Award Setup

The contract/grant award document includes the following important award management information:

• Start and end dates
• Allowable costs
• Reporting requirements
• Billing terms
• Carryover terms

It is important to understand this information to properly manage your award. To access your award documents, use the search feature in myResearch Portal.

OMB Circulars are instructions from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that describe the management and monitoring of awards. The University of Illinois must treat all awards consistently, using the same policies and procedures, regardless of the source of funds.

Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards

In December 2013, the OMB released a new circular which combines and revises the guidance for managing awards.

Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards

Relevant sections for individuals managing sponsored awards include:

• Administrative Requirements (Subparts A-D, formerly A-110). These sections establish uniform administrative requirements for federal grants and agreements including financial and program management, payments, cost sharing, program income, property standards, procurement standards, reports and records, and closeout procedures.
• Cost Principles (Subpart E, formerly A-21). This section establishes principles for determining costs applicable to grants, contracts, and other agreements with educational institutions.
• Audits (Subpart F, formerly A-133). This section establishes standards for obtaining consistency and uniformity for the audit organizations expending federal awards including scope of audit, audit requirements, auditee responsibilities, and responsibilities of pass-through entities.

The SPA Award Management team supports University of Illinois principal investigators and their departments in the administration and expenditure of awarding projects by managing the financial interactions with sponsors and assuring compliance with university and sponsor policies. Principal investigators and staff members who direct sponsored research programs assume responsibility for the effective conduct of these projects.

SPA Award Management Responsibilities

• Administering the post-award functions for sponsored projects
• Managing financial interactions with sponsors, including preparing and submitting financial reports and invoices. Pre- and post-auditing of expenditures to check for allowability
• Reviewing and approving cost transfers and select invoice vouchers, encumbrances, and TEM transactions
• Working with departments on clearing overdrafts and unallowable expenditures
• Monitoring subrecipiences, including reviewing and submitting invoices to departments for processing
• Managing and collecting data for analysis, billings, testings, and reporting
• Monitoring accounts receivable
• Reporting equipment purchased on federal awards to sponsor
• Approving equipment transfers and loans purchased on sponsored project funding
• Managing semi-annual expenditure confirmations
• Coordinating the federal single audit and other external audits

PI Responsibilities

Agreeing to all terms and conditions with emphasis on performance clauses, including:

• Frequency of technical reports
• Special professional staff hourly reports
• Deliverables
• Termination conditions
• Assuring appropriateness, reasonableness, and allowability of expenditures
• Managing expenditures to not exceed available award balance
• Reviewing and signing semi-annual expenditure confirmations as required
• Initiating requests for rebudgeting and cost transfers
• Approving payment of subrecipient invoices
• Confirming performance and progress made by subrecipients
• Preparing technical reports and provides other deliverables as required
• Managing and meeting the cost-share requirements

Department Responsibilities

• Providing oversight of sponsored project administration, including cost transfers and semi-annual expenditure confirmations
• Approving substantive modifications and rebudgeting
• Assuring timely resolution of unallowable expenditures
• Monitoring faculty effort and other resources committed as cost-share
• Participating in negotiations involving incomplete technical reports and lacking, or unacceptable, deliverables

Award Management will send a Notice of Banner Codes Assignment (NOA) containing the assigned C-FOAP to the Business Manager listed on the PAF after

• creation of an anticipation account,
• receipt of a new award, or
• change in funding for an existing award (modification, continuation, incremental funding, and supplement).

A no-cost extension does not receive an NOA. Modifications to the terms of the award with changes made in Banner also result in no NOA.

Review your account to ensure that it is setup correctly and to monitor expenditures.

• Basic Information: FZAGRNT. Provides the name of the PI, the name of the sponsor, the name of the project, the project period, and the award amount(s). Search by grant code.
• Budget and Expenditures: FZIGITD. Provides inception-to-date budget, expenditure, encumbrance information. Search by grant code and by fund if desired.
• Bills and Payments: FZIBDET. Provides cumulative billing and payment information. Search by grant code.

Step-by-step instructions for using each of these Banner screens are in the GC101 Participant Guide.