To Pre-Spend, or not to Pre-Spend? That is the Question

Pre-award Spending Pre-award expenditures (aka pre-award costs) are costs incurred prior to the effective date of an award. For federal awards, pre-award expenditures are allowed only with the written approval of the Federal awarding agency. Under Uniform Guidance (2 CFR § 200.458), federal agencies are authorized to waive prior written approvals, and some federal and […]

You’ve Got Mail

Hello CSU! Welcome to my first blog attempt as your new Training and Information Coordinator in the Office of Sponsored Programs. I am Kathryn O’Hayre and join Colorado State after 11 years in Sponsored Programs Administration at CU Boulder in both Central and Departmental Administration. From those various perspectives, I have a few strategies to […]

Back to the Basics of Allowability

Uniform Guidance (2 CFR § 200.403) establishes standards for the allowability of costs (aka “Cost Principles”) that can be charged to a federally funded sponsored project. These Cost Principles, along with sponsor and applicant requirements, should form the basis for determining if a cost can be charged to a federal award.      For a […]

KR PD Approver Roles Refresher

Approval is an important and required step in the routing process of a Kuali Research Proposal Development record. In addition to the approvals of the key personnel, CSU requires approval by authorized department and college representatives. Some departments also require proposal pre-approval by a business official. KR PD Approver Roles: Department Pre-Approver This is an […]

KR PD Roles Refresher

Access to KR PD records is handled three ways: • The system allows the person who creates a KR PD record to open it in view or edit mode, and allows named key personnel to open in view mode.• The person who creates a KR PD record or another proposal aggregator can assign proposal-specific view […]

KR PD Budget – Total Direct Costs (TDC) F&A Type

When a sponsor restricts indirect costs, it is usually to a percentage of total direct costs with no F&A exemptions for budget line items like equipment or tuition. For this budgeting situation, the F&A Type for the KR PD budget must be changed to TDC in the Budget Settings lightbox, and then the Applicable Rate […]

Subaward Administration at CSU – Subaward Monitoring & Invoicing

Subaward administration is a shared responsibility at CSU, and Principal Investigators (PIs) are responsible for monitoring subrecipient activities and expenditures. Prior to approving a subrecipient invoice, the PI should ensure that the subrecipient is meeting the award performance expectations, terms, and conditions as well as ensuring expenditures are reasonable for the work performed.   If […]

Subaward Administration at CSU – Subaward Initiation & Oversight

Subaward administration is a shared responsibility at CSU. When an award containing a subrecipient is fully executed, the Principal Investigator (PI) is responsible for submitting a ‘PI Request to Initiate Subaward’ to the appropriate OSP senior/research administrator (S/RA). After reviewing the request, the OSP S/RA submits all required subaward documents to the OSP Subaward Team. […]

Assistantships vs Fellowships

When developing sponsored budgets, careful consideration should be taken to properly categorize employees as graduate research assistants or fellows. Proper categorization impacts fringe benefits, tuition remission, and allowable costs for each, and ensures that students receive the Institutional benefits to which they are entitled. Assistantships provide salaries for specific work to be conducted. At CSU, […]

Project Titles

The title of a grant proposal is the first chance to woo peer reviewers. Investigators often create a title that is creative and innovative, while aptly describing the nature of the project. While proposal titles should be relevant and results-driven, such as “TESTY: Testing the Effects of Saccharin on Testosterone-Y,” titles must also conform to […]