Managing an Award
When a new award arrives, careful planning is required to set up the project management so that work can progress smoothly and the sponsor's requirements are met. Time spent at the start can help eliminate mistakes and extra work during the life of the project. In addition, there may be a number of project activities that require special attention throughout the life of the project such as hiring consultants, management of program income, or subrecipient monitoring.
As part of Managing an Award, the Office of Research Administration coordinates closely with Finance, especially the Office of Grants Management, as part of assisting our researchers with managing an award.
For additional information or guidance, email the Office of Research Administration at Research@phhs.org.
Monitoring Expenditures
Reconciling accounts on a regular basis will help you to manage your sponsored funds to ensure that expenditures and revenues are within appropriate limits and guidelines. More information on limits and guidelines can be found on the appropriate sponsor websites and in the Uniform Guidance. Regular monitoring of your sponsored accounts helps to:
- Ascertain that revenues have been received.
- Confirm the availability of project funds as needed.
- Ensure that costs are consistent with the project schedule and incurred between the start and stop dates of the project.
- Discover any errors in your budget (monthly expenditure reports are prepared and distributed by the Office of Grants Management in accordance with the award terms and conditions), encumbrances, or expenditures whether these are caused by an end user, a service department, or any other system-generated problem.
- Avoid overspending, which may cause a deficit and limit further spending.
- Give your Principal Investigator a high degree of confidence that the project is in compliance with the sponsor's spending terms and conditions.
- Verify that cost transfers and corrections have been made or are made in a timely manner.
- Maintain a clear audit trail for the future.
Do not wait until a problem is brought to your attention or until a project has terminated before reconciling an account.
The longer an error remains uncorrected, the harder it is to show that allowability and allocability are in compliance with Parkland and sponsor requirements.
Reporting Requirements
Most grant and contract agreements require interim and/or final reports. These reports may include equipment, financial and/or technical. Most of these reports are required to be submitted on an annual basis; however, some sponsors may require more frequent reporting. Final reports are required at the close of the award, usually within 90 days of the expiration of the final project funding period. Responsibilities for submitting documents to meet award terms and conditions are shared at Parkland, but ultimately the PI has responsibility for timely submission. Depending upon the type of award (grant, cooperative agreement, contract, or other transactions), reports are due on a recurring basis during the life of the award (normally within 90 days of the final expiration date for all final documents). The table below summarizes the two most common report types, responsibilities and likely schedule.
| Type of Report |
Submitted By |
Typical Submission Dates During Award Period |
Final Reports |
| |
|
Grant |
Cooperative Agreement |
Contract |
|
| Techical (Progress) |
PI |
Annually |
Quarterly |
Monthly |
Within 90 Days |
| Fiscal (Financial) |
ORA or OGA |
Annually |
Quarterly |
Monthly |
Within 90 Days |
Always reference your award documents since actual reporting requirements will vary.
Effort Reporting & Salary Certification
Effort is the proportion of time spent on professional activities such as research, teaching, administration, service for which an individual is employed by Parkland. Effort reporting is a method of documenting the proportion of work time devoted to these professional activities as a percentage of total professional activity. It is important to note that effort is not calculated on a 40-hour workweek. If an individual works 80 hours in a week, 40 hours represents 50% effort.
To find out more information about Effort Reporting at Parkland, please visit one of these links:
Changing the Terms of an Award
Given the nature of research and the difficulty of making precise plans in advance for any undertaking, it is often necessary to revise budgets and even to change significant aspects of a project after the award has been made. However, significant changes to an award may require the prior approval of the sponsor. Two basic questions must be answered when a PI is considering a change.
- Who has the authority to approve the change, the sponsor or Parkland?
- If the sponsor, does the sponsor require that the change be approved in writing?
The sponsor’s terms and conditions of the award are the definitive source for the answers to these questions.
General Procedures
To answer the questions above, the department should work with ORA to determine what the terms and conditions of the award require. Many minor changes may not require the prior approval of the sponsor.
If the request can be handled in-house, then the department can submit the request from the PI to ORA for review and approval. ORA will send the approval to the PI and to Office of Grants Management (OGA), as applicable.
If the change must be approved by the sponsor, then the department should send the PI's request to ORA for review, approval, and signature before it is forwarded to the sponsor. When the sponsor returns the approved request, ORA will send copies of the approval notification to the PI and Office of Grants Management (OGA) if applicable.
Non-Federal Awards
It is difficult to generalize about changes on non-federal awards. The answers to the above questions must be determined on a case by case basis. If there is little detail provided in the terms and conditions, it may be necessary for ORA to contact the sponsor to find out if the changes need sponsor approval or not.
Federal Awards
In federal awards the regulations for making changes to an award are usually well defined. The following changes must always be approved by the federal sponsoring agency:
- changes in the scope or objectives of the project
- the disengagement of the PI for more than three months or a 25% or more reduction in time devoted to the project by the PI
- changes in key personnel (including PI and Co-PIs )specified in the application or award
- issuing a new subaward
- changes in the approved cost-sharing or matching amounts,
- additional federal funds are needed.
The following changes sometimes fall under the authority of Parkland to approve (expanded authority); however, these changes may be restricted under the terms and conditions of a specific award:
no-cost extensions
rebudgeting of funds
purchasing equipment not identified in the award
carry-over of funds
Please review the terms and conditions of your award, and check with the Office of Research Administration if you are unsure about the requirements.