Upon receipt of a notice of award, the Office of Grants and Contracts (OGC)
will take the following steps.
1. Assigns a Banner fund number for the financial accounting system.
2. Activates the fund in the Banner financial system so that costs may be incurred.
This process normally takes 1 to 5 working days from receipt of the award.
3. By email, notifies the Principal Investigator (PI), the Departmental Administrator
(DA), and the appropriate Associate Dean for Research (ADR) of the fund number
activation.
4. Includes with the notification an Award Brief form which outlines the project
dates, the budget for the project, and provides the full Banner FOP (fund, organizational
unit, program code) which will be needed to process HR and financial transactions
for the award.
5. Includes with the notification a PI Management Checklist – which outlines
some management practices for sponsored projects.
6. If needed, includes with the notification a Cost Share Reconciliation Form
– for projects that have match/cost share requirements.
7. As appropriate, includes with the notification additional information or
attachments on management or compliance requirements, or unusual terms and conditions
of the award.
At the time the notification is sent, the budget may not yet be visible in Banner.
Sponsored projects funds do not need to have a budget in the system in order
to process financial transactions. Financial transactions may occur immediately
upon fund activation; even if the budget is not yet posted in Banner. The budget
will normally be loaded into Banner within a week of fund activation.
Upon receipt of the notification, the PI/DA should immediately contact OGC if
they think there are errors in any aspect of the fund set-up or budget presentation.
(See Policy Statement 4 of this manual for additional information about budget
presentation.)
In addition to reviewing the information from OGC, the PI/DA should carefully
review the specific terms/conditions of the award. Most of the major sponsors
also have policy manuals or guidelines; many of them are on-line (e.g., NIH,
NSF). In addition to the specific terms of the award, the sponsor’s general
policies should be reviewed to ensure that all planned activities and financial
transactions are in compliance with the sponsor’s requirements and policies.
The PI should communicate with the DA to coordinate planned project financial
activities and to determine if there are any additional internal procedures
that may be required by the Department or the College/School.
OGC should be contacted if there are any questions about the terms or the requirements
of the award.
Most sponsors do not allow pre-award spending. Only costs incurred on or after
the project start date may normally be charged to a sponsored project. The date
incurred is the effective date of the activity/transaction; not necessarily
the date the cost is posted to the accounting system. (For example: If travel
occurred/started before the award effective date, the cost is not allowed; even
if the reimbursement request is processed after the project start date.)
Some sponsors do allow pre-award spending within a specified time frame (e.g.,
some federal awards allow pre-award spending up to no more than 90-days prior
to the start date). A few sponsors may allow pre-award spending with a specific
request and their authorization.
If there is a need for pre-award spending, contact OGC for procedures and requirements
for the specific sponsor/award.
OGC must authorize all pre-award spending. OGC will disallow pre-award transactions
if not in conformance with University and sponsor approval requirements.
Occasionally, an advance fund may have been established and costs incurred,
before the final award documents were received, and the start date of the award
is later than originally anticipated. In the event costs were incurred prior
to the official award start date or the pre-award spending authorization date,
OGC will disallow the costs.
All disallowed pre-award costs must be transferred to another University fund
(state, special fund) and may not be transferred to another sponsored project
fund.
See also Policy Statement 3.
Contact your OGC representative if you have questions about pre-award spending
for your award. The OGC staff assignment listing is located on the OGC website
http://www.ecu.edu/grants