Office of

Grant and Research Development

10-February-2003 meeting - items discussed:

We all introduced ourselves because of some new faces.

  1. OGRD News:
    • Update on the Contracting Officer Search. There are two candidates being interviewed, one happened last week to be finished up on the 14th. The other candidate is scheduled for Feb. 13th. Dan is hoping to have someone in the position by April 1st.

  2. SPS News:
    • It was announced that Nancy McMahon was promoted to A/P.
    • Mike Harmon was introduced as a new Grant/Contract Specialist - Account Setup
    • Craig Mayers started January 2nd as an Accountant doing all fed flow-through, 11W and 12W. This is a change to how the process was originally managed.

  3. Technology Update:
    • Research Administrators may register on the OGRD Gateway under https://gateway.ogrd.wsu.edu/ (updates, edits, and checks are happening through the design phase and may delay your registration, however, be patient and you will be added). Andrea Comley from OGRD will provide training on the database on Feb. 26th.
    • SPS and OGRD continued the joint effort (As well as a department person for departmental input) to streamline the technology issues related to account setup. Dan gave an update on the Demo site and discussed the need for the internally approved to have included costs by object as well as a reconciliation of the F&A costs, which is helpful for the accountants. This will be brought up later as an example of what is needed. The demo site is at http://demo.ogrd.wsu.edu for those of you who want to view the progress. The working groups consists of Lori Selby, Nancy McMahon, Brenda Carlson, Monte Sutton, Mike King, and Dan Nordquist.

  4. Meeting Reports (No meeting information to report)

  5. Policies/Guidelines/Procedures Information
    • Lori Selby from SPS communicated a couple of business process changes that are happening in the SPS. The first deals with the check receipting process. The original process included a check out system, hand-writing of items, etc. The new process includes an electronic macro spreadsheet and using remittance advices. The important note is that the process went from 1 hour (at times) down to 15 or 20 minutes. Secondly internal approvals (SPAR forms) have undergone a process change. Originally the forms followed this process - Accountants, Joan Root, Darlene Miller, Joan Root, file. The new process will be Accountants to Nancy McMahon. This will allows the staff to be more devoted to account setup issues. The group praised the efforts of SPS for these changes. They also brought up the need to streamline some rebudgeting processes even more - possibly even putting it on the web - some barriers were the validity of electronic signatures.
    • Tom Kelly brought up a point regarding the ability to have a blanket guaranty for federal and non-federal grants that were executed and already on campus. This is a potential option, however, all are hoping that the business process changes and the technology efficiencies will have these types of accounts setup in less than 10 days.
    • Account setup threshold - this was discussed and feedback was provided by the RAC. OGRD and SPS will institute the following thresholds when setting up accounts.
    • For grant (not contract) awards up to $500,000 for a budget period with federal (including NIH modulars) and non-federal sponsors that include rebudgeting authority then apply the following:
      1. If the award amount is less than a 2% change from proposal then OGRD will automatically rebudget out of or into supplies (if not available then salaries and benefits)
      2. If the award amount is 2% or greater but less than a 4% change from the proposal then request a revised budget from the department and ask that it be returned within 3 days. If the revised budget is not returned within three days then OGRD will automatically rebudget out of or into supplies (if not available then salaries and benefits)
      3. If the award amount is 4% or greater but less than a 10% change from the proposal then request a revised budget from the department.
      4. If the award amount is a 10% change or greater from the proposal then OGRD needs to work with the PI (and department) to discuss the issues related to these substantive changes and potentially work with the sponsor for revisions, based on National Science Board SB Policy Statement effective 4-1-03.

  6. Other News:
    • NCURA Video Conference information
    • Subawards and Sucontracts - March 4, 2003
    • Exploring the Lifecycle of Costs: Budget to Audit - June 24, 2003
    • A Primer on Intellectual Property for the Research Administrator - September 16, 2003

  7. Our next meeting is scheduled for March 10th with the location and time to be determined.

    8. Dan Nordquist
    Director
    OGRD

Contact us: ogrd@wsu.edu Phone: 509-335-9661 FAX: 509-335-1676 Accessibility | Copyright | Policies
Office of Grant and Research Development P.O. Box 643140
Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-3140 USA