Office of Research Administration Update

1. Office of Research Administration Update Jim Becker OVPRA CATS Session January 21, 2009

2. OVPRA Updates • Staffing in Grant Administration • Offices have moved to 509 E. 3rd Street • Current primary projects include: • Completing the annual A-133 audit • Federal regulations and news • Survey results

3. Grants Administration Staffing • Four Teams for Grant Services • Two teams for Federal and Fed-Pass-Thru Grants • NSF, NASA, NIST, DOE, DOD • NIH, USDE, most other federal agencies • One team for Federal, State, and local government contracts • One team for Commercial, Foundation and Non-Profit agencies • http://www.researchadmin.iu.edu/News/news-grantsreorg.html for team members

4. Grants Administration Staffing • Grants Services teams provide cradle-to-grave service from proposal review and submission through award negotiation to account setup, maintenance and closeout. • Reporting Team submits all financial reports to the funding agencies • Financial reports, invoices, invention statements, equipment reports, MBE/WBE reports, cost share reports • Follow-up on delinquent accounts receivable

5. Grants Administration Staffing • Audit, Compliance and Effort Reporting Team • Assists with the A-133 audit, and provides guidance with agency audits, where appropriate • Oversees the university’s Effort Reporting system and processes • Compliance oversight • Exception Reports • Compliance Reviews • Compliance Training

6. Location, Location, Location • 509 E. 3rd Street, next to the BP station • Formerly OBR Realtors, and more recently CEEP • Grants Administration, OVPRA business office, and some compliance areas are located here • Human Subjects Office is still in Carmichael

7. New Federal Regulations • E-Verify • Requires that IU confirm the employment eligibility of all employees working on federal contracts (includes cost share and any effort spent on the contract even if covered by departmental funds) • For any federal contract over $100,000 or over 120 days in length • For any fed-pass-thru contract over $3,000 • 30 day timeframe for verifying existing staff • 3 day timeframe for verifying new staff

8. E-Verify • Process • Federal Agencies will implement February 20. New awards will include the appropriate clause, and current awards will be amended. • OVPRA will identify accounts that are subject to E-Verify (i.e., those which include the clause) • Human Resources and Academic HR will identify all staff whose salaries are paid from the identified accounts and confirm their eligibility via E-Verify

9. E-Verify • Departmental Responsibilities • Identify staff on Federal or FPT contracts early, and update the HRMS e-doc • Ensure the salary is on the contract account ASAP • Don’t wait to do salary transfers or to modify effort reports – by then we are out of compliance • Notify HR or Academic HR when hiring new staff for Federal or FPT contracts, or when moving existing staff to the contracts

10. Other Federal News • NSF Summer Salary Policy • NSF will now allow 2 months of salary per 12-month period • Old policy only allowed 2 months of salary during summer months, which led to overstating of summer effort • The change provides more flexibility for PIs to allocate effort across the calendar year • As an aside, this may reduce the summer salary that some PIs receive • The 2-month limit is for ALL NSF accounts, so PIs with multiple NSF accounts need to be aware of this limit

11. Other Federal News • NSF Post-Docs • A Post Doctoral Mentoring Plan is required if Post-Docs are included in an NSF project • Proposals will be rejected without review if the plan is not included • The Plan must be within the 15-page project description • Check the NSF guidelines or contact Team 1 for more details

12. Other Federal News • NIH Salary Cap • NIH continues to operate under a continuing resolution. • New NIH Salary Limitations have been posted. • Effective January 1,2009, the limit is $196,700. • Please see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-037.html for complete information.

13. Other Federal News • Research.gov website: www.research.gov • New website for NSF, USDA and DOD Army Research Office • Allows researchers to view grant application status online • Financial reporting through this site • Policy library also available • Research spending and results available

14. OVPRA Survey Results • Survey Conducted last Spring/Summer • Primary areas of concern by respondents • Staffing: turnover, new staff, untrained staff, uninformed, lack of staffing • Customer service: lack of responsiveness, inefficiency, lack of support, poor contact with departments • Technology: poor statements, poor website layout, hard-to-use online forms, lack of available information

15. OVPRA Survey Results • Resolutions • Staffing: • Building better staff training to bring staff up to speed more quickly, and train them more thoroughly. • Developing an online library for staff to access and query for policies, procedures, and agency information. • Customer Service: • Participation in more campus events (CATS, department visits, etc.) • Improving turn-around time and escalation of issues to ensure quicker completion

16. OVPRA Survey Results • Resolutions • Technology: • Updates to the web site are coming soon. Prototypes have been prepared and Human Subjects area will be deployed first. • Reports are now available on the website under “Data and Reports.” • Improvements to ERA are in the works. Kuali is on the horizon. • Comments and Suggestions welcomed!

17. In closing…. • Yale University settles with Federal government • $7.6 Million settlement payment • Issues included: • Late cost transfers and unrelated costs • Summer salary overcharges (100% summer effort) • Spending down federal funds at the end of the grant

18. Questions? ?