LORA: Library Office of Research Administration

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LORA Library Office of Research Administration

• Adcon Presentation
• September 10, 2003

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Who is LORA?

• Leslie McMichael
• Laila Rashid
• Terry Ryan
• Jan Wildman

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What is LORA?

• Library Office of Research Administration
• Key experts on navigating the campus
  infrastructure
• Your best friends when seeking and managing
  external funds

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Why LORA?

• Efficiency One group to keep up with evolving
  and challenging campus requirements, personnel,
  and process
• Alignment Follows model of academic departments
  where faculty do the research grant
  administrative staff monitor the process
• Consistency Important to manage external
  funding relationships consistently

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What does LORA Know?

• How to structure a good proposal, for grants or
  gifts
• Rules and procedures for applying for a grant or
  contract
• How to build a budget (indirect cost rates,
  benefit rates, cost-sharing, etc)
• How to get permission to use human subjects
  (surveys, focus groups, etc)
• Rules and procedures for grant reporting

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How Can LORA Help?

• Review and comment on drafts of proposals and
  case statements
• Advise on pairing request with funding agencies
• Advise on creating a budget
• Manage the campus paperwork

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Why Talk to All of LORA?

• Hard to know when a relationship will be treated
  as a gift, a grant, or a contract
• Campus rules and procedures often defy logic
• Campus personnel change and the guidelines change
  with them

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With Library Goals In Mind

• Obtain and read the RFP/agency guidelines
• Notify Terry Ryan / Leslie McMichael name of
  funding agency, RFP details, intent
• Identify an eligible Principal Investigator (PI)
  
• LORA will notify UCLAs Office of Contracts and
  Grants (OCGA)

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Get Started

• Develop Scope of Work
• Review with Terry and PI
• Determine resources to accomplish work

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Jump In

• Draft a budget and justification that support the
  scope of work
• Work with Leslie concerning Facilities and
  Administrative costs (indirect costs), salary and
  benefits, cost-sharing, and other budget issues.
  LBS will review before submission.
• Identify key personnel. Determine staffing
  levels, who will be paid on the grant, of time,
  and for how long.

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What - or Whos - Involved?

• Human subject research?
• Surveys, focus groups, etc.
• Consult with Terry/Leslie about eligibility for
  an exemption from campus review and approval
  process

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Youre Almost Done

• Complete agency forms and submit to Leslie
• She will obtain signature of the authorized
  representative for UCLA (aka The Regents)
• Application must also include aGoldenrod (the
  Request for Proposal Approval and Submission
  Form)
• Again, Leslie will complete the Goldenrod with
  your input. This form is a MUST.

13
Working the System

• Terry/Leslie will review and submit your
  application and documentation to OCGA.
• OCGA will review and evaluate materials and
  compare to the RFP
• OCGA needs at least 3 days for this process, so
  they must have the proposal at least 72 hours
  before the date and time required by the funding
  agency

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No Real Shortcuts

• This entire process applies whether we are the
  principal contractor or a subcontractor and/or we
  are receiving funds as part of a larger grant
• Paperwork on a sub-award is not as rigorous, but
  we are required to submit information to OCGA for
  our portion of the grant with a Goldenrod,
  budget, and scope of work

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So Wheres the Money?!!!

• It can take several weeks to several months
  before the funds arrive
• Need special permission to proceed before funds
  available -- Leslie again!
• LBS helps to set up accounts and fund numbers,
  arrange payroll split
• Monitoring grant and keeping records are the
  responsibility of the grant manager

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Change Your Mind? Not so Fast!

• Do not assume you can make changes to scope of
  work, timeline, people, percentage of time,
  re-allocation of expenses, etc.
• Changes to the original application require PRIOR
  written approval from the granting agency along
  with revised paperwork
• Work with Leslie!!
• Changes not always approved by agency

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Theres No Free Lunch

• By definition, grants have reporting requirements
  
• Deadlines are defined in the RFP or at the time
  of the award
• Most common types of reporting are narrative and
  financial

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Who Does What?

• The grant manager is responsible for the
  narrative report
• Supply it to Leslie at least a week prior to the
  deadline

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Who Else Does What?

• The financial reporting is the prepared by
  Extramural Fund Management (EFM) at UCLA, not by
  the grant manager (reminders are sometimes
  necessary)
• EFM checks the ledger to see that expenses were
  incurred as budgeted on the grant
• Fund manager must monitor ledgers carefully
  throughout and deal with erroneous entries
  immediately

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Mistakes are Inevitable, But...

• LBS helps with the mechanics, but due to IRS
  and/or campus/university restrictions, there are
  limits to what LBS can correct
• Be careful about expenditures. Know what the
  grant allows!
• Different funding agencies have different
  restrictions, so experience with one grant does
  not always prepare you for the next

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A New Acronym NCTE

• No Cost Time Extension when time runs out, but
  funds and work remain
• Work with (guess who?) Leslie to apply for a NCTE
• Not all funding agencies will grant a NCTE
• Without an NCTE, unused funds revert to the
  funding agency

22
Your Best Bet

• Complete the Scope of Work promised and
• Exhaust the funds appropriately
• In the allotted amount of time
• With regular reporting and
• Clean ledgers