Below is a continuation of last week’s blog on questions that came in after NCURA’s December 18, 2019 webinar on Uniform Guidance (UG). Part I addressed general UG questions and questions around cost allowability. Part II, below, addresses questions around effort reporting, F&A costs, participant support costs, purchasing requirements and subaward processes.

EFFORT REPORTING

Who should complete a Time and Effort form?

The Principal Investigator or the person with first-hand knowledge of the people performing the effort on a project should complete time and effort statements.

Does Uniform Guidance dictate how effort is distributed, either on a calendar year basis or academic/summer? Some departments distribute only academic salaries during the academic year and only research during summer months. Is this reasonable if research is doing research all year long?

Uniform Guidance does not dictate how effort is distributed. It only dictates that effort represents all duties for which an employee is compensated under their appointment type (Institutional Base Salary (IBS)).

A question regarding effort reporting: We have US and European Union (EU) projects. EU projects require detailed timesheets, with work spent on the project recorded by the hour each day. Our current effort reporting for US projects records commitment as % cal. months of effort. Is it acceptable for an institution to have 2 different types of effort reporting depending on the funder?

Although the Uniform Guidance does not specifically address how to complete effort reporting, one of the underlying tenants is consistency. Therefore we do not believe you should have different effort reporting systems based on different funders.

F&A

How should we handle tiered F&A rates for proposals and then when awarded?

Charge the rates that are listed in the rate agreement that is in place at the time of the award. If that agreement has tiered rates, propose and charge tiered rates. See 2 CFR 200 Appendix III, C7, “Fixed Rates for the Life of the Sponsored Agreement.”

If the sponsor doesn’t allow F&A on the prime award, can the subrecipient include F&A in the subaward?

No, unallowable is unallowable to the prime and any subrecipients.

PARTICIPANT SUPPORT COSTS

What are some best practices for participant support? Can you address participant costs and how everyone treats them differently?

Follow the Uniform Guidance definition of “participant support costs.” According to 2 CFR 200.75, participant support costs mean direct costs for items such as stipends or subsistence allowances, travel allowances, and registration fees paid to or on behalf of participants or trainees (but not employees) in connection with conferences, or training projects.

Include participant support costs in the proposal budget and justification for prior approval. Most sponsors will ask that you provide the number of participants and segregate costs into stipends, subsistence, travel, and other participant support costs.

What if the speaker is also a participant at the conference?

If the speaker is receiving a stipend or honorarium for speaking, budget the funds under “Other,” not under participant support.

Should research subject monetary incentives be listed under participant support costs?

No, it should be budgeted under “Other” direct costs.

Why wasn’t the human subject not consider a participant, if they are a participant in the study? Could you please clarify why the human subject is not a participant support cost, in the case especially where the subjects are not associated with the institution?

Human subjects or research subjects provide something to the research project such as data or information. Participants do not provide something to the research, rather they are receiving training or education. Human/research subjects are not receiving any training as thus are not considered participants.

Incentives for human subject involvement should be budgeted under “Other” direct costs.

Can you clarify the allowability of meal payments on Participant Support Costs (i.e., catering costs aren’t allowed (right?), but what types of meal payments would be allowed)? What about meals, like hotel catering at a workshop/conference? Is that participant support?

Generally, room rental fees and catering costs should not be budgeted under participant support costs. You can, however, provide participants a meal stipend. You can also provide boxed meals per participant and include these charges under participant support costs. You just need to have a way to document that only the participants are receiving the meal or meal allowance and that non-participants are not.

Could you clarify whether a participant can or cannot be paid on the same grant or for the same time frame?

If you mean whether a participant can be paid as both a participant and employee on the same grant, then generally no. For example, a student cannot be compensated partially as an employee and as a participant on the same NSF award. The institution should decide how the student is to be paid based on their role in the project.

Does special consideration need to be given to participants from foreign countries?

Check agency guidelines. Also, you might want to consult with your institution on how you will pay foreign participants if you are reimbursing them for expenses.

Although the Uniform Guidance says Participant Support Costs (PSC) is an exclusion, it seems our F&A rate agreement does not explicitly state that: “Modified total direct costs shall exclude equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, student tuition remission, rental costs of off-site facilities, scholarships, and fellowships as well as the portion of each subaward and subcontract in excess of $25,000.” Would it not be included in our rate agreement in the definition of Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC)?

Prior to Uniform Guidance, we consulted the sponsor guidelines and our rate agreement regarding the exclusion of participant support from indirect cost calculation. Some agreements explicitly stated the exclusion, others did not. Uniform Guidance includes participant support as an exclusion, so it should be excluded. See 2 CFR 200.68.

What about Faculty Fellows from other universities?

Faculty fellows are not participants. Funds to pay them should be budgeted under “Other” direct costs.

What was the date of the NSF newsletter that address participant support costs?

May 2017. https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/newsletter/may_2017.pdf

What about summer students that are not employees?

It depends on their role on the NSF grant. If they are getting paid to do research, they are not participants. If they are part of experiential learning through an NSF program, like the NSF REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program, then they are a participant.

How do you pay a student under an REU program?

Neither the Uniform Guidance nor NSF dictates how institutions pay students under the REU, whether through student payroll or through another mechanism. NSF is quite clear, however, that students should be budgeted as participants.

I have a big problem with 11 sites across the state who are our subrecipients and trying to specify what is and is not allowable as far as office supplies used for general office or for program-specific, such as pens and Clorox wipes and hand sanitizers. Any advice for these situations?

Cite 2 CFR 200.413 and 2 CFR 200.453 and ask that they justify allocability to the project and ensure the costs are not being recovered under F&A.

PURCHASING

Can you provide an update on the Purchasing section, specifically the micro purchase threshold and simplified threshold? When did the micro-purchase threshold change?  Where is this found?

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-18-18 issued June 20, 2018, increased the micro-purchase threshold to $10,000 and the simplified acquisition threshold to $250,000.

Can you discuss how to handle MRI equipment acquisition under Uniform Guidance rules when an item is over simple acquisition threshold?

According to an NSF MRI (Major Research Instrumentation) Program solicitation, the inclusion of representative, itemized vendor quotes is required for all MRI proposals. Although a proposal might reference and have a quote(s) for a specific make and model, the proposer is reminded that his/her organization’s approved procurement processes must be utilized in the event of an award to establish the appropriate item(s) to be purchased and that applicable procurement standards for institutions of higher education and other non-profit organizations are described in 2 CFR 215.40-48.

Does the Uniform Guidance mention anything about transactions over 90 days?

The Uniform Guidance does not have any specific reference to transactions over 90 days. Cost transfers must be processed in a timely manner but the federal government does not define “timely.” The industry standard for cost transfers is 90 days. The UG does reference 90 days when talking about pre-award spending authorization, the due date for final reports; but nothing specific with regards to transactions.

What are your thoughts on electronic record-keeping versus paper? In the event of an audit are electronic receipts okay?

Electronic receipts have held up under audit.

On a federal level, would you still need to print out the papers to hand over or could you do it electronically?

You can do it electronically, though you may want to ensure you are only allowing access to the documents in question via the system.

I thought you couldn’t do a fixed-price agreement over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold of $250K?

Uniform Guidance Methods of Procurement to be followed (2 CFR 200.320) indicates for items over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold procurement can be through:

Sealed Bids – “Bids are publicly solicited and a firm fixed prices contact (lump sum or unit price) is awarded … “ (2 CFR 200.320(c))

Competitive Proposals – “…conducted with more than one source submitting an offer, and either a fixed-price or cost-reimbursement type contract is awarded.” (2 CFR 200.320(d))

If this is a subaward, then you need to reference 2 CFR 200.332 which states a pass-through entity may provide subawards based on fixed amounts up to the Simplified Acquisition Threshold.

SUBAWARDS

If a for-profit entity is “intimately involved” and providing “ongoing guidance,” on a project, would it be appropriate to classify them as a subrecipient? Or could you give an example of when it might be appropriate to classify them as a subrecipient if all other indicators point to “contractor”?

If the for-profit is performing part of the scope of work or directing the project then likely it is a subrecipient. Any time there is control in the design or conduct of the research you are likely looking at a subrecipient arrangement. Contractors provide goods and services in support of the research but do not participate in the research design itself.

Under expanded authorities, it was my understanding that we only need prior approval on adding a foreign sub?

All subs require prior approval unless the Federal program says differently. We get that prior approval by including the sub budget in the proposal. If we add a sub at or after the award stage, then we may have to go back to the agency or may not. It depends on expanded authorities, and not all programs have expanded authorities.

In cases when we elect to use a negotiated rate (between pass-through entity and sub-recipient), is there any guidance on how this rate is determined?

You can elect to use the de minimus rate of 10% (8% for foreign subs on an NIH award) if the pass-through entity has never had a negotiated F&A rate. Otherwise, no guidance is given in the Uniform Guidance on negotiating a rate between entities.

Is prior approval needed for Co-Investigator (Co-I) at the subrecipient institution changing effort more than 24.99% if they are not listed as a key on the Notice of Award (NOA) but are key in the proposals?

Prior approval is needed for PD/PI and other Senior/Key personnel names in the NOA, though some NOAs do not list the sub-personnel. We would likely err on the side of caution and request approval for a change in effort 25% or greater for a Co-I, even if that Co-I is not named in the NOA.

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For more Uniform Guidance FAQs, visit: https://cfo.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/July2017-UniformGuidanceFrequentlyAskedQuestions.pdf

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Blog post by Tricia Callahan, Senior Research Education and Information Officer, Office of Sponsored Programs and Shannon Sutton, Director of Sponsored Projects, Western Illinois University