CHAPTER FIVEAWARD ACCEPTANCE AND ACCOUNT ESTABLISHMENT |
Grants
Grants are normally financial assistance for basic research, training, or outreach projects, with the scope of work originating with the Principal Investigator/Project Director. Grants have general, standard terms and conditions that do not normally require negotiation by Grants Management.
Contracts
Contracts provide financial support for a specific task, with the scope of work usually originating from and determined by the sponsor. Contracts have terms and conditions, specific to the award, which generally must be negotiated prior to acceptance of the contract to ensure compliance with University of Texas System and Health Science Center policy. These negotiations are conducted by Grants Management in consultation, when necessary, with the Principal Investigator/Project Director, the academic department, and, when necessary, the Dean, the Office of Legal Affairs, the Office of Technology Licensing, or other Health Science Center offices.
Other Awards
There are other types of awards such as cooperative agreements, purchase orders, ordering agreements, etc. All of these, when they meet the definition of a sponsored program as outlined in Section 1.2 have accounts established through the Office of Grants Management.
Regardless of the type of award received, the Health Science Center has certain responsibilities to adhere to the terms and conditions of the award including the completion of all required reports. A discussion of those "post-award" responsibilities is found in Chapters Six and Seven.
5.2 Signature Authority 1
Signature authority for all sponsored program agreements has been delegated by the President to the Director of the Office of Grants Management or, in the absence of the Director, the Associate Director of Grants Management.
5.3 Account Establishment
Once a proposal has been funded and an official notification of the award (Notice of Grant Award, letter of award, fully executed contract, or the like) has been received from the sponsor, Grants Management will assign an account number to the project.
New Account Memorandum (NAM)
In conjunction with assigning the account number, Grants Management will produce an internal New Account Memorandum (NAM) which indicates, in part, the account numbers for the budget period, the F&A (indirect) cost rate, authorized account signatures, percent effort of key personnel and special instructions to Accounting as well as any unusual requirements for the award. The NAM is typically sent to the Investigator, Chair, Dean, Accounting, and, if applicable, the Laboratory for Animal Resources and the Institutional Review Board.
Accounts will not be established unless Grants Management has a copy of the original proposal (if any), a current project budget, and evidence of approvals of the use of human or animal subjects, if applicable.
5.4 Advance Accounts 1
Establishing Accounts Prior to Award Receipt
Under certain conditions, an Investigator/Director or department may request an account prior to the actual receipt of the award. This can be done according to sponsor guidelines and regulations through the submission of a memorandum to Grants Management which requests the advance account and, through signature by the department chair or academic director, guarantees payment of the expenditures should the expected award not be issued.
In anticipation of receiving an award notice from the funding agency and in those instances where an award will be continuing into another budget period (such as an NIH research award with multiple budget periods), during the month preceding the expected continuation or renewal award Grants Management will either automatically extend the current account or establish a new account in order that payroll appointments may be continued.
Note: In most cases, pre-award costs cannot be incurred more than ninety (90) days prior to the actual award start date (without sponsor approval). Prior to incurring pre-award costs, Grants Management should be consulted for the allowability of such expenditures.
Note: Principal Investigators/Project Directors or other personnel involved in the administration of projects are cautioned against "parking" salary charges on an expiring award. "Parking" salary charges means placing salaries on an account that is not currently or will not be the account to which salaries will eventually be charged. Rather, a new account, if appropriate, should be requested using the above guidelines.