enough. For a detailed description on filling out the PARs, Insert link.

If you find you will need a no-cost time extension on your project, we can work with the sponsor on that as well. But please let us know at least 90 days in advance of the award ending date for your research, to allow us to work with the sponsor to modify the award documents.

PROJECT COMPLETION AND CLOSE-OUT

When your project is completed, OSP will prepare and send whatever documents the sponsor requires to close the project out. As a part of this process, you should know that we routinely request that title to any equipment purchased with sponsor funds be transferred to the university.

We will work with the auditors to provide any documentation they may need, and to answer any fiscal or administrative questions they may have.

Please be aware that many sponsors will not make final payments on awards until they have received the final technical report. So make sure to review your award document carefully, and issue your final technical report as soon as possible after you have compleo the Top

Proposal

A proposal is any document to a potential sponsor which provides any form of cost breakdown. The sponsor may be a foundation, federal or state government, or a commercial organization.

Proposals may be solicited or unsolicited. A solicited proposal is one the sponsor requests either verbally or by a formal, written request. Formal requests include RFPs, RFQs, RFAs, PRDAs, etc.

Proposals may be research proposals, instruction proposals or extension or public service proposals.

Research proposals are basic and applied research and developmental activities; conferences for the development or exchange of research information; development of new educational methods, evaluation of State and Federal programs.

Instruction proposals include on-campus or off-campus instruction for credit; scholarships and fellowships; student services such as counseling; instructional equipment; improvement of instructional programs.

Extension and Public Service proposals provide assistance to the citizens of Virginia, provide training and leadership to local governments, state agencies, small businesses, and volunteer organizations. The expertise of the University is transferred to the needs of the citizens of Virginia and to the needs of society.