Pre/Post Award Grant Management

Any funds coming into the University of Arizona is handled based on a combination of factors.   A UAccess Research proposal document (UAR) must be routed whenever certain external funds are coming to the University/Department.  Please refer to the table below to determine when a UAR (routing through SPS) is needed. 

UAHS Pre-Award Services (https://research.uahs.arizona.edu/pre-award/home)

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https://research.arizona.edu/OROI/coi-requirements-proposal-submission

All Investigators participating in federally funded research activities, including sub-federal awards, must have submitted a disclosure within the past 364 days prior to the submission of any federal or sub-federal proposal, even if they have yet to participate in research activities.  (A disclosure can be any of the following:  Annual Disclosure Certification, Research Certification or an Update.) OROI will verify that all PIs, Co-PIs, Senior/Key Personnel and COI Disclosers (“Investigators”) have an up-to-date disclosure at the time of proposal submission to a federal funding agency.

While this has been both a federal and UArizona requirement since 2012, the purpose of this process change is to ensure UArizona has appropriate documentation confirming compliance with this federal regulation.  This process change will not create a new COI requirement for Investigators.

For questions about COI at Proposal Submission, please contact Ismael Jaimez at coi@arizona.edu

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https://research.arizona.edu/development 

Research Development Services (RDS) partners with UA faculty, their departmental/unit business office, and Sponsored Projects & Contracting Services (SP&CS) on the stages of the proposal lifecycle: from Opportunity Identification and Assessment to Revision and Resubmission. Research Development Services at UArizona is the nation’s most robust of its kind. The RDS team of more than two dozen brings expertise from multiple disciplines in academia, industry, and government. Most RDS staff members have advanced degrees.   Visit the RDS website for more detailed information.  

Physiology Grant/Contract Administrator Role: 

• Provide PI with monthly account balances, provide projections, etc
• Assist with financial compliance (allowability of costs) 
  • Ensure costs are authorized in accordance with University policies, state and federal laws and regulations, sponsor terms and conditions
  • Charged to the appropriate object code
  • Allowable per the terms of the award
  • Fall within the available balance of the account
  • Fall within the period of performance of the account
  • Documented and approved according to UA business practice: https://www.fso.arizona.edu/financial-management/business-purpose
• Assist with large purchases/Expense reimbursements/financial questions
• Ensure copies of supporting documentation for all activity processed on the account are maintained according to UA record retention guidelines.
• Process Cost transfers as needed

Sponsored Project’s Role:

• Prepares a financial status report for the sponsor, according to the terms of the award. Before sending the financial status report to the sponsor, the project accountant will obtain written concurrence from the principal investigator. The principal investigator should review the financial report to ensure that the costs are allowable and accurately reported. Any unobligated balance is usually returned to the sponsor.

PI’s Role:

• Complete required Compliance programs (e.g., Conflict of interest; Research laboratory Safety Services; Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research)
• Ensure funds are spent and managed according to the goals, objectives and mission of the organization, to ensure that the funds are being spent according to a budgeted plan and that the allocation of expenditures is appropriate to the function identified for the account.
• Communicate budget changes to grant administrator prior to changes
• Review monthly financial reports and report errors as soon as possible
• Approve Effort Reports every 6 months
• Submit technical reports to sponsor by the deadline
• Familiarize yourself with Research, Innovation and Impact website for managing grants: https://research.arizona.edu/administration/managing-projects or  https://research.arizona.edu/
• When in doubt, ask first!

No cost extensions to projects do not increase the amount of the University's original cost sharing obligation. The no cost extension does, however, extend the time period during which the University may perform the cost sharing. Extending the termination date of the project or the due date for deliverables or technical reports generally requires sponsor approval.

Contracts (Bilateral agreements):

• Contracts usually require a contract modification signed by both parties agreeing to the change. The PI/unit can correspond with the sponsor and appropriate UArizona contracting office to draft the modification.

Grants (Unilateral agreements):

• For many unilateral grants awarded under the Research Terms and Conditions/Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP), the University has the authority to extend the termination date one time for a period up to one year beyond the original termination date. The principal investigator requests a no-cost extension  by emailing their post award team. The email should contain:
  • The new termination date
  • Provide justification for requesting the extension
  • Extending the termination date in order to spend remaining funds is not an acceptable justification
  • The post award team will notify the sponsor of the new termination date and repeat the supporting justification provided in the request letter.
• If sponsor approval is required for the no cost extension, postaward will transmit the request to the sponsor. 

NIH: 

To submit your first No-Cost Extension on an NIH grant, the steps are:  

NSF:

Progress Reports

The principal investigator is responsible for tracking and submitting required progress reports to the sponsor. Please reference the 1/4/21 Progress Report Memo from the Senior Vice President for Research Office regarding tracking and follow up requirements. Departments/Colleges may also consider withholding proposal approvals for PIs with overdue reports as an corrective action measure.

The sponsor may specific a format in the award notice or incorporated terms and conditions. If no format is indicated, the principal investigator is advised to use a format that addresses the following program management concerns:

• A review of accomplishments to-date as compared with schedule and objectives as outlined in the original proposal or as modified when the contract was awarded.
• A review of the challenges faced by the project in attempting to meet the schedule and objectives laid out in the original proposal or the most recent modification.  If the project is either behind schedule or significantly off budget (high or low) it is not enough to say so - include a mitigation plan.
• Supporting statistical data or documentation on overall project health.

• Management activities, such as documentation or materials produced, personnel issues, etc.

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National Institutes of Health (NIH) 

Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)

The Research Progress Performance Report is the standard format for progress reporting used by all federal agencies that provide sponsored funding. The report is prepared by the PI or PI assistant within NIH eRACommons and routed to a Sponsored Projects postaward signing official for review and submission.

• Three-Day Deadline policy:
  
  • RPPRs should be submitted in accordance with the Three-Day Deadline Policy.
• RPPR Cover Page:
  
  • Please set the administrative official to Marcel Villalobos, and the signing official to the postaward team manager that partners with your unit (Our Contact = Carmen Raffensparger). You can locate the postaward team manager by college from our directory.
  • Please route the RPPR in eRA Commons to Carmen Raffensparger – signing official. 
• Notify SPS the report is ready for review:
  
  • The PI or research administrator should send an email to sponsor@arizona.edu(link sends e-mail) to request submission after the RPPR is routed to the signing official. This is necessary in case the signing official is out of office. Please reference the UA account number and/or grant number.
    
    • If the RPPR has warnings, your email should indicate SPS may submit despite them.
    • If the RPPR has a significant unobligated balance, include the internal UA unobligated balance worksheet, as NIH will ask about the balances.
    • If you need a corresponding ASSIST record updated to “work in progress” for updates, or returned to “submitted” status, please include that information.

Other Guidance:

• UAccess Analytics RPPR support dashboard: This is a tool for guidance, but requires careful review, particularly the effort calculations. Access requires provisioning for UAccess Research. 
• NIH RPPR Website

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Roles and Responsibilities for Grant Transfers at the University of Arizona

P = Primary  responsibility

S = Secondary responsibility

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