Procedure for Residual Balance Transfer on Fixed Price Sponsored Awards
Procedure: 8-16
Effective: December 31, 2019
Latest Review: January 19, 2021
Owner: Office of Sponsored Programs
Scope
The University’s mission is not to make profits from research projects and ensure consistency in estimating, reporting and recording costs across all sponsored projects. When the University negotiates a fixed price contract with a sponsor, the costs for the project are based on true estimation of PI and other personnel’s salary and fringe, supplies, travel, core lab usage, patient care and other costs, Thus, if costs are charged to a fixed price contract, there will be minimal unspent balance available for transferring out to PI and/or departmental account.
This procedure defines the process for the handling of residual balances on fixed price sponsored program awards.
Attachments: Residual Balance Transfer Form
Roles and Responsibilities
Principal Investigator
The Principal Investigator is responsible for completing the Residual Funds form with the assistance of the fiscal contact. The PI is responsible for certifying that all fiscal and programmatic obligations to the project and sponsor have been met. The PI is responsible for following applicable University policies and procedures for the expenditure of unrestricted residual funds.
Fiscal Contacts
Fiscal Contacts are responsible for assisting the PI with the completion of the Residual Funds form and for the reconciliation and cleanup of any issues with the awards. Fiscal Contacts will review costs posted on residual grant accounts and assist the PI with the recon@ process.
School/Departmental Administrators
Departmental Administrators are responsible for reviewing and endorsing information on the Residual Funds form. School Administrators are responsible for reviewing and approving the request made by the Residual Funds form.
Award Manager on Residual Award (RG)
The Award Manager is responsible for following all University policies and procedures for the managing the residual funds- regular state restrictions on expenditures apply to residual funds. Deficits on residual awards need to be reviewed and corrective actions taken to address overdrafts by the Award Managers.
Office of Sponsored Programs
The Office of Sponsored Program is responsible for processing the requests made on the Residual Funds form and retains the option to ask for further review when warranted. OSP is responsible for establishing the accounts and processing cost transfer batch to move the funds out of the sponsored research award to the RG award.
Definitions
Residual Balances - Any remaining cash balances, not due back to the sponsor, after verification that all allocable costs were accurately charged to the project, deliverables accepted by the sponsor and final payment has been received. Note that regular state restrictions on expenditures apply to unrestricted residual funds.
Procedure Steps
Fixed price sponsored programs are subject to institutional review and reconciliation processes, including monthly expenditure reconciliation via recon@ and semi-annual salary distribution review via the effort certification process.
Once all expenditures are charged to the fixed price sponsored award and full payment received from the sponsor, a Residual Fund Transfer form may be submitted to OSP. Residual balances less than $200 will be transferred to the OSP closeout account and the award will be closed per existing award closeout procedure.
By certifying the Residual Transfer Form, the principal investigator confirms completion of all fiscal and programmatic obligations to the project and to the sponsor. The completed Form is submitted to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) by the PI or the Department.
OSP Post Award reviews the form to ensure the information provided reconcile to University records and includes certification from appropriate personnel. OSP establishes a residual PATEO, and transfers the residual balance from the sponsored account to the residual account. Only one RG award is established for each dean’s office, department and individual investigator. The ORG assigned to the investigator is same as the PI’s home organization.
The residual balance from a fixed price sponsored award includes unspent amounts from the direct cost categories and associated unspent F&A costs. While the balance in the direct cost categories is transferred in its entirety as an expenditure credit (Residual Transfer) to the PI’s RG award, the balance in the F&A is not transferred in total to the PI. Instead, OSP calculates a fee based on the F&A rate applied to the award, using the total direct cost base and distributes this amount to the Dean’s Office (25%), Department/Unit (25%) and OSP (50%). In cases where the award is set up with no F&A or F&A less than 10%, a minimum of 10% fee based on TDC will be assessed.
In the case of RG awards, Departmental Administrators are responsible for reviewing expenditures to ensure they are appropriate for state funds and take immediate action to address overdrafts. The RG awards should always remain in a positive cash position. Award Managers is also responsible for closing out the RG PTAEO as appropriate.