NEOUCOM Grant Policies and Procedures
An investigator must contact the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs prior to submitting any application for external funding or contract in which any of the following items are true:
1) the funds will be received and monitored through NEOUCOM; and/or
2) any portion of the work will be performed at NEOUCOM; and/or
3) any NEOUCOM personnel or students will be involved in the project.
FACILITIES AND ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS (F&A) – Formerly called indirect costs
The date of the DHHS agreement for NEOUCOM's Facilities and Administrative costs is May 11, 2005.Please use the worksheet below to determine F&A costs.
For all for-profit funding sources, principal investigators are expected to charge the full amount of their percentage of time and effort on the project to salaries and wages on the grant application. Equipment amounts may be excluded when determining Total Direct Costs. Exceptions may be granted in rare/unusual circumstances with the joint approval of the Vice President for Administration and Finance and the Vice President for Research.
EMPLOYEE FRINGE BENEFIT RATES
For the purposes of calculating fringe benefits on salaries and wages for grant applications, apply the following percentages:
- Full time faculty 29%
- Full time staff 37%
- Part time employees 16%
Please use the worksheet below to determine Fringe Rates.
NEOUCOM GRANT/CONTRACTS APPLICATION PROCEDURES
All external grant applications (excluding those originated by the NEOUCOM Director of Development) must be routed via a "transmittal form" (a.k.a. routing form) through the College and then to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. This is necessary to assure that all federal assurances and funding source guidelines have been properly addressed. Please remember an application may not leave NEOUCOM unless the routing form has received all required signatures. If a funding source requires additional materials prior to activation of an award, or in the event a problem arises concerning a funded project, please contact Chris Block, Ph.D., Assistant Dean for Research.
The grants/contracts application procedure is as follows:
1. If you know the funding source, but need guidelines and/or applications forms to apply, contact the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at ext. 6509.
2. If you are applying to the National Institutes of Health, please go to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs' website for updated, pre-populated applications.
3. If you already have application guidelines and proper forms, contact the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs for a transmittal form (a.k.a. signature routing sheet).
4. Once your grant application is complete, attach the completed transmittal form to the front of the grants application. Have the PI of the grant and the department Chair sign the transmittal form.
5. If the Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs is your Division Director, please have this signature on the transmittal form on your grant application before being brought to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.
6. If your project includes any of the issues involved in section number five of the transmittal form, you must contact the following individuals for signature:
a. "New Position": Joyce Davies, Manager Grants Accounting b. "Lab Animals:" Lora Nicholson, Program Associate, CMU c. "Radio Isotopes" Walter Horne, D.V.M., CMU d. "Recombinant DNA" Angelo DeLucia, Ph.D., Recombinant DNA Committee e. "Human Subjects" Trish Wilson, Research and Sponsored Programs 7. After you have obtained these signatures, please take the transmittal form and the application to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, F-238, for signature by the Associate Dean for Research.
If you have questions regarding the transmittal form or your grant application, contact Chris Block, Ph.D., Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, ext. 6518.
NO AWARD:
If an applicant receives notice from the funding source that the proposal will not be funded, the applicant should notify the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and the Manager, Grants Accounting so that the file may be deactivated.
The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs will assist the investigator in planning and submitting a revision for a subsequent review cycle.
POST-AWARD:
NEOUCOM's Business Office will receive the NIH Notice of Grant Award which will be photocopied and sent to the Principal Investigator and the Assist Dean for Research. On awards from all other sources, the investigator should send a copy of the award letter to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and the Grants Accounting Office.
Upon receipt of an award document, personnel in the Accounting Office will establish a separate account to accumulate and monitor related expenditures in compliance with the sponsoring agency's policies and restrictions. The Accounting Office fulfills the sponsor's invoicing, funds collection, financial reporting requirements and maintains the official grant file which is subject to audit by the College's auditors and the granting agency.
Expenditures of Funds
- Personnel -- It is the responsibility of the principal investigator/project director to initiate and terminate payroll appointment forms for all personnel to be paid from the grant/contract account. In accordance with College policy, the faculty member's salary budgeted within a grant/contract must be charged and an investigator award will result only after such charges are made to the grant/account.
- Purchases/travel -- Generally, all normal College policies and procedures regarding purchases of goods/services and travel apply to externally funded projects. Should a sponsoring agency's policies be more restrictive than the College's, the more restrictive policies apply.
- Equipment -- All equipment purchases from federal funds are subject to the screening procedures necessary to comply with the federal regulations. The screening process is performed by the property accounting personnel.
- Cost Transfers -- Cost transfers are retroactive accounting transfers of specific expenditures from one account to another. A memorandum from the Principal Investigator should be addressed to the Controller identifying the items charged in error, the correct account to be charged and justification or explanation as to how the error occurred. As cost transfers are typically scrutinized by external auditors, the transfers must be made within 120 days from the date of the original expenditure.
- Budget Revisions -- Requests must include a justification by the Principal Investigator. The completed form should be submitted to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs for approval. In some cases, revisions may also require the approval of the sponsor.
- Time Extensions/Continuations -- If additional time/funding is required for a project, it is necessary to submit a request to the sponsor well in advance of the expiration date. The Principal Investigator is responsible for contacting the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs to initiate the extension request.
- Cost Sharing -- The recipient institution must support a specified percentage of the costs of a federally funded project in some cases. The principal investigator is responsible for identifying and documenting the costs being contributed or cost shared under each applicable grant.