Manage an Award

Effective financial and programmatic administration of an award helps to ensure compliance with sponsor requirements and ORP procedures.

Icon of a report Uniform Guidance (2CFR200) provides a framework for guiding principles for managing federal and nonfederal sponsored awards. Decisions concerning the utilization of funds should be necessary, allowable, allocable, reasonable, consistent, and well documented.

Managing awards requires effective communication between the PI, SPA, and sponsor. Many of these processes require review and approval from multiple offices (ex.HR, Business Office, Graduate School, RF SUNY Central Office) and estimated time of completion may vary.

For information on award notices, establishment, management, no-cost extensions and budget revisions contact ESFAward@esf.edu

Report Center

Allows campuses to view integrated information from the business system and stay current on the life cycle of sponsored and corporate awards through conducting day-to-day inquiries, such as managing expenditure activities and reviewing the available balance on an award or project.

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User Help

	PI	Co-PI
Knowledge of the sponsor’s regulations as well as the terms and conditions governing the program and the award	X
Ensuring and supporting compliance with all applicable Award terms and conditions as well as applicable policies and regulations during conduct of the sponsored research, including export controls.	X
Hiring and overseeing staffing and performance of the project.	X	X
Authorizing expenditures within the limits of the approved budget for personnel, goods and services which directly benefit the project and program.	X	X
Ensuring timely submission of required reports including technical progress reports, compliance certifications (IRB, IACUC, ECC, COI, etc.), reports to the Research Foundation (Office of Technology Transfer, Sponsored Programs and Finance). Monitoring and management of contractual agreements with external parties including progress reporting, compliance, invoice review and approval.	X	X
Maintaining the office of record for the technical portion of the project with complete records for six years upon termination of the award.	X
Managing a subcomponent of the overall project and, in the absence of the PI (e.g., sabbatical, university travel, illness), may take on the responsibilities of the PI		X
Communication and engagement with your Sponsored Program Assistant/Associate on a regular basis concerning changes or modifications to the budget or technical aspects of the award.	X	X

Designated signatory and access by the PI in communication and partnership with the Office of Research for specific expenditures (purchasing or staffing) for designated periods or awards. PIs should engage department chair and or director and VPR for approvals.

Collaborate with PI to initiate sponsored award spending related to supply acquisition, rental of Fleet vehicles, and travel or conference arrangements.

Approvals

All modifications to scope, budget or key personnel must be communicated to your SPA as early as possible. Changes will require prior approval from the ORP and the Sponsor; some changes must be submitted to the sponsor within a certain time frame. Your SPA can help determine appropriate channels and time frame of communication with the sponsor.

The most common requests for modifications that require sponsor approval include:

PI drafts a reason for no-cost extension request and sends it to SPA. The SPA will determine the Sponsors preferred method of notification. Reference uniform guidance.

Such as changes in key personnel, PI changes, early termination or leaves of absence. PI contacts SPA with request/information. SPA will send official communication to sponsor programmatic and administrative officers. Reference uniform guidance (reference changes to effort).

A general re-budget is the reallocation of funds from one spending category/line to another spending category/line that is already funded, that better reflects the project requirements. General re-budgets may or may not require sponsor approval depending on the terms of the award and the amount being re-budgeted.

PI should work with SPA on the desired revisions. SPA will review desired changes against sponsors agreement and prior approval matrix to determine appropriate next steps. Reference uniform guidance.

PI should work with SPA to provide information for the sub award. SPA will review information against sponsors agreement and work to determine appropriate next steps. Reference uniform guidance. For more information about subawards.

PI should work with SPA to review if carry-forward is allowable per the Sponsor. SPA will review the information against the sponsors agreement and determine appropriate next steps. Not all sponsors allow for carry-forward.

PI submits a request for pre-award expenditures to the SPA. SPA can help determine appropriate channels of communication with the sponsor regarding pre-award expenditures. Reference uniform guidance.

NSF has created a matrix of actions or changes that do or don’t require prior approval, organized by major federal agencies.

Click here to access the matrix
NSF Terms and Conditions

Personnel Requisition Process

This section outlines the steps required for the personnel requisition process:

Principle Investigator (PI) sends appointment form to Human Resources (HR) at least two weeks before date of hire.
1. This is the same timeline for all appointments whether they are a new appointment or a change to a current appointment. Forms can be found by visiting Office of Human Resources.
HR sends appointment forms to the Office of Research Programs for review and SPA signature.
SPA reviews the appointment form and checks for discrepancies or missing information. This step takes time and will vary depending on various factors. Items that are being reviewed include:
1. Award Status
2. Budget and Funding
3. Timeline: the appointment start and end dates
SPA signs off on the appointment form and sends it back to HR. The SPA will also indicate if training is required to work on the award.
HR moves forward with the appointment to either onboard the employee or make any changes/extensions to an active appointment.

Purchase Requisition Process

Due to the complex sponsor and federal requirements for Research Foundation procurement, ORP adheres to the following Purchase Requisition process.

The PI will submit the requisition form to the Business Office. The form can either be completed digitally or by hand.
The Business Office checks for completeness and if the purchase follows the RF procurement rules. The Business Office is the office of record for requisitions and purchases.
The Business Office will then send the requisition to the Office of Research Programs.
The Office of Research Programs checks for allocability, reasonableness, and if the award has sufficient funds to make the purchase.
Office of Research Programs returns to the Business Office for processing.

Important Notes:

Purchase orders cannot be paid for on the same day.
Please include all paperwork when submitting a purchase requisition. It is necessary for review during approval.

Effort Reporting and Salary Certification

The federal government requires that faculty members or other knowledgeable individuals report and certify compensation and cost shared effort on federal awards. SUNY ESF uses the web-based system, Employee Compensation Compliance (ECC) to report and certify effort.

Each faculty member who serves as the principal investigator on federal awards certifies their own effort annually and certifies non-faculty effort on federal awards. Effort certification is required two times annually. The effort certifications cover January – June and July – December.

For additional information or assistance in certifying your effort statements please contact Erica Ward at eward04@esf.edu.

Access the Reference Guide