8-October-2001 meeting - items discussed:
- Dan provided some "headline news" on issues related to what is happening at the Federal level related to Sponsored Project Activity and here are some of the headlines:
- AGENCIES ASKED TO SET CRITERIA FOR BASIC RESEARCH ONCE AGAIN UNDER BUSH MANAGEMENT PLAN - (Setting goals and subgoals can be problematic to faculty)
- " HOUSE LABOR/HHS MARK-UP MAY BE ON FOR NEXT WEEK, PENDING WHITE HOUSE SPENDING DEAL (NIH bill not yet finalized as of our RAG meeting)
- CIVILIAN S&T COMMUNITY SHOULD BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE NATIONAL AND GLOBAL SECURITY EFFORT - The advocacy community for America's scientific enterprise has for the most part suspended its lobbying efforts since the horrific events of Sept. 11. It was obvious to everyone in the nation that the focus of this President had to be on the events at hand.
- Close cooperation between the President's science advisor and the newly created Office of Homeland Security will be essential to coordinate federal R&D efforts effectively in the areas of national security and counterterrorism, according to House Science Committee Chair Sherwood Boehlert, R-NY.
- UNIVERSITY OPENNESS MUST NOT BE HAMPERED BY VISA CRACKDOWNS, SAYS REP. BOEHLERT - "Obviously, the United States has to screen all visa applicants more thoroughly and needs to keep better track of those who enter our country, and, in particular, crack down on those with expired visas," Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-NY, told the State University of New York campus presidents Oct. 1. "But, we must not imperil the openness of our universities, which are magnets for students around the world, many of whom choose to settle in the United States." - U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, announced Sept. 27 she plans to introduce legislation that would enforce a six-month moratorium on foreign student visas after it became known some of the Sept. 11 hijackers had entered the country on student visas but never attended school.
- DC and NIH would have a share of $393 million in bioterrorism preparedness funding, $50 million over President Bush's request, under the House's L/HHS appropriations bill, which passed out of subcommittee Oct. 3.
- We discussed the change in the determination of base salary. Historically base salaries have included ADR (Chairs stipends) and this has always been a difficulty issue to maintain consistency with the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) in terms of estimating, accumulating, and reporting. Through the efforts of OGRD, SPFO, and Business Affairs, we have adopted the Salary Based definition found under the University's Retirement plan.
- "C. BASIC SALARY--Basic salary means the salary received by a participant under the terms of his or her appointments, including summer and other extended appointments. Basic salary shall not include amounts paid for teaching overloads, extra services, location differentials, lump sum annual leave payoff, royalties from intellectual property, or other forms of additional compensation. In the case of employees on contract, the contract may exclude items of additional compensation to be exempt from basic salary.
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- This simply says that Chairs stipends ARE NOT part of the base salary and should not be estimated, accumulated, or reported that way as of 10-01-01.
- In addition, we discussed excess compensation as well and OGRD has a policy in place for this already.
- We talked about an F&A update. W.S.U. is answering a last few questions and the negotiation should be forthcoming. Dan reminded everyone about the issues that are outstanding related to sponsored project budgeting which should be addressed once we have a negotiated rate:
- Increase current rate charged on subcontracts from 26% to 45%
- Increase capitalization rate from $500 to $5,000 on equipment
- Charge F&A on Qualified Tuition Reduction - since this is a fringe benefit under WSU policies and procedures.
- Dan thanked everyone for their patience through the October 1st deadline where OGRD submitted 50-60 fedx packages for NIH as well as USDA fiscal year-end awards.
- An IMPORTANT note: Next year USDA's NRI proposal submission dates have changed and now will be submitted October 1st, Nov. 1st, Dec. 1st and Feb. 1st. Please check the RFP to guaranty these dates
- Dan shared with the group about submitting a Federal Wide Assurance (FWA) application for the Institutional Review Board (IRB) which is related to human subjects in research. OGRD is writing the policy related to audit, control, and monitoring the protocols once they have been approved by the IRB. Dan mentioned the need for additional staffing in this area.
- OGRD has hired Brooke Hicks to coordinate the activities of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). These activities will formally be transferred from LARC to OGRD on January 1, 2002.
- Mary Hoffman reminded us of upcoming HRS classes.
- Dan shared about intellectual property and the process for faculty to disclose this information to the Office of Intellectual Property Administration (OIPA) so the Washington State University Research Foundation (WSURF) can do their job effectively. He also shared some examples of working with industry so all are aware of potential pitfalls.
- Our next meeting is scheduled for December 10th at 9:00 am in Murrow 53.
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