Best Practice – Managing an Award
Managing an Award
Charge sponsored awards appropriately
A cost is allowable on an award if it meets the requirements of Uniform Guidance (Subpart E), sponsor guidelines and regulations, the terms and conditions of the award and University policies and procedures.
Federal Cost Principles require that a cost be:
- Necessary and reasonable – a prudent person would have purchased this item for the project and paid this price
- Allocable – the goods or services involved are chargeable or assignable in accordance with the relative benefits received by the project.
- Consistent – expenses must be treated consistently across like circumstances
- Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in Federal guidance.
- Adequately documented
Monitor expenditures
The University maintains a variety of resources that provide sponsored project-related reports:
- Banner
- FZIGITD – Inception to date financial information (i.e., budget, expense, commitment, available balance) for sponsored awards.
- FRIPSTG – All grants for which a person is Principal Investigator (PI) or a Co-PI.
- FRIORGH – All grants associated with a particular org code.
- FRIASTG – All grants associated with a particular sponsor.
- FZIBDET – Total amount billed, paid, and refunded on a particular award
- FZAAREV – Individual amounts billed and paid on a particular award
- Help with Banner
- My-UI-Financials
- A simple dashboard provides budgets, expenditures, encumbrances, and balances. Allows drilling down to individual transactions including payroll details. For available grant fund balance, use the report Revenue Expense Statements Inception to Date
- Help with My-UI-Financials
- EDDIE
- FIGR_Grants_Status_and_Billing_Summary_Report – Provides a comprehensive financial summary of a grant, including budget and expense information, general ledger balances for a specific accounting period, current accounts receivable balances and individual sponsored project billings.
- Job aid
- Help with EDDIE
Transfer costs when necessary & appropriate
A cost transfer occurs when expenditures charged on a particular award are moved to another award. Cost transfers involving sponsored projects are subject to the OBFS Sponsored Projects Cost Transfer Policy.
Minimum documentation required for approval:
- Completion of Description field in JV form
- JV Text Form (FOATEXT) must include:
- Explanation, including the reason for initial posting to incorrect C-FOAP, and benefit of the cost being transferred to the project
- Original date of the service or transaction
- Original transaction document number
- Preparer’s name and telephone number
- Banner forms for completing cost transfers:
- Non-Personnel Cost Transfers: FGAJVCQ or FGAJVCD
- Personnel Cost Transfers: PZAREDS
Non-current Cost Transfers (>90 days after initial posting) require departments to complete & retain a GC81 – Cost Transfer Justification for Sponsored Projects Form.
Request budget adjustments when needed
Occasionally, sponsored funds may need to be reallocated, or moved from one budget category to another. These changes cannot increase or decrease the total budget. Some changes may also require prior approval by the sponsor; these will be described in the contract/award document.
The IPAS/OPAS form is used to request a budget reallocation. If no prior approval is required, send the completed IPAS/OPAS forms via email to gcocompliance@uic.edu.
For changes requiring prior approval, contact the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), who will assist in communicating with the sponsor to obtain approval.
The specialist who manages your grant can provide further guidance.
Resolve overdrafts
Overdrafts should be resolved as quickly as possible by transferring costs to other non-sponsored funding sources. A monthly report is sent by Office of Sponsored Programs to units with funds currently in overdraft.
Consequences of sponsored award funds in overdraft status are significant:
- Sponsored project deficits may be charged to the ICR funds of the academic unit that owns the fund.
- Awards in overdraft cannot be closed, leading to audit findings
Know the carryover terms of the award
The award document will describe whether unspent funds may be carried from one budget period to the next budget period and whether or not sponsor approval is required. When sponsor approval is required, a final invoice or financial report must be submitted at the end of each budget period. The Banner budget will be reduced by the unspent or unobligated balance. The specialist who manages your grant can provide further guidance.
Prepare for additional work or funding
No-Cost Extensions: If the project will not be completed by the end date, a no-cost extension may be requested through the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). For eligible Federal awards, UIC has the authority to grant one-time extensions of up to 12 months when appropriate. Requests must be submitted with sufficient time to be processed before the project end date (e.g. a minimum of 30 days). OSP notifies the PI, and department when an extension is approved.
Continuations, Renewals, and Supplements: If additional funding for the project will be requested or received, the award documents must be submitted to the OSP via OSPWeb which is the web based system used to deliver documents to OSP. As with new awards, OSP sends a Notice of Executed Award (i.e. congratulatory letter) to the PI and department when an award has been fully executed. Additional funds cannot be set up in Banner until this notice is received from OSP.
Resources
Banner
My-UI-Financials
EDDIE
- Login: https://eddie.ds.uillinois.edu
- Job Aid: http://www.obfs.uillinois.edu/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=96396
- Help: http://www.aits.uillinois.edu/get_help
Getting Access to EDDIE
http://www.aits.uillinois.edu/access/get_access/
Additional information on Monitoring Expenditures
https://research.uic.edu/post-award/monitoring-expenditures
OBFS Sponsored Projects Cost Transfer Policy
http://www.obfs.uillinois.edu/bfpp/section-16-grants-research-contracts/cost-transfers
GC81- Cost Transfer Justification for Sponsored Projects Form
http://www.obfs.uillinois.edu/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=94607
Cost Transfer Training Materials
- https://research.uic.edu/sponsoredprograms/education-and-training/
- Institutional / Organizational Prior Approval Form [IPAS / OPAS]
Who Manages My Grant?
https://grantmanagers.uillinois.edu/
Office of Sponsored Programs
https://research.uic.edu/sponsoredprograms/find-contacts/
Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-12-26/pdf/2013-30465.pdf