ADVANCE ACCOUNT PROCESS (Pre-Award Spending) A Guide for Principal Investigators. Office of Sponsored Projects. Revised: 5/20/2016

Transcription

1 ADVANCE ACCOUNT PROCESS (Pre-Award Spending) A Guide for Principal Investigators Office of Sponsored Projects Revised: 5/20/2016

2 Advance Account Policy information Definition of Advance Account: An account established before the award process has been completed in order to incur cost associated with the project within the project s start and end dates. Effective October 1, 2015 Purpose: to provide guidance in obtaining a Sponsored Project account prior to receipt of a notice of grant award or fully executed agreement, under conditions where this is appropriate and meets legal, regulatory, and sponsor requirements. Permit allowable expenses up to 25% of the expected award. Spending in advanced will be acceptable to the sponsor, including preaward dates NAU will not invoice or draw down funds for these projects until the project is awarded. PI and Chair/Dean/Center Director accept full responsibility for funding activity from non-sponsored sources should the SP not be awarded or finalized or any disallowed expenses charged Pre-award costs. Pre-award costs are those incurred prior to the effective date of the Federal award directly pursuant to the negotiation and in anticipation of the Federal award where such costs are necessary for efficient and timely performance of the scope of work. Such costs are allowable only to the extent that they would have been allowable if incurred after the date of the Federal award and only with the written approval of the Federal awarding agency. Page 1 of 11

3 Why do you want to setup an advanced account??? Reduces audit risk by avoiding retroactive cost transfers from a nonsponsored holding account. Sponsor has been awarded by the prime. Waiting for subaward agreement to be finalized. Need to travel for grant activities Need to hire personnel Need to hire graduate students Before you do anything! Please contact your Grant Contract Administrator to discuss your need for an Advance Account Request and receive guidance on the policy regulating such requests. Page 2 of 11

4 How to submit an Advance Account Request for the Lead PI The Pre-Award Spending (Advance Account) process allows researchers to begin working on a research project that they anticipate will be funded by the Agency or Sponsor. See Policy for further information. The start-up or advance account funds are provided by the department and/or college that support the proposed project. An approval process must be completed in order to activate an advance account. A. The proposal must be in a submitted to sponsor status. This means all approvals have been completed by the chair, department and college. B. Completing the following Pre-Award Spending (Advance Account) process will also require the same approval as the proposal. 1. From the PI s Dashboard select My Proposals. 2. Select the tab for Submitted Proposals and then choose the proposal for which they wish to submit a preaward request. Page 3 of 11

5 3. On the Proposal Routing Status the tab SPAR (also known as Pre-Award Spending) should be selected. 4. Then click on the Add SPAR Request to Proposal 5. The pop up box below appears and the information needs to be provided: In the description of the Assurances of funding provide the following: The pre-award period start date end date (not to exceed 90 days) Direct cost amount: Applicable indirect cost amount: Total amount to be advanced: Page 4 of 11

6 F&A Rate % Is the guarantee a local or state account? Indicate account #(s)/speedchart: Justification for establishing the advance account Is the account associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? Must be answered No. Type of acount drop down options: In most cases you will selecte New Account, check with your GCA if you think multiple accounts may be requested for this Advance Account. Provide the contact information of the Project Contac: (i.e. PI, Business Manager, etc) their telephone # and their address. Once you have provided all the necesssary details on the SPAR/Pre-Award (Advance) Requestion you can click on the button Submit SPAR Request for Processing. 6. Once the award is submitted, it will be displayed on the page below. 7. You must use the proposal attachment section to attach the Proposed budget for the Advance Account so it can be reviewed by the approvers in the routing. Click on the Proposal No: (see above red circle) to bring up the proposal. On the left side bar menu select Proposal Attachment, browse for the Advance Account proposed budget. The name of the document should be in this format: Advance_Account_Budget_proposal#. Example: Advance_Account_Budget_ ) Indicate the document type of Budget (internal), and then click next. Now indicate who should have access, by selecting (All IPF Parties), and then submit/upload the document. Page 5 of 11

7 8. Repeat Step 7 to upload Acceptable Evidence of the likelihood of funding. Choose appropriate Document Type (e.g., JIT Documents, etc.). Acceptable evidence may include: a. notification from the sponsor b. Just-in-time request for final information; or c. Notice of grant award to a primary recipient with whom NAU will have a subcontract that was included in their awarded budget submission, once subcontract negotiations have begun. 9. Two s are triggered to send to the authorizing departments 10. The first goes to the first Authorizer. This will go to the department chair or center director. See the sample below: From: To: Subject: OGCS@nau.edu test@cayuse.com OSR Pre-Award Spending Request This is an automated message from the online OSR Pre-Award Spending submission system. A Pre-Award Spending has been submitted with your authorization requested. Proposal Number: Project: Waring USDA-FS PI: Kristen Waring Dept: FOR Page 6 of 11

8 11. Once the first Authorizer approves the request, this 2 nd will go to the College Dean or similar authorizer. See the sample below: From: To: Subject: OGCS@nau.edu test@cayuse.com OSR Pre-Award Spending Request This is an automated message from the online OSR Pre-Award Spending submission system. A Pre-Award Spending has been submitted with your authorization requested. Proposal Number: Project: Waring USDA-FS PI: Kristen Waring Dept: During the process if either authorizer rejects the request, this is sent. From: OGCS@nau.edu To: kristen.waring@nau.edu, Subject: Pre-Award Spending - Rejection The following OSR Pre-Award Spending has been rejected. See message below for more information. Reason for rejection: No guaranteed funds available. Proposal Number: Project: Waring USDA-FS PI: Kristen Waring Dept: The Department Chair or designated Pre-Award Spending Approver will also get the notice in their SPAR Inbox Page 7 of 11

9 14. When they select the Inbox this will appear. 15. The approver will click on the Project Link and the pop up box appears. They can view the PDF of the Request before authorizing or rejecting it. Page 8 of 11

10 16. A PDF view of the request 17. The approver will select Authorized and click submit: 18. This will now be routed to the next approver. The Dean or the Dean s designated approver. Page 9 of 11

11 19. After the Dean or Dean s approver approves the request, this is the view that will be displayed. 20. The PI will have this view. 21. Once both authorizations have been received, the Grant Contract Administrator will review the request and obtain the signature of the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) and forward the documentation to the Post Award Area for an Advance Account to be created. Please contact the Office of Sponsored Projects with questions or to receive assistance. Bobbie Ursin, , bobbie.ursin@nau.edu Marlene Nebitsi, , marlene.nebitsi@nau.edu Cindy Judge, , cindy.judge@nau.edu Joel Fritzler, , joel.fritzler@nau.edu Winona Reid, , winona.reid@nau.edu Heather Byers, , heather.byers@nau.edu Stephanie Hall, , Stephanie.Hall@nau.edu General Mailbox: grants@nau.edu Page 10 of 11