Procedure Library

Award Receipt & Set-up

Purpose

Process a sponsored award to begin charging project expenses.

Applicability

Principal Investigators (PIs) who receive new sponsored funding, and their departmental administrators. The document containing the terms of award may range from a letter agreement to a multi-page contract and may be received in hard copy or electronically. A discrete account (chartfield), commonly called the project number, is set up to track expenditures charged to the award.

For additional information on award receipt, award negotiation, and project set-up, see the Grant Life Cycle step Manage Your Award.

Instructions

1. New sponsored awards are reviewed, negotiated, and accepted by OSP.
   1. OSP negotiates the wording of an award when needed for acceptance by the University. Award terms must be consistent with the University's obligations under State of Utah law as well as University of Utah policies.
2. After the award is accepted, the department will need to submit a request to OSP to establish a project (or clear a preliminary project) via eAward.
3. OSP will process the eAward request and route it to Grants and Contracts Accounting (GCA). GCA will establish a new project or modify an existing project.
4. In order for an investigator to expend funds on an award, a project number for that award is set up by GCA. The project number allows the University to track and report on award-related expenses. See Manage Your Budget.
   
   1. Every award must be associated with an approved Document Summary Sheet (DSS) in eProposal.
      1. See Submit a Proposal Overview procedure.
      2. The proposal should be routed before submission to the sponsor. If the proposal was not routed earlier, it must be routed before a project number can be set up.
   2. Grants and Contracts Accounting (GCA) receives all awards, either from OSP or directly from the sponsor. Either way, OSP is provided the award for processing.
      
      1. New awards and award modifications are provided to the department.
      2. For new awards (versus a modification to an award) the department must initiate a New Award Setup Request in eAward that is routed to OSP.
      3. Award modifications are currently managed outside of eAward. The department must provide OSP with a detailed budget in the recommended format.
      1. Allow 10 business days, from the time OSP has received the request, for the new award or award modification request to be completed.
   3. GCA reviews the financial terms of award and sets up the project number. Sometimes more than one project number is set up for one award.
      1. More than one project number may be set up if multiple departments or schools are collaborating on the project funded by the award. See the Companion Projects procedure.
   4. GCA will notify the PI by via PSNotify email of the project number(s) and other key data.
      1. At this point, the eAward transaction status is updated to 'COMPLETE'. 
      2. The changes should be reflected in Management Reports.
   5. The department is responsible for reviewing the project number and chartfield data, which includes award-related information. The department should notify OSP of any concerns or corrections before any expenses are charged to the project. The following data should be reviewed:
      1. PI name and administrative department contact
      2. Activity type (such as research or instruction)
      3. Responsible department code
      4. Sponsor type
      5. Cost basis (cost reimbursable based on actual expenses or on completion of milestones or deliverables)
      6. Award and budget period dates
      7. Award amount and F&A cost rate
5. When data is reviewed, normal business processes can begin. Charges may begin to be processed for payroll and other approved expenses.

Related Policies and Procedures

• Grant Life Cycle > Manage Your Award > eAward FAQ
• Grant Life Cycle > Manage Your Award
• Grant Life Cycle > Manage Your Budget
• Procedure Library > Preliminary Project Set-up
• Procedure Library > Establish Companion Projects or F&A Distribution