Life Cycle of a Sponsored Award

About OSP

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) provides and facilitates research administration services at the University of Virginia to advance our research, educational, service, and patient care missions. 

The Pre-Award team collaborates with Principal Investigators and their teams to review and submit proposals for sponsored research. The Pre-Award team negotiates non-industry grant or cooperative agreements, incoming and outgoing subawards, and accepts awards on behalf of the University per UVA’s policy FIN-036OSP Pre-Award in collaboration with School Pre-Award teams that have delegated proposal submitting authorities also establishes financial accounts for sponsored awards and manages non-financial post award functions such as seeking sponsor approval for a no cost extension, re-budgeting, change in scope of work, change in key personnel, adding a new subrecipient and others.

The Contracts team negotiates contracts, including clinical trials, funding agreements, and non-funded contracts, such as material transfer agreements, data use agreements, and non-disclosure agreements.

Upon award execution, the Post-Award team provides comprehensive service in financial award management, compliance, and audit. OSP Post-Award is responsible for submitting invoices and financial reports to sponsors, reviewing and approving cost transfers related to sponsored programs and ensuring compliance with payroll allocation confirmation for activities performed. The Post-Award team ensures the University is compliant with other special financial compliance requirements, such as tracking and reporting of cost sharing, program income and other special award requirements. The Post-Award team is also responsible for overseeing cash management functions, such as letter of credit draws, depositing and receipting payments, and following up on transactions, such as outstanding receivables and bank reconciliations. All financial audits related to Sponsored Programs, including the Single Audit by Virginia Department of Auditors, are coordinated by the Post-Award team.

Unit-level research administrators provide administrative support to the PIs. They are responsible for setting up payroll allocations, entering purchase requisitions and other reimbursement requests, and working with central offices such as Student Financial Services, Fixed Assets, Procurement and OSP. They are also responsible for monthly reconciliations of sponsored projects via the financial system and process cost corrections when necessary. The Schools of Engineering and Applied Science, Medicine, and Education and Human Development are authorized to review and submit proposals and perform other proposal related activities.

If assistance is needed regarding a sponsored project, please contact your OSP organization representative.

Grant Process Information

As part of our commitment to providing excellent support, our website has been designed to follow the life cycle of an Award to UVA from external entities for UVA projects and programs.  It is our hope that you will find the resources and tools you need to assist you with administrative requirements and related questions, and we invite you to contact us directly if you need further assistance

The main stages of the life cycle are identified are also listed below.  

Send a question to osp-help@virginia.edu. We're happy to help!