IV. Sponsored Research and Training
As stated in the Statutes, the University participates in research and training sponsored by external sources, within the limitation of its physical and financial capacities, provided the purpose of the programs coincides with the academic aims of the University. It refrains from institutional judgment on the choice or validity of subjects or methods of investigation, referring faculty to standards in their respective disciplines.
What is Sponsored Research?
Sponsored Research* comprises research, training and instructional projects with funding from external sources under agreements which contain one or more of the following:
- Requirements that bind the University, on behalf of one of its members, to a specific line of scholarly or scientific inquiry, usually in response to a formal proposal.
- A line-item budget. Designation of indirect costs qualifies a budget as line-item.
- Financial and/or narrative/technical reports are required.
- The award is subject to external audit.
- Unexpended funds must be returned to the sponsor if unused at the conclusion of the specified term.
- Provision is made for disposition of either tangible (equipment, records) or intangible (data rights, copyrights, inventions) properties.
External support not included in "sponsored research" includes:
- gifts or bequests
- student financial aid
- construction projects submitted to corporations and foundations
- proposals for endowment funds submitted to corporations and foundations
- in general, any support where institutional submission is not required.
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1) Summary of Responsibilities
The Office of Research, reporting to the Vice President for for Academic Affairs, collaborates with the University community to identify, obtain, and administer external funding in support of the University's mission.
University approval and administration of sponsored grant programs is centered in the Office of Research. The Director of Research is the institutional official authorized to sign proposals and sponsored research contracts on behalf of the University.
Faculty members have primary responsibility for preparation of grant proposals and should obtain the necessary approvals for released time, cost-sharing, waiver/reduction of indirect costs, space, etc. Grant proposals that involve courses offering academic credit must be approved by the department chair and dean of the School in which credit is to be awarded. Proposals should be sent to the Office of Research ten days before mailing deadlines. The original (for signature) and one copy (for the Research Office permanent file) should be provided. Once a grant has been made, project directors will receive a budget number from the Controller's Office and be responsible for drawing down funds in accord with the approved grant budget. They should be guided by and monitor monthly expenditure reports issued by the Controller's Office.
The Vice President for Finance and Controller is responsible for fiscal management of grants and contracts, including review and verification of purchase orders, disbursement of grant funds, and submission of final financial reports to the funding agency. This Office is the official custodian of grant funds, establishes and maintains grant accounts, sets up payrolls, and disburses all payment when approved by the budget administrator. Monthly expenditure reports are sent to project directors to inform them of the status of project budgets.
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2) Identifying Sources of Support
The Office of Research can help you in this process. It regularly issues a compilation of funding opportunities with upcoming/ongoing deadlines. It maintains a collection of federal and private sector funding directories, newsletters, and annual reports, and alerts faculty to opportunities where interests are known.
Increasingly important to the identification of support is the internet. Major sources of government support such as NSF, NIH, NEH, the Department of Education and a multitude of others maintain web sites and offer opportunities for downloading descriptive materials, guidelines, and forms. The FEDERAL REGISTER can be accessed at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/.
Major internet funding information available to Fordham faculty include:
- SPIN. The University subscribes to the Sponsored Programs Information Network (SPIN), with internet access available to the University community (where the University computer system is in place). SPIN covers both public and private sectors and is a major provider of funding information worldwide. To search SPIN, the URL address is http://www.infoed.org/.
- FEDEX OPPORTUNITY ALERT SERVICE. The Federal Information Exchange (FEDIX) offers a free funding opportunity alert service to faculty at U.S. universities. Once subscribed, a faculty member will be e-mailed daily targeted research and education funding opportunities from federal agencies. To subscribe, access http://www.fie.com/.
- The Foundation Center. Foundation and corporate use of the internet to describe programs and disseminate guidelines is growing daily. These funding sources can be accessed most readily through The Foundation Center at URL: http://fdncenter.org/.
- Fordham's Development Office maintains special relationships with some foundations and corporations. Where those relationships exist, they should be utilized. However, all sponsored research projects should be approved by the Office of Research before being submitted to an outside funder.
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3) Proposol Preparation
While no one should write a research proposal but the principal investigator, the Office of Research can help with budgets, interpreting guidelines, offering suggestions, and so forth. With institutional proposals, the Director of Research is available to help in focusing ideas, suggesting format, and coordinating among departments and schools.
Most federal agencies have specific application packets with full guidelines/instructions. The Office of Research stocks many of these: National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbrights, Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, etc.
When responding to a Request for proposal or application (RFP/RFA), the principal investigator/project director should forward a copy to the Office of Research as early as possible.
Budgets
Faculty frequently need help with budgets. Budgets should be realistic, neither inflated nor underestimated. A well-justified budget complements the narrative statement of work and enhances reviewer respect for the proposal.
Facilities & Administration (Indirect Costs)
Fordham negotiates a Facilities and Administration or F&A costs* (indirect costs) rate with the federal government, and this rate should be observed whenever an agency will accept it. See the Fact Sheet at page ___ for the current federally-negotiated rate. Fordham's negotiated rate is calculated on a salaries/wages base and includes fringe benefits. When a funder does not provide indirect costs or will not accept the negotiate rate, then such costs should be line items under direct costs (e.g., fringe, space, computer charges, etc.). For example, training grants supported by the federal government usually carry only an 8 percent rate. When indirect costs are permitted by a funder, they may not be waived or reduced without approval (chair/dean and Academic Vice President), which should be in writing and forwarded to the Office of Research along with the proposal. Facilities and Administration are real costs to the institution.
Fringe Benefit rates vary by categories of employee. Current rates are listed on the Fact Sheet at page _???______. These rates must be applied to personnel costs whenever the federally-negotiated rate is not used.
Cost-Sharing is often requested by funders and can be requested from the University or from third parties. No significant cost-sharing may be pledged to projects without specific approval from the appropriate administrative officer(s) (chair, dean, Academic Vice President). Proposals listing cost-sharing must describe how commitments will be met, with a line-item breakdown. Cost-sharing on federal projects is scrutinized in the same fashion as other line items, and is subject to audit verification.
Faculty Compensation on Grants
There are three ways for faculty to claim compensation on grants:
1) Released time. If a principal investigator is carrying a full teaching load of six courses, released time would be calculated at one-sixth of his/her academic year salary for each course release. Appropriate approvals must be obtained to claim released time.
2) Compensation in addition to base salary. A full-time faculty member may claim up to 20 percent of his/her base salary during the academic year as supplemental compensation.
3) Summer compensation. For summer work on grants, faculty may claim one-ninth of their previous academic year's base salary for each summer month worked. It is infrequent that more than two summer months are claimed.
Subcontracts
Many projects involve collaboration with colleagues in other institutions. The usual arrangement for such a collaboration is through a subcontract. Please inform the Office of Research well in advance of a proposal deadline if a subcontract is required. The Director of Research will contact the collaborating institution and negotiate the necessary details prior to submission of a proposal. If an award is forthcoming, the Director of Research will issue subcontracts under grants/contracts on behalf of Fordham and review subcontracts issued to the University by other institutions (in consultation with the Office of Legal Counsel, as needed).
Consultants
If a principal investigator anticipates the need for a consultant, the proposal narrative should provide an appropriate rationale and a justification for the amount of funds requested. University employees should not routinely be used as consultants.
Fordham's Personnel Director issued general procedures, dated October 2, 1996, for hiring a consultant (see Appendix __???_____).
Travel
Travel costs on grant budgets should cover only those activities necessary for the conduct of the project. Such costs should be in line with rates normally allowed by the institution. In other words, the amounts and types of items should be programmatically necessary and csoted properly. The current University established rate for per diem and personal car costs per mile are reviewed annually by the Administration, in consultation with the Faculty Salary and Benefits Committee and the University Research Council. Please consult the Fact Sheet for current rates.
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5) Proposal Submission
Authorized Signature
The Director of Research is the person authorized to sign grant proposals and sponsored research contracts on behalf of the University. Approvals should not be routinely requested from Officers of the University. Deans, Department Chairs, and other University personnel are not authorized to sign sponsored research documents for the University.
Timing
Sponsored research applications should be submitted to the Office of Research ten days prior to program deadline. The package should be as complete as possible, with a budget, human and animal subjects information where applicable, cover sheet and abstract, and required certifications and assurances. It is recognized that the narrative section may not yet be in final form; if that is the case, a draft narrative should be submitted. A full copy of the final submission must then be sent to the Office of Research for its permanent records. At no time will the Director of Research sign a draft, blank or incomplete budget or cover sheet.
Certifications/Assurances
Most federal agencies require the University to sign off on a variety of certifications and assurances. These include: Human Subjects, Vertebrate Animals, Debarment and Suspension, Drug-Free Workplace, Lobbying, Delinquent Federal Debt, Research Misconduct, Civil Rights, Handicapped Individuals, Sex Discrimination, Age Discrimination, Financial Conflict of Interest. These are often verified for the institution by the signature of the official signing for the applicant organization. At other times there will be separate forms, which the Director of Research will sign along with the cover sheet. Some of these certifications are dealt with at length in the Policy Section that follows.
NSF Fastlane Submission
Electronic Research Administration (ERA) has been under pilot study with a number of universities for many years. The major federal funders have gradually been allowing institutions to conduct some aspects of their grant and contract business electronically. And total electronic interaction with federal agencies will be the preferred method in the not-too-distant future.
"Fastlane" is the National Science Foundation's experiment with ways of using the World Wide Web to facilitate business transactions and the exchange of information with its constituency -- researchers, reviewers, research administrators, etc. While a small group of institutions nationwide are assisting NSF in the design and evaluation of Fastlane, many features on this website are now open to any registered Fastlane institution. Fordham is registered to use Fastlane.
One of the features available through Fastlane is electronic submission of proposals to NSF. Faculty in the disciplines funded by NSF (basic, behavioral and social sciences) who are interested in submitting to NSF via Fastlane should apply to the Office of Research for a PIN number. The principal investigator will then prepare the proposal on the Fastlane system, and the Director of Research will review and submit the proposal electronically.
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6) Post-Award Administration
Assignment of University Budget Number
When the Office of Research is notified of an award, it forwards to the Controller's Office a copy of the Notice of Award and the approved grant budget, together with a signed transmittal form. The Controller's Office then assigns a budget number to the grant and communicates it to the Principal Investigator. The PI can then send requests for disbursement (salary and stipend requests, purchase orders, etc.) in accord with the approved budget to the Controller's Office for verification and payment. The PI receives monthly expenditure reports from the Controller's Office, and should monitor them to assure they are in accord with his/her own accounts.
Expenditures Under Grants
Project Directors should be aware of Federal Circular A-21, "Cost Principles for Educational Institutions." This Circular establishes allowable costs under grants and outlines documentation required to sustantiate sponsored project expenditures.
Copies of Circular A-21 are available from the Controller's Office (Frank McCue). Notes prepared by Frank McCue highlighting relevant portions of A-21 follow in Appendix _??___.
Interim and final financial reports to the funding agency are prepared by the Controller's Office.
Billing on Grants
Billing granting agencies for obligations owed the University is the responsibility of the Controller's Office.
Hiring Personnel on Grants
Many proposal budgets indicate staff positions to be filled if a grant is made. Categories of employee might include technicians, research assistants, clerical support. A proposal should never be submitted to a funder with key personnel to be appointed.
If an award is forthcoming, principal investigators should follow the normal procedure for hiring approvals; namely, send a memo with funding background to the department chair or Dean, who in turn will initiate the hiring process with the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Agency-Specific Terms and Conditions
Some of the large federal agencies have their own manuals for administering awards. These include the "Grant Policy Manual" of the National Science Foundation; the "Grants Policy Statement" of the Public Health Service; and the "Education Department General Administrative Regulations" (EDGAR). Copies of these manuals are available for reference in the Office of Research.
Private funders such as foundations, on the other hand, will often incorporate their terms and conditions in the award letter. In formal grant programs, these will usually always include narrative and financial reports. Filing required narrative/technical reports is the responsibility of the principal investigator.
