Dan introduced Grant Morton who is the new Coordinator that will be working with the branch campuses, Pharmacy, ICNE, Vet. College, and the Libraries.
Denise informed the group of a revised GRA Matrix with changes in the health insurance. Please see the new form on the web at http://www.ogrd.wsu.edu/budget/bud1.html
Dan discussed the NIH budget and that it is still not signed for the next year. However, the NSF budget was signed and it was increased to $4.4 billion - still shy of NIH's $20 billion budget. We also discussed the outlook for research funding depending on who was elected. Some thoughts are if Bush is elected then defense spending may increase but non-defense spending is something to pay attention. Others think if Gore is elected then research funding will still be part of his agenda because of all his interest in the internet. Still others say that the same agenda will be in place - steady increases.
Dan discussed issues about working with company confidential/proprietary information related to the University's requirements to release information based on the state of Washington Public Disclosure Act, RCW 42.17.250 et seq. http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/rcw.htm It is important that when faculty work with Company's that provide WSU with confidential/proprietary information that a standard WSU Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA http://www.ogrd.wsu.edu/agreement.asp ) is signed and processed through OGRD.
An update on Electronic Research Administration (ERA) was given that simply communicated that the Feds seem to not have this as a priority. OGRD is continuing with its ERA plan in order to submit REX forms electronically and eventually take electronic proposals which then can be forwarded to Sponsors. We are currently updating our databases to incorporate the Feds standard which is the 194 transaction set.
Update on the F&A proposal - Doyle and Adrienne had been with WSU administrators for a couple of weeks and now will be returning on Dec. 11th and 12th again to review the latest information provided by WSU. This has been a big task and Barry is considering that the University go through 2-4 year cycles in order to stay current on this information. The deadline is still 12-31-00 to submit the F&A proposal John Daly is working on the revised DSII and will be presenting that to the University community for input as well as the RAG group - Pat Sturko will keep us up to date on this.
Mary Hoffman updated us on the research administration training that she is coordinating and she is coming along well - trying to coordinate input, speakers, content, OGRD and SPFO, etc. This has been a cooperative effort that support from all areas of the campus community.
Dan Nordquist shared that the standard research agreement was complete and a copy can be found on OGRD's web page (http://www.ogrd.wsu.edu/agreement.asp)
Nancy McMahon brought us up to date on SPFO activities. Trent was hired as an Accountant responsible for billing and reporting. SPFO will soon hire an effort certification person. We discussed the equipment threshold dollar amount and Nancy will give us feedback on the state rules of property inventory vs. the feds threshold of capitalizing equipment.
Kris Boreen discussed the nature of audits and that most audits are looking at higher risk areas.
Dan shared about what the feds thought regarding
No new information on the data warehouse.
Our next meeting is scheduled for December 11th at 9:00 am.