Sponsored Projects Administration Meeting (SPAM) s1

Sponsored Projects Administration Meeting (SPAM)

Minutes-DRAFT

Date/Place: October 20, 2011 10:30 am-11:45 am, Stout B/182

Attendees: Jenny Frayer, Yvonne Rumbaugh, Petra Bartella, Denise Hammond, Vicki Hansen Marks, Sherril Schmidt, Ed Novak, Karen Stewart-Carrico, Lycia Ronchetti, Amy Russell in person! and Charles Whitaker via telephone.

1. Approval of Minutes from September Minutes approved as written for September, 2011

2. Contracting with Small Businesses John Albrecht is currently trying to collect on a DRI receivable from an LLC that was in dissolved status at the time DRI entered into a contract to perform services. John suggested that we ask for additional information from small businesses, particularly if we have never worked with them. He suggested we receive a copy of their State of Nevada Business License, Local Business License and be sure to have a complete name and physical address. This information can be found on the State of Nevada and local community websites.

We agreed that in the future, when the divisions are asking FSO to enter a new sponsor into COEUS/ARGIS, and the sponsor is unknown/small/new, the business manager will ask for this information prior to acceptance of a contract. Generally, the program specialists enter into COEUS/ARGIS and should notify the business manager that the sponsor is new.

Subsequently found out that the receivable is from 2041 Ltd., a DHS receivable. The additional part of the story is that DHS did not know that it was delinquent for a year, as there was a posting error which showed the invoice as paid until a year later when the error was caught.

3. NSF EPSCOR-Proposal Process Jenny distributed an email that came from the EPSCOR office notifying everyone that pre-proposals for the next round of EPSCOR will not require the signature of the “Sponsored Projects Office” on the cover page (For DRI that means the signature of the business manager).

Upon selection of the topic and collaborating team, then the EPSCOR office will require budgets and proposals be routed through “Sponsored Project Offices” (Business Managers).

4. New NIH Rules NIH has new rules relating to conflict of interest which would require revisions to DRI policy in the event DRI is awarded an NIH award. Please let Jenny know if NIH funding will be coming DRI’s as soon as possible, so that she can work on updating policies to conform to NIH requirements. For conflict of interest forms, UNR requires additional questions be answered if a PI is involved on an NIH project.

5. Invoice Retention Try to negotiate out any terms from sponsor that require retention on invoices. If the sponsor will not remove the requirement, try negotiating payment of the retention amount yearly when a multi year contract. Charles was successful in negotiating out the retention requirement recently from contracts with EPRI.

6. Revised NSHE Procedures NSHE is revising the procedures for inter-institutional sponsored project agreements. The procedures will be presented to the Regents for approval in December. The key changes are 1) The FDP forms are recognized as the official forms for use, eliminating the SFFA 2) to expedite processing, the recipient should sign before sending to the subrecipient 3) electronic signatures are official 4) unless otherwise restricted, any party desiring to issue publicity in connection with efforts on the mutual project shall inform the other party prior to release and shall give full consideration to the role and contributions of the other party, 4) a new certification will need to be added to versions of Attachment 2 when between NSHE Institutions. That certification shall state:

“This agreement is entered into and administered in accordance with the provisions of NSHE Procedures and Guidelines Manual, Chapter 6, Section 12: Basic Agreement for Inter-Institutional Cooperation in Sponsored Programs.” Both parties agree to the terms and conditions of this policy document agreed to by all NSHE institutions.

Jenny will send out the new procedures once approved by the Regents.

7. Insurance The NRS tort liability has increased from $75,000 to $100,000 effective October 1, 2011. DRI is purchasing additional insurance to cover general liability, pollution liability and professional liability (errors & omissions) to cover claims between $100,000 and $1,000,000.

8. Cost Share Lycia mentioned concern over end dates on cost share accounts not being accurate. Accuracy is important for proper management of the project. It was decided that Vicki and Sherril will change the end dates in Advantage on cost share accounts when a NCE is received on the main account. When applicable, copies of the extension will be given to Richard if it affects a state ARI account.

Back fill accounts, in fund 6239, should always have the same end date as the project account.

9. Other  Jenny is scheduling another webex with Tammie to go over workflow and other round 1 testing issues.  Ed will be addressing workforce issues for remote users.  Discussed cost transfers within workforce. Need to make sure any payroll changes are properly documented, approved by the appropriate people and have enough documentation to satisfy the A-133 auditors.  Ed announced VPN passwords will soon be the same as the user’s regular DRI password.  Integrate has been resuscitated. The VPFA at UNLV is leading the charge to look at HR and Finance processes to cleanup current processes before a new system is implemented.