Financial Services and the Office of Grants and Contracts

OMB Amends 2 CFR 200

On August 13, 2020, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officially amended 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance) and other federal grant regulations.

The new requirements are designed to:

• Support the implementation of the President’s Management Agenda and other Administration priorities
• Meet statutory requirements and to align with other authoritative source requirements
• Clarify existing requirements

The revisions are effect November 12, 2020, except for the revisions to 2 CFR 200.216 and 2 CFR 200.340, which are effective immediately. Under 2 CFR 200.216, federal grant recipients and subrecipients are prohibited from using funds to procure or obtain telecommunication equipment produced by Huawei Technologies or ZTE Corporation. Any existing service contracts utilizing these products may not be extended. The revisions to 2 CFR 200.340 add language allowing federal agencies and pass-through entities to terminate an award that “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”

Most of the revisions should not have a direct impact on administrative units or daily grants management practices. Some provisions that may impact administrative units include:

• 2 CFR 200.202 Program Planning and Design. Under this new section, federal agencies must develop program-specific goals, objectives, and performance measures. This provision is designed to ensure that grant projects are successfully meeting the program’s goals and the project is making adequate progress. The increased emphasis on project performance is incorporated throughout the revisions in the Uniform Guidance. For federal research awards, it is anticipated the changes should be minimal.
• 2 CFR 200.344 Closeout. For all awards, OMB is extending closeout from 90 days to 120 days after the period of performance. Subrecipients, however, must closeout their awards within 90 days of the end of the period of performance. Currently, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides for a 120-day closeout period for both recipients and subrecipients. NIH has not provided updated guidance on how it will implement this change.

When managing your awards, you must follow the award terms and conditions. The new provisions, except for 2 CFR 200.216, will be applicable to awards made on or after November 12, 2020. The prohibitions regarding certain electronic equipment under 2 CFR 200.216 are a federal law and is applicable to all awards regardless of the award date.

For assistance, OMB has provided a redline of 2 CFR 200 indicating the changes. Additionally, the Compliance Office offers a training class, SP18: Compliance Updates, that will review and analyze all the changes. This course will be held on November 16 on Zoom and you may register through Skillsoft.

Questions regarding the changes may be emailed to Shane Jernigan.

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COVID-19 Revisions to Flexibilities for Federal Grants

Since March, OMB has issued four memos outlining administrative and fiscal flexibilities for federal grants management impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic:

• M-20-11 (Issued March 9 – Expired June 16)
• M-20-17 (Issued March 19 – Expired June 16)
• M-20-20 (Issued April 9 – Expired June 16)
• M-20-26 (Issued June 18 - Expires September 30)

The following table identifies and describes the provides flexibilities applicable to administrative units, the source guidance, and the expiration date for each flexibility.

Flexibility	Guidance	Expiration	Description
Pre-Award Spending	M-20-11	June 16, 2020	Awarding agencies may allow necessary pre-award costs for all federal awards
No-cost extension on expiring awards	M-20-11; M-20-17	June 16, 2020	Awarding agencies may extend awards which are active as of March 31,2020 and scheduled to expire prior or up to December 31, 2020 an automatic no-cost extension
Abbreviated non-competitive continuation requests	M-20-11; M-20-17	June 16, 2020	Awarding agencies may accept a brief statement for non-competitive continuation requests for scheduled requests between April 1, 20202 and December 31, 2020. Agencies were requested to post their specific instructions on their website.
Expenditure of Award Funds for Salaries and Other Project Activities	M-20-11; M-20-17; M-20-26	June 16, 2020*	Allows for idle time charges consistent with University policy. M-20-26 extends this flexibility until September 30, 2020; however, language was added that recipients must "exhaust other available funding sources" before charging idle time. *The University of Colorado prohibits the charging of idle time after June 16, 2020.
Waivers from Prior Approval Requirements	M-20-11; M-20-17	June 16, 2020	Allows for federal agencies to waive some prior approval requirements
Exemption of certain procurement requirements	M-20-11; M-20-17	June 16, 2020	Allows agencies to waive requirements for geographical preferences and contracting with small and minority businesses, women's business enterprises, and labor surplus are firms
Extension of financial and other reporting	M-20-11; M-20-17	June 16, 2020	Federal agencies may delay the submission of financial and other reports up to three months beyond the normal due date
Flexibility with application deadlines	M-20-17	June 16, 2020	Agencies may provide flexibility with the regard to submission of competing applications and unsolicited applications
Allowability of costs not normally chargeable to awards	M-20-17	June 16, 2020	Agencies may allow recipients to incur costs related to the cancellation of events, travel, or other activities necessary and reasonable for the project
Extension of closeout	M-20-17	June 16, 2020	Agencies may allow recipients to delay submission of any pending financial, performance and other reports required for closeout up to one year
Donations of medical equipment and supplies for COVID-19 response	M-20-26	16-Jun-20	Agencies may allow recipients to donate medical equipment purchased under a federal award to hospitals, medical centers, and other local entities serving the public for COVID-19 response

Please note, while some flexibilities may be extended through December 2020, recipients must have submitted their request to the federal awarding agency or pass-through entity by June 16. Most federal agencies have developed a COVID-19 grants management policy page explaining each agency’s implementation of the flexibilities. The NIH’s COVID-19 information page provides the latest guidance and FAQs for award proposals and grant administration.

Under the most recent memo, OMB has only provided revisions to the following flexibilities:

• Allowability of Salaries and Other Project Activities
• Extension of Single Audit Submission

In M-20-26, OMB included language which requires recipients to “exhaust other available funding sources” before charging salaries and benefits for employees unable to perform their duties due to COVID-19.  All federal agencies have adopted these limitations.

Unfortunately, the federal government has not provided detailed guidance for this provision. Due to the lack of guidance on what is defined by “exhaust other available funding sources” and how to provide proof of this requirement, our campus can no longer allow idle time to be charged to federal awards after June 17, 2020.  Many institutions of higher education have adopted similar internal policies prohibiting the charging of idle time to federal awards after the expiration of M-20-20 on June 16. Idle time charges from March 19 through June 16 are allowable, as long as the charges conform to the University’s COVID-19 policy.

The Office of Grants and Contracts (OGC) will be working directly with departments that have charged idle time on or after June 17 to federally funded awards.

If you need additional assistance, please contact your OGC Post Award Administrator.

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NIH Releases New Annotated Form Sets

NIH released new annotated forms sets for the FORMS-F Series. NIH requires applicants to use the FORMS-F Series for grant applications due on and after May 25, 2020. The annotated forms provide guidance on how to properly complete the required application forms.

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Additional Search Criteria Now Available in the Proposal Summary Report

An updated version of the Proposal Summary Report is now available through CU Data that includes additional search fields. Users can now search by PI Name, Employee ID, and the Project/Account/Misc ID fields (Employee ID and PI Name use the same field), in addition to the previously available search criteria. This will allow department users to complete additional data requests without having to wait on central administration resources to provide the data. The new report is named Proposal Summary Report Expanded Search Criteria and is in CU Data under Team content > eRA > CU Denver| Anschutz > Proposal Tracking.

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Routing Update

Effective August 1, 2020: For all grant applications and grant awards routed to OGC PreAward on or after August 1, 2020, please list Ryan Holland, Director – PreAward and Contracting Services as the Signing Official (SO) or Authorized Organization Representative (AOR).

Michael Moore will be retiring effective August 31 and Ryan Holland will serve as the SO/AOR until further notice.

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