August 31, 2015

NIH Notices: Current Forms | eRA Service Desk | Prior Approval Rules for Human Subjects Research Awards

MU Grants Community,

Please see the following NIH Notices: 


  • OMB Approval for Form Changes Underway - Continue to Use Current Forms Until Further Notice (NOT-OD-15-146)
    Until further notice, applicants and grantees must continue to use the current agency-specific forms listed in this Notice despite the expiration date of August 31, 2015. NIH is authorized to continue to use the current forms while working with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to obtain approval for form updates. Once OMB approval is in place, NIH will provide information on data collection changes and implementation plans.
  • eRA Commons Help Desk Rebranded as eRA Service Desk (NOT-OD-15-147)
    The eRA Commons Help Desk has been rebranded as the eRA Service Desk to reflect the team’s expansion to support ASSIST and other eRA services in addition to eRA Commons.
  • Guidance on Changes That Involve Human Subjects in Active Awards and That Will Require Prior NIH Approval: Updated Notice (NOT-OD-15-128)
    Provides detailed guidance on the types of changes in human subjects research awards that will require prior NIH approval and provides information on the process for submission of such requests. 
  • Prior NIH Approval of Human Subjects Research in Active Awards Initially Submitted without Definitive Plans for Human Subjects Involvement (Delayed Onset Awards): Updated Notice (NOT-OD-15-129)
    Clarifies NIH requirements related to prior NIH approval of human subjects research plans for awards which were submitted with the intent to conduct human subjects research during the period of support, but for which definitive plans could not be described in the grant application. 

Should you have questions about the applicability of these policies to current or anticipated projects, please contact your OSPA pre-award or post-award staff.

August 24, 2015

Grant Connections - August Meeting

Wednesday, August 26, 2015
11:00 a.m. – noon
Room 171 of the Bond Life Sciences Center


Agenda
  • Hot Topics. Attendees of the NCURA Annual Meeting in early August, please share with us what you learned! 
  • Graduate Student Health Insurance and Sponsored Projects.
    Update: The health insurance subsidy component of the MU Graduate Student Support Program was reinstated on 8/21/15. We will still briefly discuss how and why allowable costs to grants would have been impacted. A discussion of the impact on allowable costs as a result of the recent changes to graduate student health insurance at MU.
  • DHHS Award Transition to Subaccounts. OSPA will deliver a brief presentation on the transition of Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) awards, including National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards, from pooled to subaccounts. We will discuss the impact on our existing awards including new MoCodes, carry over, no cost time extensions, and progress reporting.
Mark your calendars! Meetings are scheduled for the following dates.
  • September 23, 2015 
  • October 28, 2015

Grant Connections Organizational Crew (send your suggestions)

Please share this information with anyone else associated with research who you think might be interested in attending.

Important Update re: Changes in Student Health Insurance Subsidy for Graduate Teaching and Research

MU Grants Community,

Please see the update regarding graduate student health insurance subsidies on the Office of Graduate Studies website: http://gradstudies.missouri.edu/about/news-events/news-features/2015/response-to-graduate-student-demands-and-update-on-health-insurance/
Based on recent conversations with external experts and leadership, along with consultation with peer institutions, compliance experts and internal constituents, MU will defer implementation of its decision regarding graduate student health insurance. As a result, the university will pay for health insurance for eligible graduate students.

As such, the grants-specific FAQs issued on 8/19/15 are no longer applicable. Graduate student health insurance costs may be charged to a grant if allowable based on specific guidelines of the sponsor and applied according to federal cost principles.

August 19, 2015

Changes in Student Health Insurance Subsidy for Graduate Teaching and Research - Impact on Sponsored Project FAQs

Update: Based on the update issued by the Office of the Chancellor on 08/21/2015 the grants-specific FAQs issued on 08/19/15 are no longer applicable and have been removed from this post. 

MU Grants Community,

Included below please find an initial set of grants-specific FAQs. Please further distribute this guidance to your faculty, staff, and students as appropriate.

The agenda for next Wednesday’s Grant Connections meeting will include discussion of this topic. Thank you for the feedback you have provided thus far and for your patience while we gather and review information as it becomes available. 

August 11, 2015

Grant Connections | July Meeting Notes

Notes from the July Grant Connections meeting are included below for your review and reference. Though meeting notes are disseminated to the full Grants Community listserv, we encourage your continued (or new!) attendance. Your contributions to discussion and the selection of topics are crucial to the ongoing success of the meetings.  We hope to see you at the next meeting on Wednesday, August 26.
 



July 28, 2015

Grant Connections - July Meeting

Wednesday, July 29, 2015
11:00 a.m. – noon
Room 572 of the Bond Life Sciences Center

Agenda
  • Hot Topics
  • Mizzou Contracts Web Portal. Casey Forbis from Business Services will give an overview of MU’s new contracts portal. While you or your department’s fiscal staff may have already attended a training session, this will be a good opportunity to discuss how the new portal fits into sponsored projects workflows. 
  • Salary Limits. Have you heard of the “NSF two-month rule”?* We will use this a basis to discuss sponsor salary limitations and how they apply in various scenarios. 
Mark your calendars! Meetings are scheduled for the following dates.
  • August 26, 2015 
  • September 23, 2015 
  • October 28, 2015

Grant Connections Organizational Crew (send your suggestions)

Please share this information with anyone else associated with research who you think might be interested in attending.

NSF Notices: New Automated Proposal Compliance Checks | Update on Rollouts in Research.gov

MU Grants Community,
Please take note of the following information from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Should you have questions about the applicability of this guidance to current or anticipated projects, please contact your OSPA Pre-Award or Post-Award staff.



New Automated Proposal Compliance Checks in FastLane
On July, 24, 2015, the next set of automated proposal compliance checks will be released in FastLane. The checks will trigger warning messages if the following proposal sections do not exist for proposals submitted in response to a Program Solicitation for the applicable funding mechanism type (Conference, Equipment, Ideas Lab, Facility/Center, and Fellowship):
  • References Cited
  • Biographical Sketch(es)
  • Budget Justification: Primary Organization 
  • Budget Justification: Sub recipient Organization 
  • Current and Pending Support
  • Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources

OSPA Certificate Series for Specialized Grants Training | Post-Award and Regulatory Sessions

After a bit of summer break, the OSPA Certificate Series is back! Finishing out the Post-Award Track Training, the following sessions are open for registration:  

Subawards and Consulting Agreements
Utilizing case studies, analyze the difference between subrecipients/subawards and vendors/consulting agreements as they pertain to sponsored projects. Discuss the subaward process throughout in the award cycle, from the documentation needed before a subrecipient can be named in a proposal submitted to a sponsor to closing out the subaward. Discuss the consulting agreement process throughout the award cycle, from issuing the consulting agreement to receipt of deliverables and payment.

Cost Sharing
Define cost sharing and the different types, including mandatory, voluntary committed, and voluntary uncommitted. Understand compliance requirements related to cost sharing. Discuss third-party and unallowable cost share and the related impacts on facilities and administrative (F&A) cost recovery. Utilizing case studies, identify different types of cost sharing, discuss proper documentation and reporting, and examine issues of noncompliance.

Effort Verification Reporting (EVR), Cost Transfers, and Payroll Correcting Entries (PCE)
Utilizing case studies, review EVR, PCE, and cost transfer examples and their application to sponsored projects. Discuss compliance requirements for each of these activities. Identify common issues and risks of noncompliance.

July 21, 2015

Grant Fact Sheet Update: OSPA's New Permanent Address

Please note a slight change to OSPA’s new permanent address. Due to incompatibility with some federal grant application systems, we will no longer use the ZIP suffix code of 8330. Instead, the full ZIP+4 for all official purposes is 65211-0001. Please access the current version here, noting the following change:


July 17, 2015

Grant Connections | June Meeting Notes

Notes from the June Grant Connections meeting are included below for your review and reference. Though meeting notes are disseminated to the full Grants Community listserv, we encourage your continued (or new!) attendance. Your contributions to discussion and the selection of topics are crucial to the ongoing success of the meetings.  We hope to see you at the next meeting on Wednesday, July 29.