OGC News - July 2023
Financial Services Connection
Jul 14, 2023
PREAWARD
Updating a Record to Reflect the New Benefits Rates
All individuals with in-process proposals (i.e., a proposal that has been created but is not yet submitted) will be impacted by the new rates and will need to be addressed individually.
Screenshots: Click the triangle and select the new rates; the new rates will apply for every year. Click Save and Close.
Other Notes:
- Just saving the whole budget without changing any relevant personnel costs will not update the proposal.
- Just adding a new budget category such as Supplies, will not update the key personnel.
New NIH RPPR Process
The Office of Grants and Contracts PreAward Team has implemented a new NIH RPPR process. This new process will save time for departments and for OGC. As of July 7th, OGC will no longer require departments complete a FormStack form before submitting an RPPR. The new process will use the NIH era.commons submission to route the RPPR to OGC via Onbase for review.
Outlined below are the steps to follow for the new process.
- Step 1: The department or PI will login to commons and enter date(data?) into the RPPR form.
- Step 2: Check the RPPR to confirm it is complete and error free and ready for submission.
- Step 3: Route the RPPR to your PreAward Analyst in eRA Commons.
- Step 4: PreAward Specialist will check COI on the RPPR, and communicate back to the Dept. and PIs as necessary.
- Step 5: Your PreAward Analyst will complete the RPPR review and if corrections are needed that can't be addressed simply, the RPPR will be routed back to the PI via commons. After corrections are completed, dept will route again in eRA Commons back to PreAward Analyst for submission.
- Step 6: If no corrections are needed the RPPR will be submitted to the NIH by OGC.
This new process removes the Formstack route completely. We do ask that you route RPPRs to OGC via Commons as soon as you can for review; five (5) days before the deadline would be ideal.
Deadline note from NIH's RPPR instructions: If an award is issued under the SNAP (Streamlined Noncompeting Award Process) provisions, the progress report is due the 15th of the month preceding the month in which the budget period ends (e.g., if the budget period ends 11/30, the due date is 10/15). If the 15th falls on a weekend or Federal holiday, the due date is automatically extended to the next business day. Recipients should consult the NoA to determine when SNAP procedures apply.
POST AWARD
New Indirect (F&A) Rates Effective July 1, 2023
Effective July 1, 2023, the University's indirect (F&A) rates are as follows:
- On-Campus Research - 56% (previously was 55.5%)
- On-Campus Instruction - 42% (no change)
- On-Campus Other (Public Service) - 30% (previously was 26%)
- Off-Campus - 26% (no change
The indirect (F&A) rate for private industry clinical trials remains 28% of total direct costs.
There are no changes to our rates from Non-Profit Associations and Foundations and we will continue to follow sponsor policy for those rates with 10% de-minims in the absence of a policy.
What does this mean?
- Any awards segments that were awarded before July 1, 2023, and are still active will remain with our previous F&A rate structure (e.g. on-campus research would be 55.5%).
- Any new awards received will be setup at the new rates as of July 1, 2023, This includes proposals that are in development or submitted and not yet awarded.
The University's F&A Cost Grid has been updated and the 2023 F&A Agreement (NICRA) is available.
Closeout Timelines
Org Level Outstanding Effort Reports Now Being Burst
In May, employees holding an Org Manager role started receiving a listing of outstanding effort reports for employees under that org code. This report will continue to be sent via email each month to that manager.
This report is in addition to emails that the individual employee is receiving. Emails to employees are going out at creation of ePER, 30, 60, 90, 120 days, and every 10 days after if they remain uncertified.
Effort reporting is a requirement for individuals who work on and receive pay from sponsored projects. Certification provides assurance to the sponsor that the effort being put into a project matches the effort paid by grant funding. For more information about effort reporting, please visit the training link on the controller’s site. There is also an online course, which can be found in Skillsoft. For this course, login to your campus portal. On the CU Resources Home tab, click the Skillsoft tile. Search for “ePER, Electronic Personnel Effort Reporting.”
We hope with this report we can gain your assistance in making sure the payroll is correct, and that effort is being certified on a timely basis (i.e., within 120 days). If an employee is terminated, the supervisor at the time of effort must certify. If both are terminated or online certification cannot be completed, please reach out to epers@ucdenver.edu for assistance.
The report being sent can also be run on demand in CU-Data at any time. Access by going to Team Content > ePers > Monthly Uncertified ePERS by Org.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Data Center Move
Team Talks
The May 25th Team Talks slides and recording are available on the OGC website - Setup Formstack and Post Award Management Structure Implementation.
Office of Grants and Contracts Physical Location Notification
Our 1st floor, west wing location in the Fitzsimons Building is currently under construction. The Office of Grants and Contracts (OGC) is temporarily located in the same building on the 5th floor, west wing in Suite W5130 during construction. While OGC continues to perform most services in a remote capacity, when we are on campus, we are working in this temporary space. We are still available via a variety of methods - refer to the OGC website (about halfway down the page).
No changes are needed to our mailing address as mail is not impacted, and we have posted notices for any FedEx drop off items to come to our temporary space. Thank you for your patience during this time.
There are no changes for physical checks. Those should be taken to the Bursar’s Office with a completed cash receipt and not left in OGC's physical location. The Bursar's Office is located in Ed2 North, 3rd floor.
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