News & Team Talks

CONTRACTS SERVICES

Pro-tips and Reminders for Contracts for Incoming Funding

Our contract reviewers want to pass along the following nuggets of wisdom… 

• Project Details: There can be project related details sprinkled throughout any contract- make sure you are skimming the agreement for project requirements and not just relying on the Scope of Work and Budget.  
• De-obligations: We never want these to come as a surprise to you, so we’ll usually reach out to make sure you’re aware before we finalize a de-obligation amendment for signature. If you want us to skip this step, throw a note in the formstack with your submission and we’ll skip the email to you! 
• Contract Return Cover Sheet: We don’t always include one of these with every agreement or amendment we return, but if we do, it can include important details from our contract reviewer. (It will also include a reminder to populate Attachment 3B if you did not update that prior to submitting for our review and signature). 
• Boulder Task Order Reminders: Only the pass-through-entity needs to sign the Task Order, but the subrecipient should have a chance to review the details and object. Task Orders for incoming funding should route through InfoEd / ogc.contracts@ucdenver.edu and outgoing Task Orders should be requested from the outgoing subs team via our formstack.  

Next month: Updated Uniform Guidance impact on outgoing subs and subrecipient monitoring.

FISCAL COMPLIANCE & TRAINING

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officially amended 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance) effect October 1, 2024. The changes to the Uniform Guidance will become applicable once each federal agency has implemented the changes applied those changes to their awards.

The following table provides general guidance for select federal sponsors.

The amendments to 2 CFR 200 altered some thresholds; however, these changes are not applicable to the University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus.

• The equipment threshold at the University remains $5,000
• Subawards will continue to incur indirect costs up to the first $25,000 of the subaward.
  

Fiscal Compliance presented a Team Talk in October 2024 that discussed the changes to 2 CFR 200 and how those changes impact the University. A recording of the Team Talk and additional resources is found on the OGC website.

Resources

• Council of Federal Financial Assistance – 2024 Revisions and Resources
• 2024 Crosswalk

Questions regarding how the changes impact existing awards should be addressed to OGC Post Award. 

• November 19 - For users that have a business account or shop on Amazon.com using their Procurement Card. Learn how to merge your existing account, or join the CU Business Account using your Procurement Card.  

• November 21 - For CU Marketplace users on how to get their account ready to shop using the new Amazon catalog.

Did you know that for almost all proposals submitted on or after May 25, 2025, you will need an ORCID iD for submission to the federal government? The federal government will require an ORCID iD for key personnel listed in research proposals, following updated guidance from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). This initiative aims to enhance the accuracy and transparency of researcher identification. 

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier) is a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers and ensures their work is correctly attributed across institutions, funders, and publishers. Many federal agencies, such as NIH and NSF, have incorporated this requirement to streamline processes and improve data interoperability. 

This means all researchers involved in federally funded research projects should obtain and maintain an ORCID iD if they don’t already have one. Have you started preparing your team or organization for this transition? 

To obtain an ORCID iD go here: ORCID-ID. For more information, visit NIH's requirements.

POST AWARD

Leading up to the end of the year, our campus has over 100 Federal Financial Reports due, which is one of our largest Federal reporting periods of the calendar year. For November we need to get reports submitted before the Thanksgiving break. For reports that are due at the end of December we are looking to get those summited ahead of the December break. 

To ensure we are able to submit it by the due date, please make sure you are looking for drafts that may be coming to you as a fiscal manager and providing your OGC post award team timely feedback for submission. We would love to get any for December entered prior to the break.

As a reminder, please see our April 2024 newsletter for NIH Closeout deadlines and Unilateral Closeout implications to understand the importance of timely reporting.

OGC post award appreciates all your time and assistance with validating data for these reports and wish you a happy stress-free winter season! 

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