CALS Research Division

Overview

Sponsored projects are awarded to the University and assigned to a principal investigator (PI). The investigator is responsible and accountable to the sponsor for the proper conduct of the project or activity.

 

The award is an agreement between the sponsor and the University. The investigator, department/center, college and RSP all have responsibility for ensuring that the terms of the agreement are met. This requires day-to-day activities to monitor spending. Good stewardship of award funds helps maintain a relationship of trust between sponsors, the University and the public. Future awards, the reputation of the university and the investigator and avoidance of penalties may depend on the quality of management.

 

Each of us is a representative of the UW, accountable to the State of Wisconsin and ultimately responsible for assuring efforts of good stewardship.

Roles and Responsibilities

 

To find out more:

• Explore the other portions of our website. We've attempted to provide information to help you. If there's something else you'd like to see, please contact our webmaster.
• Explore the RSP website. Here are some specific links:
  • Chart of Rolls and Responsibilities
  • RSP Award Management Page
  • RSP Monitoring/Oversight of Grant/Contract Accounts
• Take a training class.
  • Classes are offered by CALS Research Division. Check the resources section of our website. If you are interested in training not currently offered, contact Becky Bound. New courses will be scheduled if there is sufficient interest.
  • Classes are also offered by RSP or the grad school. These can be found at the OHRD website. (Note, too, that this site has a listserve you can sign up for to receive training notifications.)
• View the training materials available on the RSP website.
• UW System policy on Extramural Support Administration

Basic Types of Awards

	GRANT	COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT	CONTRACT
Basic Purpose	Provides assistance with few restrictions	Provides assistance with substantial involvement between parties	Procures tangible goods and services
Solicitation Method	Application kit or guidelines	Request for application	Request for Proposal or Quote
Award Instrument	Short, may refer to general conditions	Describes involement, party relationships	Long, detailed specs, FAR clauses
Scope of Work	Conceived by PI	Conceived by PI	Conceived by Sponsor
Sponsor Involvement	Generally none	Substantial involvement	Approves activities; expected results
Rebudgeting	Flexible	Usually flexible	Can be more restrictive
Equipment Title	Grantee	Varies	Varies
Performance Period	Specified in grant	Specified in agreement	Specified in contract
Patent Rights	Bayh-Dole	Often Bayh-Dole;BUT!!!	Provision in contract (s/b 52-227-11)
Publications	May ask to be informed	May ask to be informed	May require review or approval
Technical	Annual summary report	Frequent Reports	Detailed reports, often monthly

Gift Management

This page covers multiple aspects of Gift Management, including:

• Overview of Gifts
• UW Foundation Check Requests
• Gifts-in-Kind

 

Overview

The University receives gifts as unrestricted support. The University stipulates that gift funds cannot be associated with requirements for detailed fiscal or technical resports, for rights to intellectual property, or which restrict our right to publish or disseminate information or data derived from the supported activity. In addition, the donation is irrevocable and has no time limit on the expenditure of funds.

Unrestricted gifts will now need to route under a Gift Check Routing Form specific for gift checks. For the signature page, please make sure the department administrator or department chair sign the form. If you are depositing into a chair account, the chair will sign as the PI, and the department administrator (or someone else who is authorized) will sign as the chair. The chair of the department cannot sign as both PI and chair. If that is the case, the gift form will be returned to the department for correction, which will delay processing of the check.

Hard copy routing is required of this form with checks for deposit, it does not include an electronic routing option. Also, use the Gift Check Routing Form for checks going into Trust Fund accounts.

The transmittal of a gift will generate a letter from the Dean to the sponsor thanking the sponsor for their support and indicating the terms under which the gift is accepted. The rationale behind this letter from the Dean is to make sponsors aware of the terms under which the UW can accept gifts and to make sure they have the same understanding of the terms under which their gift was provided. This effort should help us improve our management of gift funds for CALS programs.

Please direct all inquiries regarding gifts to Casey Hillmer, (608) 262-2397 or clhillmer@cals.wisc.edu.

Gift Account Converted to Fund 233

Recently, all gift projects have been converted to fund 233. All 133 awards have been issued a new 233 number, and the 133 Project ID is no longer active.

To prevent any charges from being posted to the old 133 Project ID’s, the accounts are now inactive in SFS and set to status "Closed Archived". If you need to see detailed transactional data prior to 7/1/2008 you must use the old 133 Project ID AND change the status on the WISDM search page to include project status of "6-Closed - Archived."

Please use "233" for all future transactions and on cost transfers when a charge is being moved off a 133 gift account.

The migration of budget balances has occurred. With every conversion there are glitches. If you believe you have a 133 project that was mistakenly converted to a 233 or one that wasn't please email Sandy Fowler at sfowler@cals.wisc.edu with details.

Useful Resources for Gifts

• Gift Acknowledgement Letter
• Gift Check Routing Form
• RSP Information on Routing Checks
• RSP Information on Gifts

UW Foundation Check Requests

Streamlined Check Requests

An important change in the way gift funds are moved from the UW Foundation to fund 233 accounts at UW-Madison has been made effective August 4, 2008. This change is being made as a results of the work of the Business Services Administrative Process Redesign (APR) team and key stakeholders. This group studied the current process using Lean Six Sigma tools and developed the improved, streamlined process. They estimate using the new process will shorten time for transfer of funds by at least nine (9) days.

New UW Foundation Check Request Process

The initiator of the check request completes a UWF (UW Foundation) Check Request Form. Additionally, the initiator of the check request must complete a UW Gift Routing Form.

Two (2) copies of the UWF Check Request Form and the UW Gift Routing Form are submitted to the appropriate Dean or Director's Office for approval. Once the forms have been approved, the Dean or Director's office submits one copy of both forms to the UWF.

UWF then sends the disbursement and the UW Gift Routing Form to RSP. RSP will either create a new fund 233 project and deposit the funds or add the funds to an existing fund 233 project. At the same time, RSP will increase the budget of the 233 project.

RSP will send an email of the award/action to the designated administrative persons of the affected fund 233 project to indicate that the transfer is complete.

Gifts-in-Kind

• Gift-In-Kind Policy
• Gift-In-Kind Routing Form

 

 

Overdrafts

Principal Investigators and departmental/center staff are expected to monitor expenditures on sponsored projects to ensure that they stay within the project budget. This includes not only spending, but tracking encumbrances, budget changes and anticipated billing. The department/center is ultimately responsible for resolving the overdraft. Awards can not be closed or final statements sent while a significant overdraft exists. The overdraft status is especially important at project closeout, but an overdraft can occur at any point the project life.

A project may be in overdraft because additional funds are expected. In this case the project can remain in that status for a short period of time. Projects will sometimes appear to be in overdraft because budget information has not been entered into UW data systems. There are possible causes for this: 1) the project could be in advance award status (88-1) or 2) the award has not been fully finalized with the sponsor. Once the award is fully negotiated, the budget will appear in WISDM. Other causes of overdraft could be overspending, budget shortfalls, late receipt of vendor invoices and incorrect encumbrances.

Overdrafts can be resolved by transferring charges to unrestricted funding. If alternative funding sources are not available, contact CALS Research Division to discuss remedies.

RSP will distribute a list of projects currently in overdraft status to colleges on the 8th of each month. This list will be forwarded to the appropriate department administrator for review. It is of the utmost importance that this list be reviewed and action be taken immediately to resolve the overdraft.

Transfers

It is the policy of the University of Wisconsin - Madison that costs should be charged to the appropriate sponsored project when first incurred. There are circumstances in which it may be necessary to transfer expenditures to a sponsored project subsequent to the initial recording of the charge. Those transactions require monitoring for compliance with UW policy, Federal regulations, sponsor specific guidelines, and the cost principles that underlie fiscal activities on sponsored projects.

Cost transfers should be processed immediately after the error is identified, but in any case no later than 90 days after the end of the month of the original transaction. Transfers made after this period of time raise questions concerning the validity of the transfer. Requests for transfers made after 90 days will be considered only under extenuating circumstances.

Frequent cost transfers, late cost transfers, and inadequately documented or explained transfers (especially those which involve sponsored projects with overruns or unexpended balances) may be regarded by sponsors as indicative of inadequate control systems. Cost transfers are also targets for audits, which could lead to disallowances or penalties.

Do

• Charge expenditures to the correct fund.
• Correct errors as soon as detected and monitor monthly
• Request Advance Account Numbers for pending awards.
• Split allocable costs across multiple sponsored projects consistently
• Provide clear, detailed justification statements.
• Perform ProCard edits in a timely manner.
• Carefully prepare paperwork – errors in account numbers, reference numbers, amounts, etc., will only delay transactions.

Don't

• Use federal projects as defaults for procard purchasing system (PVS Net). Instead use unrestricted funding.
• Park costs for pending projects on other sponsored projects
• Transfer costs from one sponsored project to another to eliminate a deficit
• Apply all costs on one grant and then move some to another. If the costs are to be shared between related grants, costs should be split-coded at time of purchase whenever possible.

Submitting transfer requests

Current versions of the Salary Cost Transfer form and the Non-Salary Cost Transfer form are located on the RSP website. Fill out the forms completely and attach any pertinant documentation such as

• Copy of specific requisition/invoice
• Copy of invoice pertaining to the charge being transferred when a blanket order is involved
• Copy of invoice or other pertinent paperwork when transfer involves a direct charge or procurement card purchase

Note: Documentation is always needed when sponspored projects are involved regardless of the direction of the transfer.

 

Salary Cost Transfers and Effort Certification

To streamline your Salary Cost Transfer (SCT) request, we recommend that you work closely with your department effort coordinator. Often it is the effort aspect of the transfer that creates hang-ups. Make sure to communicate with the effort coordinator in your department to ensure that certified effort matches the SCT.

Useful Links

• Informative eCALS article on Best Practices: Salary Cost Transfers
• The cost transfer policy can be found on the RSP website, along with extensive information about allowable costs and other issues.
• Cost Transfer presentation used in a CALS training session.
• Cost Accounting Standards presentation from RSP training site.
• CALS Business Services website.

If you have any questions regarding Cost Transfers on sponsored projects, contact Sandy Fowler, (608) 262-3947 or sfowler@cals.wisc.edu.

Exceptional Circumstances

Overview

Costs charged to sponsored projects must be allowable as specified in OMB Circular A-21 (for federal projects) or per sponsor agreement terms (for non-federal projects). In addition, they must be consistently treated, i.e., if a cost is usually treated as F&A, it can not be charged as a direct cost. For example, charges such as memberships, subscriptions, computer costs typically cannot be treated as a direct cost, although there are exceptions. Such exceptional circumstances are determined on a case by case basis and need to have prior approval through an exceptional circumstance request. This approval process is outlined below.

These references may help you in determining if costs are allowable or unallowable.

• Circular A-21, Cost Principles for Educational Institutions
• Basics of Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), OMB Circular A-21, and Cost Principles

Approval Process

Requests for exceptional circumstance approval must be made in writing IN ADVANCE OF THE PURCHASE.A request form can be downloaded here. If you choose to create your own request, please include:

• Principal investigator name
• Project grant number (i.e., 144-____ or PRJ_____)
• Agency name
• Project title
• Detail regarding specific item(s) to be purchased (i.e., description and amount)
• Full justification of why the item(s) is required and why a CAS exception would be appropriate. This justification must explain how it specifically benefits the project(s) it is being charged to.

The request may be routed either in hardcopy or via email. If routed by email, the email must be sent from the PI or on behalf of the PI by an appropriate designee. Send the request to the School/College Dean's Office. In CALS, this is postaward@cals.wisc.edu. The Dean's Office will review and if acceptable, forward to RSP. You may find it helpful to discuss your request with Sandy Fowler, (608) 262-3947 or sfowler@cals.wisc.edu, before writing the request.