Post-Award Support

You will receive support throughout the life of your project:

Award Setup – establish project budget in Banner

Award Management – process and review budget revision requests, approve procurement of federally funded equipment, review project expenditures, review cost share commitments, address all questions and issues related to the financial administration of projects, and obtain sponsor approval as needed

Award Closeout – coordinate the submission of all required closeout documents

ORA works with Finance and Administration to establish your award budget in Banner. The PI is assigned as the accountable officer on the fund and can designate other approvers as appropriate.

If unforeseen circumstances require the project end date to be extended, ORA will negotiate with the sponsor. The PI should contact ORA well before the project end date if an extension will be needed. The terms of the award agreement may specify a date beyond which an extension cannot be granted.

In general, if an extension is anticipated, the PI should notify ORA at least 60 days prior to the scheduled project end date. The PI should prepare a short justification for the extension request. If a significant percentage of the project funds remain unexpended, a revised spending plan should also be submitted. Merely having funds unexpended is not sufficient justification to extend the project.

Certain circumstances require ORA to contact the sponsor for approval, for example, changes in key personnel, change in PI, change in scope of work, and budget modifications requiring an amendment to the award. Key personnel changes include a PI leaving the university (whether leaving the grant with a Co-PI or transferring the grant to the new university).

ORA prepares and submits all invoices and financial reports to sponsors on behalf of the institution. The interval for billing and reporting will vary based on the agency and the award terms and conditions. Invoicing and reporting for projects may require PI coordination.

ORA is responsible for collecting revenue from sponsors. Often, interim and final payments are contingent upon the complete and timely filing of technical reports.

The financial closeout of an award is the process at the end of a sponsored project by which the university closes accounts in Banner and submits any required final invoices and/or reports to the sponsor. An email notice informs investigators of any closing awards 90/60/30 days before the sponsored project ends. Post-Award will contact investigators at the end of a project to review the closeout checklist and assist with the closeout process.

All employees who receive salary support from sponsored projects must certify their effort. Effort Certification provides assurance to sponsors that salaries charged to sponsored projects are reasonable in relation to the work performed and that commitments to sponsors have been met.

Effort reporting occurs 3 times annually (at the end of each semester, fall, spring, and summer).

ORA also has responsibility for the following, some of which may involve different points of contact on a less frequent basis: facilities and administrative (F&A) rate proposal, sub-recipient monitoring, and various other internal and external reporting.