BUSINESS OFFICE

Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA)

“SPA helps investigators and research administrators at UGA navigate through the sponsored projects lifecycle.”

 

There are several avenues in which funding can be obtained and it is highly recommended you reach out to Ecology’s SPA representative, currently Jenna Jones and Hunter Hellwig, before entering in to any agreement with an agency, foundation, corporation, individual or other.

 

SPA Frequently Used Info

SPA Glossary

SPA Forms & Policies

SPA Faculty Training

Roles and Responsibilities

 

Your SPA representative can help guide you in the development and submission of your proposal. We encourage you to have Ecology’s AFD look over your proposed budget prior to submission so that recommendations can be made beforehand, if needed. SPA has new OneSource friendly budget templates that incorporate account codes into the budget development process.

 

Information needed to help develop your proposal:

Ecology Department ID: 26000000

Ecology IDC Unit: 26000ADM

Your Management Unit/Department:  26000XXX (Please email Ecology's AFD if you are unsure what your management unit is.)

Cost share, Public Service faculty? Use fund type 10000, program 12110 and your management unit.

Cost share, Non-Public Service faculty? Use fund type 10500, program 12110 and your management unit.

After you are funded an award/grant/project/contract there will be times SPA requires documentation of certain changes. Your agency may not mind if you rebudget or make changes (via MOD) for certain requests but SPA does. SPA will then let you know if agency approval is required.

 

Budget items to consider when preparing your proposal:

• Salaries and Fringe

  • If you specifically name an individual in your budget then you must use your funds for that person only. In the case of key personnel then naming an individual is fine. However, you may be required to submit a MOD to update any other named personnel. Ecology recommends inserting an individual’s title, rather than name, to avoid delays in the future.

  • Employees may not be paid more than 100% for all on-campus work, regardless of funding.

  • If you indicate a time period in your project for key personnel summer pay that employee MUST take that pay during the awarded time frame. For instance, if you project summer pay in May you MUST take summer pay in May. Otherwise, SPA will require that you document with them and the agency an update to summer pay.

  • If you budget payroll for key personnel (summer or otherwise) you are required to meet that commitment. Otherwise, you must request a rebudget through SPA.

  • All employees, whether paid from a grant or state account are considered UGA employees and are subject to UGA-HR guidelines, policies and procedures. Sick and vacation pay and holiday pay are to be met by the grant. However, you may require grant funded employees to take regular leave days.

    • Upon termination/resignation of classified employees your project’s budget will be responsible for covering up to 360 hours of annual leave pay out.

  • Fringe is estimated at the time of proposal development but your project will be responsible for actual fringe costs unless you have an agreement set up with the agency prior to submission of your proposal. Fringe costs can vary from month to month and premiums tend to increase annually beginning in January. The Ecology Business Office will not know costs until the second payroll payment is made....unless your employee begins work at the beginning of a pay period.

• Materials and Supplies

  • Refers to lab/research supplies required to complete a specific scope of work (e.g. glassware, reagents, solvents, chemicals, test booklets).

  • Always differentiate between office supplies and lab supplies in the budget justification.

  • Subscriptions or subscription services (i.e., Paperpile, LinkedIn, Remember the Milk, Slack, Overleaf, Wix, Gather.Town) must be included as a pre-approved line item in your budget if using project funds. Otherwise, a MOD will need to be processed to obtain UGA-SPA approval for payment or reimbursement. Further, UGA Procurement prohibits subscriptions unless the subscription is in the name of the University and is approved by a separate memo from the Dean.

  • Will you need field boots or clothing? If so, you will need to specifically mention this.

    • Clothing/Uniform expenses and allowances are taxable fringe benefits, with some exceptions (5.3.17.1.1).

  • Consider whether you need to include repair costs for equipment, etc. you already have.

  • Consider whether you need to include maintenance costs for a water system, etc.

  • Do you have a vehicle? Confirm with your sponsor whether maintenance costs, fuel, insurance premiums (typically no more than $200/vehicle; depends on the value of the vehicle), and insurance liability ($200/vehicle) is covered. This MUST be included as a line item in the approved budget if needed.

• CASB Exceptions (Cost Accounting Standards Board)

  • The Office of Management and Budget Circular A-21 – “Cost Principles for Educational Institutions,” establishes principles for determining costs applicable to Federal grants, contracts, and other sponsored agreements with educational institutions (last revised May 2004).

  • You may submit portions of your budget for CASB exception review of which would normally be charged against F&A costs.

    • Administrative Salaries

      •  Administrative/Clerical charges will be permitted only when the following circumstances can be clearly demonstrated: Administrative and clerical salaries must be specifically identified with the project and support a major project or activity that requires an extensive amount of administrative and clerical support, which is significantly greater than the routine level of such services provided by academic units

        • Examples include:

          • Large complex programs such as research centers, program projects, resource grants, etc., that entail assembling and managing teams of investigators from many institutions.

          • Projects that involve extensive data accumulation and entry, surveying, tabulation, cataloging, and reporting.

          • Projects that require making substantial travel and meeting arrangements for large numbers of program participants.

          • Projects that are geographically inaccessible to normal departmental administrative services.

            • In summary, administrative/clerical costs may be allowable as direct costs if appropriately justified and if the charges meet all the following criteria: costs are required by the project’s scope of work;
              costs can be specifically and easily identified to the project, and costs represent a special need that is clearly different from costs typically charged as F&A. The proposal justification should provide a clear explanation as to how the proposed charges meet these conditions.

 

                  Click here for some examples of CASB justifications. If needed, please consult with your SPA rep to see if your

              proposed items qualify for this option/review.

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• Travel

  • Consider whether you or your students need to present research at conferences. Is the conference domestic or international? All international travel must be pre-approved else they will require a MOD and delay later on.

  • Employees, if allowed, will be paid from the travel category and their budget estimate should be entered in the correct category. Non-employee travel should be budgeted separately.

  • Travel is allowed if it is furthering work on the project and approved in the budget.

  • You should clearly identify if funds are for domestic travel or for international travel.

    • If you are unsure where a conference will be held you can include the possibility of it being an international conference. This should help avoid delays in the future if the conference is international.

• Equipment

  • This includes items with a useful life of more than 3 years, associated cost of $5,000 or more (including sum parts of individual components) and that is for work on the project.

  • Items must be specifically identified in the proposal and should not be purchased at the end of a project. Otherwise, how did the equipment benefit the project?

  • Equipment is normally, but not always, excluded from IDC calculations.

  • If you do not include equipment in your original proposal but you see you may need the equipment later it will require approval from your sponsor and SPA before an order can be placed.

  • Consider whether you need a computer/laptop, either new or replacement. This must be an approved line item in the budget else it will require you to submit a MOD later on.

• Animals

  • Consider if you need a per diem for their care.

  • Will there be housing costs?

  • Will you need special vet services for this particular project?

  • Will you need a separate caretaker for the animals?

  • Do you have proper permits in place?

• Subrecipient or Subcontractor vs. Consultant

  • A consultant or vendor does not make programmatic decisions, tends to have a billing rate, and is not identifiable in the salary/fringe budget.

  • Both budgets are considered materials and supplies.

    • Subrecipient or Subcontractor – A third-party organization performing a portion of the scope of work identified on the project where UGA is the prime.

    • Consultant – A third party that provides highly technical or professional advice but does not control the manner in which the work is performed.

  • Be sure to consult with your SPA rep to determine which is appropriate.

• Indirect Costs (IDC)

  • Also known as Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A)

  • Costs are typically not identifiable, cannot be quantified or be directly linked to the project.

  • There are various IDC rates. Please consult with your SPA rep to determine which rate to use.

  • A portion of IDC is returned to the College/School. The return is based on expenditures made in the previous fiscal year. Policies governing the use and disbursement of IDC are determined by the College/School and varies across the UGA campus. Ecology's IDC policy is below and is dependent upon the financial nature of the unit.

• Effort - You should only consider research or public service time and budget only.

  • This is the amount of time PI(s), faculty and other senior personnel spend on a particular activity. Most proposals must show the percentage of effort committed on a project.

  • Percentage of effort should be commensurate with the percentage of salary requested.

    • If no salary is requested, but effort will be provided please specifically include this in the budget justification.

  • You may not have more than 100% effort and you should consider effort on other projects, as well. Please consult with Jennifer Mathews to verify the amount of effort you have already committed on previous projects as this affects payroll.

• Research Buyout/Salary Savings

  • Research or instructional granting and contracting agencies, as well as other units of the University, sometimes seek to have faculty devote a portion of their time to a particular funded project. Where the research or instructional work is demonstrably significant and beneficial to the University, the Odum School may foster and approve such arrangements, provided that certain conditions are met.

  • Faculty may buy out their Research EFT using funds from grants or contracts. Grant or contract funds will pay the corresponding part of their salary and associated fringe. Visit here to see Ecology's research buyout policy.

  • Buy-outs are not automatic – You must seek approval for research buyout BEFORE submitting your proposal.

• Salary Cap (NIH) – also known as Over the Cap (OTC)

  • A companion account is set up that is yoked to the restricted account.

  • OTC salary has to be moved to the companion account and is processed by the Ecology Business Office.

  • Please consult with Jennifer Mathews to be sure you are not over-committed as this affects payroll.

• Cost Share

  • Mandatory vs. Voluntary – must be clearly identified in the budget justification if cost share is mandatory or voluntary

    • Mandatory – This should be included in the proposal budget in order to be considered for funding by the sponsor as it is a requirement as a condition of the award.

    • Voluntary – This is NOT required by the sponsor and SPA strongly discourages voluntary cost share. However, once you offer cost share it becomes a binding commitment and must be honored if the project is funded. SPA and Ecology do not recommend volunteering cost share as it creates a hardship and could affect your payroll and time effort related to academic or summer salary. SPA has indicated it does not increase the likelihood of a successful award yet creates additional work for the unit.

  • You may not over-commit cost share. Please consult with Jennifer Mathews to verify the amount of cost share you have already committed on a project.

  • Types of cost share:

    • Cash Match (salary) – Cash contributions made to a project by UGA, UGARF, or a third party.

    • In-Kind Match – The reasonable value of personnel effort, equipment, materials or other property used in the performance of a statement of work.

    • Third-Party Match – Any expenditure necessary to complete a project that is borne, not by the sponsoring agency or the prime award recipient, but by a third party.

  • Tracking cost share:

    • A companion account is set up that is yoked to the restricted account.

    • Anything cost shared (in-kind or cash) has to be moved to the companion account; processed by the Ecology Business Office.

    • ALL cost share obligations MUST be met. If you see you will not be able to meet the cost share requirement please obtain approval from your sponsor and SPA to update the cost share amounts 6 months advance of it being due.

• Budget Justification - NOTE: Ecology's AFD will be happy to review your proposed budget and justification prior to your submission.

  • This is a narrative that provides details of your proposed budget. Imagine you are explaining to multiple persons with various skill levels how you plan to spend your funds.

    • Explains how dollar amounts were determined

    • Indicates how each item relates to the research plan

    • All items must be justified – do not assume their use is obvious to reviewers

    • Explains who, what, when, where, and why

    • Explain if meals, visa fees, international travel, and/or incentive payments are critical to the project

    • Listing items is not sufficient for a justification, especially for a CASB exception. A detailed explanation must be included for all requested funds.

 

Significant Financial Interest (SFI) Disclosures and Conflicts of Interest

Failure to complete the SFI Disclosure will stop a proposal from being submitted. For questions, please contact Ecology’s SPA representative.

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Grants Management: Proactivity for Award Setup

Per SPA, the following steps will make a substantial difference in award processing times.

 

Below are a few best practice tips that can help expedite this process:

1.  Check FP (Grant ID) Record. You should receive an email from a SPA rep with the subject line: Information about your Grant

     Submission. From here you can click on the "FP" link to verify your information is correct.

2.  Confirm that the FP record is fully approved. If not, please reach out to your SPA rep.

3.  Obtain all Compliance Approvals.

4.  Prepare/Update the UGA Budget Template.

         If the award is less than proposed, update the Budget Template or advise where the reduction should occur.

5.  Provide Additional Documents you feel could benefit your SPA rep.

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University's Office of Research

Research Safety

Chemical-Laboratory Safety Manual - including how to properly dispose of sharps, glassware and pointed plastic

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