Functions and Workflow of the Office of Grant

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Functions and Workflow of the Office of Grant
Contract Administration Presentation to the
Research Council 11/3/06
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Mission of OGCA

• OGCA is dedicated to faculty service in the
  identification of funding sources, proposal
  development and submission, and the
  administration of awards through project
  closeout. OGCA maintains an open-door
  philosophy. Since OGCA is both a
  service-oriented office and a clearinghouse for
  assuring adherence to University- and
  sponsor-imposed standards and policies, staff
  must carefully balance these roles.

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Organization Chart
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Pre-award Staff Job Responsibilities

• Pre award staff are responsible for keeping
  apprised of sponsor policies, procedures and
  changes affecting proposal development and
  submission
• Learning and providing assistance to faculty in
  all of the various electronic submission systems
  and their unique requirements
• Proposal development assistance to the PIs
• Proposal review
• Coordination of proposal to review committees for
  compliance issues (IRB, IACUC, biohazards, rDNA,
  etc.)
• Subcontractor documentation
• Coordination of submission process
• Revised budget and budget impact statement review
• Just In Time (JIT) request coordination with
  sponsoring agencies
• Pre-award desk audit request coordination with
  sponsoring agencies
• Participation in training events
• Participation in web tool development
• Membership and occasional travel to professional
  society meetings (Society of Research
  Administrators (SRA) or National Council of
  Research Administrators (NCURA)

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Proposal Flow Chart
PI works with OGCA for identification of funding
sources and other proposal development questions
PI completes proposal and routes the proposal and
IPF through the required signature process
Proposal logged in at OGCA reception
desk, checked for completeness, initial data
entry into database. Provide PI with receipt
OGCA
Proposal Clerk for file preparation, data
entry of staff assignment, proposal location and
recording of due date
Pre-award Research Admin. for guideline review/in
terpretation, proposal review, corrections,
and setting up for submission and signature
process
Proposal Clerk for corrections, cover letter
generation, mailing label or preparation for
electronic submission
Director for final approval signature and/or
electronic submission to sponsoring agency
Reprographics Clerk xerox, packaging and
mailing hard copy submission. Internal
Distribution Copies. Data entry for Proposal
submission log
Proposal Clerk for Data verification/changes foll
ow up Correspondence and IPF signatures
Filing cabinet to await sponsor reply
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Governing Rules for Proposal Process

• Trustee Policy T94-034 (Appendix )
• University Policies i.e. personnel, conflict of
  interest, travel, cost accounting for
  administrative costs and cost sharing, equipment
  fabrication, PI/Co-PI Policy, etc.
• OMB A-21 http//www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a
  021/a021.html
• Specific sponsor guidelines, RFP Terms

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What does OGCA Review?

• Review of proposal guidelines to insure proposal
  compliance. Determine if the RFP or proposal
  guidelines contain terms and conditions that must
  be addressed at proposal stage. Evaluate
  whether the proposal is hard copy submission,
  electronic submission or both. Determine if there
  are any special budget restrictions or cost share
  requirements.
• Technical review for commitments on behalf of
  other individuals/institutions and whether we
  have appropriate documentation, compliance issues
  (i.e. animal care, human subjects, bio-hazardous
  materials, recombinant DNA), commitments beyond
  the end of the proposal period, cost share not
  identified in the budget, conflict of interest
  situations or nepotism issues, space/facilities
  concerns
• Budget Review Are costs reasonable, allowable
  (per UMass policy, OMB A-21 and the sponsors
  specific guidelines) and allocable to the
  project? Have appropriate salary and fringe
  benefit rates been applied, is the of effort
  reasonable, have reasonable COLAs been factored
  in, is the appropriate indirect cost rate used,
  does the budget add up, is there a proper budget
  justification in place, is there cost share and
  is it required, appropriate, within the same
  period of the proposal performance period, and
  allowable? Is there a subcontract and do we have
  the subcontractors, statement of work, budget,
  institutional sign off and all certifications as
  required by the sponsor?
• Determine if the proposal is complete and in
  compliance with the sponsor guidelines.
• Verify that the IPF reflects the correct due
  date, sponsor address, compliance fields filled
  in correctly, all Co-PIs identified and signed
  off as appropriate, verify that the space
  committed in the proposal is approved, review
  specifically the answers to conflict of interest
  and lobbying to make sure that all disclosures
  are made.
• Review of system requirements and proposal
  procedures of all electronic submission portals
• Determine what certifications if any must
  accompany the proposal

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How Does OGCA Ensure That Deadlines Are Met?

• Through the OGCA staff-developed Jordan database,
  our programmer has developed many tools to assist
  OGCAs staff in monitoring workflow and file
  management/movement. Deadline lists are uploaded
  on all staff computers every day upon initial log
  in. (See next page for a sample deadline list.)
  In addition to the deadline list, a hotsheet is
  also generated daily to keep track, in real time,
  of where a deadline proposal is in the process.

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Sample Deadline Report
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Sample Hotsheet
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Grant Contract Administrator Responsibilities
(Post award)

• Pre-establishment of accounts
• Knowledge of University policies, State Law, OMB
  A-110 and sponsor policies which affect the
  negotiation and acceptability of terms and
  conditions to the University of Massachusetts
• Award review and negotiation of terms and
  conditions
• Initiation of MOU process, Principal Investigator
  Award Agreement, other required award
  documentation
• Preparation of award budget and project
  characteristics for data entry into Jordan/GAMS
  system for pull through to Peoplesoft
• Preparation of the award package for Directors
  acceptance and signature
• Liaison with the Controllers Office accountants
• Post award actions such as no cost extensions of
  time and re-budgeting requests requiring sponsor
  approval
• Participation in large Center administration with
  departmental staff
• Coordination of final reporting requirements
  (technical, patent, financial, property)
• Membership and occasional travel to professional
  society meetings Society of Research
  Administrators (SRA) or National Council of
  Research Administrators (NCURA)
• Assistance with web tool design
• Assistance with training programs

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Award Flow Chart
Award received by OGCA
Receptionist identifies file award is associated
with and logs (cybers) it to appropriate
GC Administrator
Award to reprographic/mail clerk for pulling
file and distributing mail and file to GC Admin.
GC Admin. conducts initial review of award
(amount, period, budget) prepares for GAMS
Entry determines docs/ required (MOU, PIAA,
etc)
Award Clerk for PI notification,
form requests, data entry into Jordan/GAMS, file
prep. for submission to the Controllers office
GC Admin. final negotiation contract mark
up. Verification of information on forms for
the Controllers Office
Director for award acceptance
signature. On-line approval of GAMS award for
pull thru to PeopleSoft
Award clerk for final Red Folder set up For
Controllers Office
Student Courier for delivery to
Controllers Office for account Number
generation (speedtype)
Award clerk receives red folder back with
acct. . Data entry and data verification in
Jordan
Reprographics clerk for file organization hard
filing into final public record document
Filing cabinet OR to GC Admin. for subcontract
issuance as appropriate
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Governing Rules For Awards

• Trustee Policy T94-034 (Appendix )
• University Policies
• State Law
• Sponsor Policies
• OMB A-110 for Federal Funded Projects
• FAR and DFAR for DOD funded projects
• Code of Federal Regulations for other Federal
  awards
• Agreement Terms and Conditions

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Terms OGCA Negotiates

• IP terms in coordination with Commercial
  Ventures-Intellectual Property (CVIP)
• Reporting schedules
• Publication
• Publicity
• Payment terms
• Governing law
• Indemnification
• Confidentiality clauses
• Personnel related terms
• Termination
• Ownership of research results
• Etc.

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Reports and Electronic Reporting Aides

• Monthly Cumulative Report of Sponsored Activities
• Annual Report of Sponsored Activities
• JOL Jordan-On-Line an online reporting system
  to allow academic and administrative offices to
  generate reports with regards to sponsored
  project activities
• Proposal and Award Status allows faculty and
  any PI assigned contact to check the status of
  their proposal or award on line.

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Training

• GAMS training
• Grants.gov training
• Business manager training in areas of need
• Community of Science Registration and use for
  funding opportunity searches
• Will be participating in a new brown bag lunch
  series starting in January on various topics we
  hope will help faculty and their support staff