University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
Q: What happens after the proposal is submitted?
After a grant proposal is submitted, we simply wait for the sponsors response. Sometimes the sponsor asks for additional information, such as during the Just-In-Time stage of an NIH proposal. In the case of contracts, the Preaward administrator negotiates the terms and conditions of the agreement. Depending on the complexity of the project and the nature of the sponsor, the period of negotiation may be as long as 90 days.
Q: How do I get an Index Number?
When a contract is signed or a notice of grant award is received, the Preaward administrator will request an Award Budget Sheet (ABS). In Preaward, key information about the award is prepared for data entry into the Banner system. The data is entered by the Post-award Fiscal Monitor and an Index Number is generated. The Post-award Fiscal Monitor contacts the PI with the Index Number.
Q: Who do I contact regarding post-award issues?
Your Post-Award Fiscal Monitor is your contact person for all post-award matters
(Post-Award Website). Competing and non-competing renewals, however, are submitted to Preaward as if they are new proposals.
Q: How do I determine effort percentages for effort reporting and effort certification?
The proper base for determining effort percentages is the total activity or effort for which the university compensates an individual, including administrative activities such as serving on a university committee. As exempt employees, faculty members are not compensated for their duties on the basis of a forty-hour workweek. Instead, the workweek for faculty members is based on the actual number of hours spent on job-related activities.
When an activity or effort benefits two or more projects or activities in proportions that can be determined without undue effort or cost, the effort should be allocated to the projects based on the proportional benefit. If an activity or effort benefits two or more projects or activities in proportions that cannot be determined because of the interrelationship of the work involved, then the effort may be allocated or transferred to benefited projects on any reasonable basis.
Sometimes, charges are made initially to sponsored agreements on the basis of effort estimates that are made before services are performed. When such estimates are used, significant changes in the corresponding work activity must be identified and entered into the payroll distribution system. Short-term (such as one or two months) fluctuation between workload categories need not be considered as long as the distribution of salaries and wages is reasonable over the longer term, such as an academic period. When the discrepancy between estimated and actual effort is not inconsequential, such as for three months, then principal investigators should submit a payroll cost transfer to reflect this change.
Effort certification reports must be signed by a principal investigator, director, or department chairperson.
Q: Why not simply use the payroll information to complete my certification form?
HSC Financial Services uses payroll information to prepare a draft Effort Certification for your review. Your effort certification must be a reflection of the actual effort obligated to the project.
Q: What do I do if the Effort Certification that I receive from HSC Financial Services is incorrect?
Write the correct information on the form, sign it and attach a COPY of the salary reallocation that you are submitting to make the correction. Return the certification to HSC Financial Services. Submit the salary reallocation as normal.
Q: What do I do if I need more time, more money, or some other change to the project?
Federal agencies typically require prior approval for a change in scope, change of Key Personnel, absence of 3 months or more,
25% reduction in percent effort, or transfer of F&A to direct or vice versa.To simply rebudget direct costs,the PI submits a
completed Contract & Grant Budget Revision Form to the HSC Controller's Office. If only additional time is required to complete the project, the PI contacts Preaward and requests a No Cost Extension. For a project funded directly from a federal agency, sponsor approval is not needed for the first No-Cost Extension. If sponsor approval of the proposed change is necessary, the PI prepares a letter to the appropriate sponsor administrator or fills out the sponsors form detailing the request. The letter must be sent through Preaward for institutional endorsement.
Samples of request letters are provided here, for your convenience.
Q: How do I submit progress reports to federal agencies?
Other than the final report, progress reports are submitted in order to receive the next period of funding (a competing or non-competing renewal), so they are submitted with the same procedures as new proposals.