The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) negotiates and approves grant and contract
awards, authorizes setting up of university restricted fund numbers, negotiates and
issues subawards to other institutions and organizations, assists with award management
actions including prior approvals required by the sponsor, and assists PIs with final
closeout of their awards. Any document requiring an official signature related to
sponsored programs must be signed by an authorized representative in OSP. For financial
reports (federal form SF425) and invoices the authorized representative signatures
would be in the Accounting Office.
The Award Negotiation and Acceptance stage involves the activities that take place after a proposal is submitted, up until the signed award has been received and passed to the Accounting Office for fund number set-up. In most cases awards are emailed directly to OSP by the sponsor, however in some cases they may be sent directly to the Principal Investigator (PI). If you receive an award directly, please forward to the OSP office promptly through the osp@uvi.edu email.
UVI can receive many types of agreements which may have different characteristics. The main award types are grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and other transaction agreements. OSP will compare the award to the original proposal, and reviews the terms and conditions of the award notice. OSP will discuss with the Principal Investigators (PIs) to notify them of any terms they need to be aware of to successfully manage the project including but not limited to:
Once OSP has reviewed and confirmed the terms are acceptable they will accept or execute the agreement if a signature is required. In many cases a signature is required by both parties. In this case the award is not considered active until both parties have signed the agreement.
After an award has been accepted or signed, OSP will send the information with any official proposal and award documents to the Accounting Office who will assign a Fund Number in the Banner system. OSP will copy the PI and the department administrator, if applicable, on the correspondence to the Accounting Office. The Accounting Office will not set-up a fund number for sponsored program projects unless they receive the official notification from OSP.
A subaward (or subcontract or subagreement) is when funds from a sponsor are passed-through to a lower-tier entity. OSP would issue a subaward when UVI receives an award and another entity will be completing a specific component or share responsibilities for the project’s design, conduct, and/or reporting. Typically, OSP requires the below documents to be submitted at the proposal stage. OSP will use these and the UVI award documents to draft the subaward agreement to the subawardee. If the subward was not included in the proposal or not all of the below documents were received, they will be required before a subaward agreement can be issued. OSP is responsible for completing a risk assessment as required by federal regulations. OSP will discuss the assessment with the PI if additional monitoring may be needed.
Once the subaward agreement has been signed, OSP will send to the Accounting Office copying the PI and the department administrator, if applicable. OSP will conduct the annual risk assessments as required by federal regulations and notify the PI if any changes in monitoring may be needed. Any changes to the subaward agreement must be issued through an official modification/amendment and signed by the authorized official in OSP.
OSP staff assists PIs with the non-financial management of their awards, including submission of sponsor prior approval request, submission of technical performance reports requiring an authorized official signature, answering award-related questions, and assisting with maintaining compliance with the award terms and conditions.
For questions on project start-up, day-to-day award management, and non-financial award close-out, please contact OSP at osp@uvi.edu.
For questions on the day-to-day financial management of your awards (e.g., incurring expenses, balances, cost-transfers, financial reports, invoices) please contact your assigned Grant Accountant or Earlyn Casimir at earlyn.casimir@uvi.edu in the Accounting Office if you are unsure who your assigned accountant is.
After an award is made, changes resulting from circumstances not anticipated in the planning stages of the project are sometimes necessary. These changes can be programmatic or financial in nature. Some changes require the sponsor’s prior written approval. Prior approval requirements vary by agency. It is recommended to contact the OSP for specific questions about prior approvals and for submission of the requests. See below for examples.
Progress reports document grantee recipient accomplishments and compliance with terms of the award. There are various reports which may be required by the sponsor. When accepting the award, OSP will provide guidance on the type (i.e. technical, financial, etc.) and schedule of the required reports (i.e. monthly, quarterly, annual, etc.). PIs are responsible for submitting the technical reports to the sponsor. When the report is submitted to the sponsor, OSPshould be copied on the email (osp@uvi.edu) so that proof of submission can be documented for audit purposes. See examples of report types below. Not all reports will be applicable to your
project.
The PI is responsible for ensuring that all costs charged to a sponsored project meet the definitions of allowable, allocable, and reasonable. This determination is based on federal regulations and on the sponsor agency specific guidelines/terms. For questions on allowable and unallowable costs PIs can contact OSP or the Accounting Office.
Allowable Cost Principles:
An unallowable cost is a cost that cannot be paid by your award. Such costs may be prohibited by the Uniform Guidance, sponsor specific terms and conditions, or university policy.Costs that are typically unallowable may only be charged to your fund account when specifically approved by the sponsor in the award budget or correspondence from the grants officer. Uniform Guidance provides details of the types of costs that cannot be charged to federal awards, either as direct or indirect costs.
The last step in the project lifecycle is award closeout. The key to a successful closeout is timely submission of all required technical, financial, and administrative reports to the sponsor. PIs will need to complete all final technical reports and work closely with the Accounting Office to review and confirm all the charges on the fund account are appropriate and complete. The primary point of contact for the closeout process is the Accounting Office, however OSP will assist as needed with any additional required reporting (i.e. invention report, property report, etc.). If you need to request a no-cost-extension please contact OSP to assist in this process. Typically, sponsors require no-cost-extensions to be submitted 60-90 days before the project ends.
As part of sponsored project activities, you may need to enter into other sponsored agreements such as Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDA), Teaming Agreements (TA), Memorandum of Understandings (MOU), Data Use Agreements (DUAs), Material Transfer Agreements (MTA), or other collaboration agreements. As with funding agreements, OSP is the office authorized to negotiate and execute these agreements when related to sponsored programs activity. If you receive an agreement or need an agreement drafted please contact OSP at osp@uvi.edu to assist.
