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Advance Spending Requests – developing revised program

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. Current Process. Advance Funding Approval subject to F irm funding commitment

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Advance Spending Requests – developing revised program

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  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

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