There are several things to keep in mind when managing a sponsored award. This list covers most of them and is a good place to start. We've organized the information into two general categories with the topics listed in the general order that you encounter them when managing your grant. To learn more, click on those topics of interest to you.
Departments and units use Income Fund Reimbursable (IFR) appointments to charge award budgets for the efforts of any SUNY state personnel who are working on the project. The IFR process can document the efforts of the PI and anyone else listed in the budget.
SPS will create an IFR form and load it into the business system for you so you can note the efforts. A copy of the completed form will then go to the PI and all appropriate deans.
UB's human resources office manages payroll operations, including the appointment of Research Foundation (RF) employees for your sponsored award.
If you have any questions regarding the electronic payroll systems or forms, please contact the RF Human Resources Office at (716) 645-7777 or at hradmin@buffalo.edu.
Tuition for graduate students is an allowable charge on almost all sponsored awards. Please work with your department to fill out the following forms, which need to be completed prior to the start of fall semester.
Upon completion of these forms:
If your award includes funding for a subaward to other entities, please work with your SPS administrator to establish these agreements. Your SPS administrator also will coordinate with UB's purchasing office to generate a purchase order for your subaward agreement.
For times when you need to contract with an expert, an Independent Contractor or Consultant, please follow Procurement Services process for Independent Contractors.
PCard is preferred for purchasing business related items, excepting travel. The card functions like a credit card with a $2,500 limit. While PCards are issued to individuals, the university assumes the liability. The Pcardholder's personal credit history is not reviewed nor is his/her personal history affected by issuance of a card.
This web-based application allows any UB faculty or staff member to create an electronic requisition. Once created, the requisition is forwarded to the appropriate individual for departmental approval, then to the UB Purchasing Office for final processing and the creation of the purchase order.
Departments and service centers can transfer funds interdepartmentally to pay for goods or services provided by another unit on campus.
Process for submitting Interdepartmental Invoices (IDIs):
For sponsored research involving human subjects, the option to compensate the subjects at the time of their visit is available. The Human Subject Matrix provides descriptions for a variety of options. Forms for these options are available below as well as within the Human Subject Matrix.
A PI may request to pay human subjects via a Campus Bank Account. The PI will need to ensure that specific duties for funds management are distributed among various personnel, per The Research Foundation for SUNY’s Establishing and Maintaining Campus Bank Accounts and Petty Cash Funds procedure.
Cost sharing occurs when a portion of the project costs are borne by the university rather than the funding agency.
A separate award is set up to track your committed cost share. Based on the sponsor-approved budget, your award analyst will load personnel cost-share commitment, if applicable. If the cost sharing includes Other-Than-Personal-Services (OTPS), you will forward the expenditures to your Award Analyst for processing.
While every effort must be made to charge costs to the correct account when they are incurred, cost transfers are appropriate when their purpose is to correct posting or bookkeeping errors in the original charges.
If you wish to delegate your signature authority to approve expenditures on your sponsored award, please email this request to your SPS Award Analyst.
To delegate authority for eReq/ePTF please access the RF Delegate Authorization System.
As a recipient of Federal funding, the University at Buffalo (UB) is required to comply with Federal regulations. UB’s Payroll Review System is an after-the-fact review of payroll expenditures on awards. The Principal Investigator (PI) is responsible to review the payroll expenditures to ensure they are reflective of the actual work performed on the project during a specific reporting period. Using the RF Report Center (Report Center) Principal Investigator Dashboard or the RF Activity Interface Reporting Dashboard, the PI will verify that all payroll charges are on the award, including IFR, as well as review to determine if payroll is represented correctly. Incorrect payroll could include, but not limited to, missing payroll (including suspense), misallocated payroll, or changes in salary that is not reflected on the report. Timely response, within 60 days of notification, is required.
Please review the Electronic Payroll Review System guidance and instructions for additional information.
If you have scientific reasons for continuing your project beyond the original term date of your sponsored award, please complete the No Cost Extension (NCE) form.
For grants awarded under the Federal Demonstration Project (FDP), your Sponsored Projects administrator can approve the first No Cost Extension without obtaining sponsor approval. This includes most federal awards (NIH, NSF, NASA, etc.).
For all other federal and non-federal awards, your SPS administrator will work with you in preparing a request to the sponsor.
Reporting is a term of most sponsored awards and is typically included in the Notice of Award (NOA). Each sponsor has different requirements, but it is typical for Technical/ Progress Reports to be required annually and at the completion of the project, though some sponsors may require more frequent submission of reports (e.g. Monthly or Quarterly).
Reports must be submitted timely (before or by their due date) to avoid negative impact on payment for individual awards, future funding for the entire university, and damage to a PI’s and/or University’s reputation. University and project-specific audits encompass reporting compliance, so federal penalties and other consequences may result due to non-compliance.
Therefore, to ensure institutional compliance with sponsor terms, SPS has implemented a Technical Report Process for delinquent reports that includes an escalation process that can result in the PI’s funds being frozen until the delinquent report is submitted.
Please work with your SPS administrator regarding the required content and due dates.
The Research Foundation for SUNY provides all PI's and departmental administrators with access to an online sponsored awards financial reporting tool known as the RF Report Center. This helpful tool can be accessed through the RF SUNY homepage.
To gain access to the RF Report Center, please complete the RF Report Center Access Request Form. Instructions to complete and submit this form can be found at Access Request Form Instructions.
For questions regarding access to the RF Report Center, please contact the UB RF campus security administrator at 645-6071.
When you believe you have discovered a novel technology or developed useful new software, you need to contact Technology Transfer. They will help you determine your next steps.
To ensure your proprietary information is protected, Technology Transfer will assist with transfer of materials or information.
Tech Transfer negotiates and executes all confidential disclosure agreements (CDA) and material tranfer agreements (MTA). The transfer and sharing of materials for research purposes is consistent with UB's mission and its obligations to federal research sponsors.
If your sponsored award is a fixed price award and is closing, the unspent direct cost balance may be able to be moved to a non-sponsored residual award. If the unspent balance is 25% or greater of the total costs awarded, the Residual Balance Form must be completed and forwarded to your SPS Award Analyst.
