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To assist in the proper stewardship of sponsored projects the information below provides a brief overview of important award management concepts and web resources.

Roles and Responsibilities for Sponsored Projects

Proper stewardship and compliance for sponsored projects require a cooperative effort among central administration and the academic units where projects are initiated and carried out.

Award Kickoff Meeting

Your award is set up and you received the chartstring(s).

SPA is pleased to be able to offer an Award Kickoff meeting as follows:

  • What happens at an Award Kick-off meeting:
    • The team gets together: SPA staff (RA, FA, and others as applicable), department research administrators (DRAs) and, wherever possible, the Principal Investigator.
    • Discuss the terms and conditions of the grant award
    • Review reporting requirements
    • Review subrecipient monitoring
    • Review prior approvals (carryover, no-cost extensions)
    • Review Roles and Responsibilities of each teammate
    • With the team now on the same page, we can promote and facilitate efficient and effective grant management.

Department Initiated Award Kickoff Meeting

Departments should consider arranging kickoff meetings if they have concerns about managing the award, and/or have faculty or administrative staff new to sponsored project management.

Departments can request kickoff meetings by contacting spa@uvm.edu. Please indicate if you want us to focus on a particular topic.

SPA Initiated Award Kickoff Meeting

SPA may initiate a kickoff meeting when special circumstances warrant one (e.g. multi-year, multi-department, multiple and/or complex subawards, complex cost-sharing, and unusual billing terms).

In situations where SPA would like to request an Award Kickoff meeting, Schuyler Dunn, SPA Operations and Office Support Specialist, will reach out to the assigned department administrator with a meeting request and for help coordinating attendance.

Department New Award Checklist

Award Terms & Conditions

Each award has unique terms and conditions and the best way to manage an award is to understand the requirements. Please read through your federal or non-federal award and become familiar with the conditions, paying attention to the period of performance, budget, reporting and deliverable requirements.

Below our links to common federal sponsor grant policy websites.

Allowable Costs & Charging Costs

All charges to sponsored projects must be reasonable, necessary for the performance of the project, and allocated appropriately to any project that benefits from the charge.

NIH NRSA Childcare Costs

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that reimbursement of childcare costs is available to each full-time predoctoral or postdoctoral fellow supported by an institutional or individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) and has been codified at NOT-OD-21-177 and NOT-OD-21-074, respectively.

NRSA Fellows can receive up to $2,500 per 12-month budget period for costs for childcare provided by a licensed childcare provider.

For the individual NRSA Fellow to be reimbursed, please follow the UVM Guidance Document: NRSA Childcare Reimbursement Process.

Use Correct Account Codes

Charging of expenditures to the correct account code is one of the best ways to ensure compliance with award conditions. UVMs account codes are available with descriptions at:

  • Refer to UVM's Chart of Accounts
  • Click  the accordion, Chatfield Value List, then Account (Excel).  An excel spreadsheet appears and under the Expense Tab you will find account codes and a description for use.

Salary Commitments and Effort Reporting

It is expected that Principal Investigators and key personnel meet their respective effort commitments on all sponsored agreements as proposed and awarded. PIs must report and certify effort as required by UVM policy. 

PI Portal

Designed specifically for Investigators and research administrators who need fiscal information quickly and easily to help answer questions such as:

  • How much money do I have left to spend?
  • Can I hire another lab tech or graduate student this summer?
  • Will I have Carryforward?
  • Will I have funds available for a No Cost Extension?

PI Portal

Responsible Conduct of Research Training (NSF, NIFA, NIH)

NSF and NIFA research grants and NIH training grants require RCR training be provided to certain members of the project team. For more information navigate to the RCR Training requirements for each sponsor (NSF, NIFA, NIH).

Requesting a Normally Indirect Cost to be a Direct Cost (Federal Only)

For awards supported with federal funds some costs are considered normally indirect and under certain circumstances may be approved as a direct cost.

Prior Approvals and Post Award Changes

To help manage your grant from NSF, NIH, NIFA, Energy, NASA, and Commerce, handy Prior Approval Matrix is maintained that clearly identifies what prior approvals have been waived or retained.
Refer to the following procedures for the following:

Progress Reports and RPPRs

Principal Investigators are responsible for on time submission of annual and final technical progress reports. SPA is responsible for preparing invoices and delivering on-time financial reports. Reporting requirements are usually described in the award document. 

Responsibility for Over Expenditures

Principal Investigators and their respective Department have first line responsibility for managing expenditures within the financial regulations and amounts as specified by the sponsor’s award document.

This includes being responsible for all expenditures that exceed the sponsor’s authorized spending authority or exceed the amount of revenue collected (Over Expenditures).

For sponsored projects the normal remedy is to transfer the over expenditures off from the sponsored project and onto an unrestricted project at the time the over expenditure is discovered.It must be done prior to fiscal close and/or before the final financial report is submitted to the sponsor.

In cases where the Principal Investigators and/or the Department cannot cover the over expenditure, it becomes the responsibility of the College in consultation with the Sponsored Project Administration's Director to resolve the over expenditure.

If the over expenditure is the result an audit disallowance, the corrective action will be determined on a case by case basis by SPA with the help, knowledge, and assistance of the principal investigator, department, college, OVPR, and other appropriate parties.

At the direction of SPA, whether it be by audit disallowance, unrealized cash collected, or otherwise, over expenditures can be covered by using unrestricted funds of the Principal Investigator, the Department and the College.

Close Out

The last step in a sponsored project’s life cycle, whether cost reimbursable or fixed price, is close out.

A key feature of any close out is the on-time submission of all technical, financial, and other required reports to the sponsor. For most, all federal grants and contracts final reports are due no later than 90-calendar days after the expiration date of the award.

Intellectual Property

Inventions developed in whole or in part from sponsored project funding must be disclosed promptly to UVM’s Office of Technology Commercialization  to ensure protections and UVM meets its obligations to sponsors.

Updated 05/24/22