Successful Pre- and Post-Award Collaborations Start with Good Proposals and Agreements

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Successful Pre- and Post-Award Collaborations
Start with Good Proposals and Agreements

• Nancy Daneau, Office of Sponsored Programs
• Joanne Goldstein and Michael Miller, Sponsored
  Programs Accounting

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What well cover today.

• Common issues that arise during proposal
  development and award negotiation that impact our
  post-award colleagues
• Solutions for the pre-award administrator to be
  proactive and pre-empt problems
• How to coordinate and manage the process to
  facilitate effective project management and
  foster good relationships

Hot potatoes!
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Budget Developmenthot potatoes

• Identify Cost Categories Unidentified Costs
• May cause overruns on the award
• Institution shares in cost of research effort
• May require sponsor approval for rebudgeting
• Holds up post-award invoicing and financial
  reporting
• Bottom line Not in the budget? Ask.
• Personnel Costs Proposal vs. Expenditures
• Reports of time and effort are certified
• Bottom line Reporting Audits Findings

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Budget Developmenthot potatoes(contd)

• Itemize Costs Correctly Follow the Rules
• Salary vs. Stipend
• Stipends not allowable on research grants, only
  on training/ fellowship grants
• Employer/employee relationship salary
• Trainee/fellow entitled to living allowance
  stipend
• Consider immigration status in allowability
• Must be US citizen or permanent resident (green
  card) to receive stipend
• Materials Supplies vs. Equipment
• Threshold for capital equipment 3,000 at NYU,
  with a useful life of at least 1 year
• FA rate applied to materials and supplies, but
  NOT to capital equipment items

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Budget Developmenthot potatoes(contd)

• Travel domestic vs. foreign
• Domestic in-state or out-of-state
• Foreign allowable with prior approval, certain
  restrictions apply
• Know basis/rates for reimbursement
• Use NYU per diems or actuals, not combination of
  both!
• Understand need for detailed meal receipts, not
  just credit card slips
• Subawards vs. subcontracts
• Difference between the big S and the little s
• Programmatic effort (big S) vs. goods and
  services (little s)
• Impact on FA/indirect cost recovery on federally
  funded projects
• FA assessed on only the first 25K of the big
  S
• FA assessed on full amount of little S
• Flow-down of prime award terms and conditions
  required for big S, not for little s
• Subrecipient monitoring required for big S, not
  for little s

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Budget Developmenthot potatoes(contd)

• Pieces needed for the big S
• Subawardee budget, Statement of Work (SOW),
  institutional approvals
• Impact if not on file or request to issue Sub not
  initiated internally
• Late issuance
• Late start of work by collaborator
• Late invoicing and payment
• Late reporting
• Impacts the progress of the overall effort
• Remember, your institution as prime recipient is
  ultimately responsible for conduct of the work
  and meeting sponsor requirements!

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Budget Developmenthot potatoes(contd)

• Are costs allowable, allocable, reasonable,
  consistently treated?
• Sponsor guidelines
• OMB Circular A-21
• Institutional Rules
• Are costs direct or FA/indirect?
• Direct costs identifiable to a specific project
• Indirect costs incurred as part of overall
  operations
• Ex Direct vs. Administrative (FA) costs
• Salaries and wages of clerical/administrative
  staff generally unallowable as direct
• Ex General office supplies, unallowable as
  direct charges
• Exception meet the test of major project as
  defined in Exhibit C of A-21
• Application/treatment of costs should be
  consistent

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Cost Sharinghot potatoes

• Most institutions policies, written or not
• No cost sharing unless mandated/required by
  sponsor
• Voluntary committed cost sharing
• Faculty/key personnel time and effort stated but
  not fully charged to the sponsored award
• Must be tracked and reported upon
• Has negative impact on FA/indirect cost recovery
• Indirect Cost Waivers
• Does the difference between NYUs federally
  negotiated rate and the reduced rate you agree to
  accept on the award represent cost sharing?
• Only if feds approve and only applies to federal
  awards

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Budget Development Hints and Tips

• Project the future Look toward reality
• Ask the question What will it take to do this
  project?
• Work budget backward starting with total costs
• Compare reality with proposed budget
• Plan so that every dollar is utilized to PI and
  institutions best advantage ask every question
  to get the full cost impact from your PI

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Budget Development Hints and Tips

• Impacts of poor planning
• Loss of direct cost funding available to the
  project
• Loss of FA/indirect cost recovery
• Disallowances
• Open communication reduces potential for
• Excessive, inappropriate, or late cost transfers
• Manual adjustments
• Disallowances
• Revised invoices/financial reports
• Audit findings
• Loss of expanded authorities or letter of credit
  drawdown eligibility

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Award Terms Conditionshot potatoes

• Period of Performance dates
• Effective date vs. execution date
• Funding authorizations
• Budget periods
• Incremental funding
• Supplemental funding
• Impacts allowability of expenditures
• Rebudgeting
• Institutional policy
• Sponsor policy/prior approval requirements
• Impacts ability to get reimbursed and project
  planning

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Award Terms Conditionshot potatoes (contd)

• Invoicing
• Format and documentation
• Standard
• Sponsor specifies, non-standard with back up
  documentation required (negotiate!)
• Tied to award type
• Cost reimbursement (CR) or fixed price (FP)
• Frequency
• CR in arrears monthly, quarterly, semi-annually,
  annually
• FP up-front, per milestones reached, at
  completion
• Combination tied to progress or deliverables

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Award Terms Conditionshot potatoes (contd)

• Payment terms
• Upon execution/initiation
• Fixed schedule of installments
• Milestone payments
• Upon completion/termination
• Withholding of percentage or amount
• Net 30 days standard
• Non-standard can impact institutions cash flow
• Remember, revenue is generated based on
  expenditures
• NOT representative of cash on hand or payments
  made by sponsor
• Consider institutions cash outlay and
  outstanding A/R

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Award Terms Conditionshot potatoes (contd)

• Deliverable/Reporting Requirements
• Technical
• Progress
• Final
• Financial
• SF 269, SF 270, and SF 272 for fed grants
• Sponsor specified forms
• Timeframe for submission
• Cost Sharing
• Sponsor specified format for documentation
• Letters from 3rd party contributors
• School/dept to certify that cost share
  requirement met

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Award Terms Conditionshot potatoes (contd)

• Property/Equipment
• Annually and/or
• At completion
• Invention
• Upon internal disclosure
• At completion
• Timely report submission impacts A/R,
  relationship between central offices with
  responsibility/oversight and PI/institutions
  reputation with sponsor
• Delinquent reports potential for sponsors to
  withhold funding on all awards
• Label your institution as not responsible can
  impact future competitions

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Award Terms Conditionshot potatoes (contd)

• Problematic Terms and Conditions/Clauses
• Publication
• Restrictions and prior approval requirements
• Impacts ability to disseminate research results
• Export controls
• Acceptance of controlled or proprietary
  technology, items covered by EAR/ITAR
• Restrictions on hiring foreign students
• Impact Loss of fundamental research exclusion
• Intellectual property
• Internal invention disclosures
• Disclosure to sponsor
• Impacts loss of ability to file provisional
  patents, legal battles over inventorship if
  proper disclosures not made

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Award Terms Conditionshot potatoes (contd)

• Early Termination/Stop Work Orders
• Coverage for non-cancellable commitments
• Notifications
• Account suspension by SPA changing the end date
• Reconciliation of account(s)
• Settlements and repayment to sponsor if necessary
• Legal terms (indemnification, venue, governing
  law, etc.)
• Require legal counsel review/approval
• PI consent?

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Award Terms Conditionshot potatoes (contd)

• Compliance
• Human/animal subjects
• Conflict of Interest
• Committee review/approvals
• Institutional policies cost transfers, business
  expense, purchasing, etc.
• Impacts level of risk to the PI, dept,
  institution

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Award Classificationhot potatoes

• Award instrument
• Grant, contract, subaward, subcontract
• Award type
• Cost reimbursement, fixed price, gifts
  (restricted and unrestricted)
• Sponsor type
• Federal, state, city, county, commercial/
  private, non-profit

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Award Classificationhot potatoes (contd)

• Proper identification integral to
• Account set-up (at-risk or upon receipt of
  executed award)
• Consistency re data warehouse
• Precedence (gift vs. grant, GRIFTS)
• Integrity of financials (OMB A-110)
• Audited financial statements (OMB A-133)
• Impact on consistency and accuracy
• Internal reporting
• External reporting
• A-133 reporting
• Cost accounting standards

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Account Set-Uphot potatoes

• Single PI
• Multiple PIs
• One account shared or separate accounts for each?
• PIs from different departments/divisions
• Access?
• Controls?
• Budget years vs. cumulative project period
• Separate accounts?
• Carry forward
• Automatic?
• Prior approval required?

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Account Set-Uphot potatoes (contd)

• Interest Earned
• Return to sponsor?
• Use toward the project?
• For use at institutions discretion?
• Tracking
• Reporting
• Interest Income
• Tracked separately from revenue
• Program Income
• Route to SPA deposited to deferred revenue,
• SPA increases project budget
• User fees deposit against same cost center where
  expense incurred
• Reimbursements from 3rd parties
• deposit against line expense was incurred
• Cost sharing
• Need to establish program/project
• Identify cost share funding
• Post expenditures accordingly
• Certify once obligation met

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Pre-award keys to success

• Training
• PIs ask them the same questions for each
  proposal explain your expectations and it will
  become habitual
• Faculty Assistants understand the relationship
  between the PI and his/her assistant and ally
  yourself with both
• Share all training opportunities with anyone who
  works in the process
• Serve the Greater Good
• Explain the impacts on the institution for a
  poorly planned budget
• Remind your team that what serves the institution
  helps everyone

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Pre-award keys to success (contd)

• Get to know your neighborhood
• Meet and talk with all members of the community
  in the process during the lull
• Knowing who does what and who can help during a
  crisis will help
• Do what works for you
• If logic doesnt work, resort to emotion even
  guilt
• If you are a teacher, teach if you are a
  listener, listen use your skills to advance the
  process
• Patience and planning will go a long way!

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Building the bridge with post-award

• Building allies between pre-award and post-award
• Serve as the primary point of contact/gatekeeper
  between the PI, dept and the post-award team (too
  many cooks in the kitchen.)
• Learn about and anticipate the needs of your
  post-award counterparts
• Educate your post-award counterpart on the
  specifics of each project
• Communicate often, even when you think it
  insignificant or not in their realm
• Keep people apprised of your expectations
• Interact regularly, not solely when there are
  fires to be put out
• Utilize them as the resource they are for your
  PIs or dept
• Maintain your sense of humor!

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Building the bridge with post-award (contd)

• Understand award terms and conditions so you can
  negotiate the best deal for all the players
• Realize sponsor restrictions and special
  requirements negotiate to standardize when it
  makes sense and is possible
• Accept differences between the variety of
  sponsors and awards there is no cookie cutter
  solution
• Job security A day in the life of a research
  administrator is never without a new twist!

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Resources.Links

• Business Expenses, Expense Reimbursement policies
• http//www.nyu.edu/cdv/site20/policies/policies.ht
  ml
• Cost Transfer Interim Guidelines
• http//www.nyu.edu/cdv/site20/cservice/spa.html
• Purchasing Policies, including Purchasing Card
• http//www.nyu.edu/purchasing.services/restricted/
  policies.html
• Asset Management Procedures Forms
• http//www.nyu.edu/asset/procedures.html
• OSP Policies Procedures including NYU Policy on
  Distinguishing Between Gifts and Sponsored Awards
• http//www.nyu.edu/osp/policies/

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• Questions/Comments?
• Contact info. for follow-up questions
• Nancy Daneau, nancy.daneau_at_nyu.edu
• Joanne Goldstein, joanne.goldstein_at_nyu.edu
• Michael Miller, michael.miller_at_nyu.edu
• Thanks for joining us!