| August-9-2004
meeting - items discussed:
OGRD
ITEMS DISCUSSED:
1.
FY 2004 Award Numbers
There
was $151 Million in awards during Fiscal Year 2004; this is
a 21% increase over last year. We processes 8.4% more awards,
a total of 1,837 awards during FY 04. The number of proposals
in FY 04 decreased by 3.9% for a total of 1,965.
Top
sponsors for Fiscal Year 2004 were as follows:
(1)
DHHS (95 awards, $20 Million)
(2)
State Governments (235 awards, $18 Million)
(3)
USDA
(4)
DOD
(5)
DOE
(6)
Federal Flow Through Awards
(7)
NSF
22,000
items were logged in the OGRD Database for FY 04. There were
40 awards over $500,000 each for a total of $51 Million; this
is a 53% increase in large awards over last year.
2.
Research Compliance Issues
There
has been a huge increase in compliance issues over the course
of the last year including: Human Subjects, Bio Safety, Dual
Use Technology, IACUC, AFIS Permits, Plant/Human Inspection
Permits, Export Control.
The
RAC Committee would like to have Dave Clark, Compliance Officer,
attend meetings in order to provide updates of compliance
issues as needed for keeping current on these issues. It was
suggested that Compliance be a regular agenda item for RAC
meetings with a “no news at this time” message if there are
no updates. It was also noted that this should be a joint
OGRD/SPS Agency Item as this is both a Pre and Post Award
issue.
3.
Revisions to NSF General Proposal Guidelines
Significant
changes to the NSF GPG inclue: (1) New section including invofmation
for new and seasoned PIs; (2) Outline pertaining to proper
authorship attribution for the grantee; (3) Electronic Grant
Management and Reporting.
Please
make sure that PIs are award that proposals must meet with
guidelines of the GPG. Many recent proposals have been returned
by NSF (either without review or for modification); font size
and/or margin errors have been the most common reason for
return.
The
GPG revision, (NSF publication # 04-23) is available on the
NSF web site: http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?gpg
4.
Limited Submissions and Other Items on the NEW
WSU Informer
Sections
of the Online WSU Informer include: News, Awards, Funding
Opportunities, and Training & Education.
Please
contact OGRD if something should be added to News section
(RFP Changes, Effort Certification Updates, etc).
Awards
that are new in the last 30 days will be posted in the Awards
section and listed by PI, Department, Sponsor Name, Flow Through
Agency (if applicable), and Award Amount.
Funding
Opportunities will be posted including Internal Competitions,
Limited Submission Information, State of Washington (WTC,
etc) and other Awards not covered by the Community of Sciences
listserv. A Limited Submission section has been added listing
information for internal competitions related to limited submission
solicitations. This section lists both internal WSU and external
agency deadlines and information. Information to be posted
to this page will also be emailed to Associate Deans, Deans,
and faculty with research expertise matching the research
topic of the proposal solicitation.
Training
& Education Workshops schedule will also be posted as
part of the web-based Informer. The online Informer will be
updated regularly so it is important to check this resource
on a regular basis in order to stay informed.
http://www.ogrd.wsu.edu/limited.asp
http://informer.ogrd.wsu.edu/
5.
Sharepoint Discussion
OGRD
is in the process of looking into using MS Share Point Services
Software in order to process electronic REX forms, Award Routing
and other items to expedite these processes. OGRD welcomes
feedback from any area that has used this softward and suggestions
on how to best incorporate it’s use into daily operations.
This software is a File Management Collaboration Tool which
allows a document to be looked at, discussed and edited by
a group of users.
The
Cancer Prevention Research Center and College of Pharmacy
have both been using Share Point.
There
is no cost for this software as it is a back in to MS Office,
but there is a cost (fee) associated with server support if
needed. Users must have MS Office 2000 or newer to view and
share items posted on Share Point. Users must have MS Office
2003 or newer for Share Point Software option.
6.
OGRD Updates
Andrea
Comley has moved to Spokane and will be continuing to operate
as OGRD’s Conracting Officer from an office at WSU Spokane.
Please be patient with us as we complete this transition.
SPS
ITEMS DISCUSSED:
1.
Service Center BPPM
SPS
handed out the latest draft to the Service Center BPPM for
review and comment by the WSU Research Community. Please contact
Lori Selby with comments. This draft will be on the agenda
for discussion at the next RAC Meeting. The biggest change
to this policy is the addition to specific guidelines and
directions defining a Service Center as well as adding more
efficient and intuitive forms (example: Service Center Questionaire).
SPS will be providing example spreadsheets for calculating
rates on their website. Brad Bailey can assist departments
when developing rates for new Service Centers. Service Centers
have been moved to SPS from Revenue as they are integral to
F&A Rate Determination.
Dan
Nordquist commented that the inclusion of overhead for service
centers will need to be monitored more closely. The addition
to the F&A question on the Service Center Questionaire
will assist in determinations regarding service center fees
on awards with restrictions to F&A.
2.
SPS Updates
SPS
is in the process of hiring 3 new accountants; Craig Meyers
left WSU to work for the IRS, Christy Gilchrist accepted an
assessment job on the east coast and Linda Wilson accepted
a position in the College of Veterinary Medicine . Julie Lusby
has been hired to replace Craig Meyers and will begin after
Labor Day. SPS is currently in the search process for the
other two accountant positions.
SPS
is in the process of reviewing applications. A very strong
pool of candidates, both internal and external, have applied
for the Grant & Contract Manager position.
3.
SPS Tip of the Month
Please
put the program number on requests for account close out.
This will greatly help reduce the time it takes to process
these requests.
OTHER
ITEMS DISCUSSED:
1.
Graduate Student Fellowship Insurance
Graduate
Student Medical Insurance is a continuing issue. If it is
known in advance that a graduate student will be on stipend
we need to try to work with the agency to get permission to
appoint them to an Research Assistantship if at all possible.
The Graduate School is still in the process of trying to find
a way for all graduate students on assistantships and fellowships
to get the same benefits as research assistants. The Graduate
School will be asked to provide an update at the next meeting.
The
next RAC Meeting will be Monday, September 13, 2004 at 9:10
am.
Jen
Raupp
Grant
& Contract Coordinator
OGRD
|