joint meeting: department grant administrators budget managers january 26, 2011

Joint Meeting:Department Grant Administrators

Budget Managers

January 26, 2011

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Joint DGA and BM Community Meeting

Meeting Objectives

• Review Key Process Change Proposal

• Discuss the Impact to YOUR ROLE

• Receive Feedback and Further Ideas

• Review Communication Plan and Timeline

Proposed Key Process Change

Streamline the Purchase Service Agreement execution process to balance efficiency and risk.

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ORSA will continue to review a sub-set of purchase agreements at the pre-execution stage as in the current process:• Purchase Orders

– ORSA will continue to review all Purchase Orders in excess of $5,000

• Agreements using ARRA funds– ORSA will continue to review all agreements involving the use of funding from the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

• Purchase Service Contracts (PSCs) totaling more than $25,000– ORSA will review all other PSCs and amendments with a cumulative value in

excess of $25,000 for the first time

• Procurement agreements estimated over the $25K threshold prior to competitive procurement and public posting

• Any PSCs or agreements with irregularities

Proposed Key Process ChangeDetails of the ORSA Review

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Can you give us some examples?• ORSA would review a new PO for $6,000• ORSA would not review a new PO for $3,000


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Can you give us some examples?• ORSA would review a new PSC agreement for $30,000• ORSA would not review a new PSC agreement of $15,000• ORSA would review an amendment to the previous agreement for

$20,000– Total amount of $35K ($15K + $20K)

• ORSA would not review a third amendment to the previous agreements of $10K– $25K threshold has already been passed and review conducted


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Can you give us some examples?• ORSA would review a requisition for $50,000 prior to competitive

procurement and public posting• ORSA would not review a contract resulting from this posting as the

elements of the agreement have already been reviewed


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How will the role of ORSA, PCS, DGA & PI be impacted by the change?• ORSA currently reviews PSCs and other agreements to verify:

– Agreement dates are within the Award Period– Funding is available to cover the agreement– The purchase is allowable, allocable, reasonable, and consistently treated

• PIs & DGAs are and will continue to be accountable for ensuring grant purchases are allowable, allocable reasonable and consistently treated

• PIs/DGAs continue to be responsible for accurately completing paperwork and documentation when requesting purchase agreements

• Purchasing and Contracting Services’ standard review will be expanded to include verification of dates and availability of funding

• ORSA is and will continue to serve as a resource– If a unit has a question about allowability or appropriate charging, they are always

encouraged to work with ORSA to resolve their concerns


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Why is this change being proposed?• During Phase I of the Huron Post-Award Assessment, the

processing and turnaround time for grant contracts and purchasing agreements was highlighted as a primary pain-point for the campus

• ORSA does and will continue to review the impact of these contracts on sponsored projects during various stages of the award life-cycle:– Banner Invoice Queue– Regular reconciliation of awards– Financial reporting– Invoicing

• Limiting review, at this part of the lifecycle only, allows ORSA to better focus time and effort at critical points when transactions are taking place.


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What if something is questioned or determined to be unallowable?• The current process integrates allowability and charging

documentation into the ORSA file. This documentation should always be kept and made available by the unit in case of an audit or other follow-up questions

• If a charge resulting from a contract is determined to be unallowable, the unit will be notified immediately in order to identify a new source of funding and/or cancel services.

• The unit is expected to cover all disallowed charges.


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What about flow-down Terms & Conditions?• PCS will update the standard UO agreement templates and forms to

incorporate applicable Federal Regulations and flow-down terms into all agreements

• ORSA will identify unique Terms & Conditions that may need to be flowed down as part of purchasing agreements when incoming grants and contracts are reviewed– An extremely small number of awards have unique, unordinary T&C that will need

to be identified and flowed down (1 / 150 awards)

• The unit (DGA and PI) will be notified of these T&C when an incoming award is received and set-up

• When a new purchase agreement is requested, the unit will send the flow-down T&C along with all other paperwork to PCS to be incorporated into the executed agreement


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What does this process change mean for us?• The PSC process will, in general, be more efficient by limiting the

ORSA review• DGAs and PIs generally know and understand what agreements are

allowable and appropriate for execution on their sponsored awards and PIs remain responsible for the overall award management, so minimal change should be perceived from a unit perspective

• To ensure smooth processing by PCS, be sure agreement paperwork and intake sheets are completed properly including Sponsored Award Index Number and dates

• Units will be responsible for tracking and forwarding special (and minimal) Terms and Conditions along with agreement paperwork

Focus on the Department Grant Administrators and Budget Managers

Feedback and Questions?

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Communication & Timeline Plan • Propose the change during today’s joint meeting• Further discuss the proposed process and answer questions during

the 1/27 PCS Research Office Hours and 2/8 DGA Community Meeting

• Issue a communication to the Principal Investigator community emphasizing Roles & Responsibilities

• Have further informal discussions and gather feedback through February 14th

• Issue a final process communication the week of 2/14• Go-Live on February 21st


joint meeting: department grant administrators budget managers january 26, 2011

Documents