For some time now the Federal government has expressed varying degrees of concern regarding U.S. entities working with and conducting business with Chinese government-subsidized companies such as the telecommunication company Huawei Technologies. Recently, those reservations have been formalized and have been elevated to the inclusion of Huawei on Federal government lists for Excluded Parties and Ineligible (Proceedings Pending) Suppliers.

In light of the Federal government’s recent actions and heightened sensitivity and concern pertaining to Huawei and its subsidiaries, the University of Delaware (UD) has suspended its acceptance of donations from and entering into agreements with Huawei and its subsidiaries. This UD decision regarding Huawei is consistent with those made by other leading U.S. research universities such as MIT, Princeton and UC Berkeley. The University’s moratorium extends to knowingly purchasing electronics containing Huawei developed or manufactured technology and software regardless of funding source.

Specific inquiries regarding the UD moratorium on Huawei-related transactions, as they relate to the UD community, may be directed to procurement@udel.edu or UDresearch@udel.edu.

In conjunction with IT and other Financials stakeholders, we plan to upgrade UD Financials (PeopleSoft) to the latest version of the software starting on Friday, 5/10. We will be using a sequential approach to upgrade Production (FIPRD – proposal entry) first and then Report (FIRPT – queries). What does this mean for your sponsored programs related work?

THURSDAY, 5/9: 
Normal access to FIPRD & FIRPT and webforms through the close of business

FRIDAY, 5/10, 7am through Tuesday, 5/14, close of business: 
· FIPRD unavailable. No proposals can be entered or edited
· No Proposal Approval webforms can be accessed or routed
· Conflict of Interest webform cannot be accessed
· Budget Revision – Contracts and Grants cannot be accessed
· Automated Closeout Reports cannot be accessed
· New effort reports cannot be pushed; existing effort reports can be viewed and certified
· Some other webforms are unavailable, as described in the 5/2 email from the Controller’s Office

WEDNESDAY, 5/15 through THURSDAY, 5/16:
· FIPRD available for normal proposal processing
· All RO-related webforms listed above available for normal processing
· FIRPT unavailable – no access to PeopleSoft Query

FRIDAY, 5/17: 
· Normal access to all systems returned

The Research Office and the Office of General Counsel recently updated the University’s Effort Certification policy to better adhere to Uniform Guidance and reduce administrative burden during the certification process. The primary changes are as follows:

• There is no longer a five percent limit on the deviation between allocated or “committed” effort and reported or “actual” effort. PIs and other personnel receiving sponsored salary should still adhere to their commitments to the best of their ability and have commitment percentages updated in UD Financials whenever they change from the budgeted amount. It is the responsibility of the department to maintain communication with the sponsor and ensure that the actual effort exhibited is acceptable to the sponsor.
• The deadline for certification of reports is now 60 days following the close of the reporting period. This deadline puts the University in line with the certification procedures of other large research institutions and ensures that review of reports occurs in a timely manner closer to the applicable reporting period.
• PIs are reminded that effort certification is a requirement of accepting federal rewards. Knowingly certifying a false report is a violation of University policy and may result in potential disciplinary action and civil or criminal penalties.

The full policy can viewed on the General Counsel’s website.

March 28, 2019

Dear Colleagues,  

We recently completed an extensive evaluation of the research administration infrastructure at the University of Delaware. The goal of this evaluation was to identify opportunities to enhance processes and technology in support of our research mission and strategic plan for growth.

As a result of this evaluation, the University is now launching the Operational Excellence in Research Administration (“OPERA”) initiative to implement recommended improvements. Our goal is to create an efficient and effective administrative environment in order to increase support to faculty who participate in externally sponsored research.

We have created a webpage to keep you informed about this initiative and invite you to explore its contents. Project updates, outcomes, and links to new policies and procedures will be posted to the website on an ongoing basis to share news of our progress.

Many individuals across the University participated in the initial phase of this initiative, and we hope you continue to provide us with your feedback. We thank you in advance for your contributions to this important endeavor. Please contact us with any questions as we move forward with this new phase.

THE OPERA INITIATIVE

Sincerely,

Charles G. Riordan
Vice President for Research, Scholarship & Innovation

Jeffrey Friedland
Associate Vice President, Research Administration

The federal government faces the potential of a repeat partial shutdown when its current budget expires this Friday, February 15, 2019. The agencies that would be impacted are the Departments of: Homeland Security, State, Treasury, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Commerce. Accounts within these agencies include FDA, NIFA, ERS, USDA, NSF, NIST, NOAA, NASA, and many others. As Congress continues to seek resolution with the White House to avert a partial shutdown, I write providing guidance regarding the impact a shutdown would have on UD’s sponsored programs. In brief, it is expected that work on active awards will continue during a shutdown. New awards funded out of the affected agencies will not be initiated nor will pending proposals be reviewed nor processed. Most personnel–program managers, grant administrators, etc.– are prohibited from working, or even accessing their computers during the shutdown. Thus, if you have urgent business to conduct with them, contact federal personnel before the close of business Friday, February 15th. The last federal government shutdown lasted thirty-five days. All other agency budgets were approved and signed into law earlier last fall, and thus, would not be impacted by a shutdown.

As a result of the last shutdown, some but not all, of the proposal deadlines were postponed although NSF FastLane remained open for proposal submission during the shutdown. There is no clarity how the decisions were made for individual programs. Hence, all PIs preparing proposals are encouraged to stay on the current timelines for submission and continue to submit as planned during a shutdown.

Additional information and guidance: 

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) website lists contingency plans for all the federal agencies. The link to the website is https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-for-agencies/agency-contingency-plans/. While the site has not yet been updated for this pending shutdown, here is information from this past January.

1. Federal agency employees who are paid with annual appropriations and who perform an activity associated with contract or grant administration, including oversight, inspection, payment, or accounting will generally not continue work during a shutdown. This means that normal, routine, ongoing operational and administrative activities performed by federal employees relating to contract or grant administration (including payment processing) cannot continue when there is a gap in funding.
2. Agencies have the ability to halt activity on grants, though this is not expected to happen for research. In general, active grant and contract activity funded with FY2018 or prior year appropriations can continue. However, agency personnel most likely will not be available for approvals, supervisory support, and other administrative functions.
   1. In addition, it is not certain what will be the functionality of automated payment systems. Consequently, institutions should recognize that there is some risk that requests for reimbursement will not be processed.
   2. Other electronic administrative systems may or may not be available, depending on each agency’s approach.
   3. In the event of a shutdown, no new awards will be issued and most likely no new obligations will be made. If your award is incrementally funded and new funds are to be obligated in fiscal year 2018, this will not happen during the shutdown.
   4. Agencies have the ability to delay proposal deadlines to compensate for any lapse in government activity. Most likely, new grant applications will not be accepted, though this also may depend on each agency’s internal approach.
3. Agency specific guidance should be made available on a case-by-case basis. Agencies are required by OMB to implement agency plans for operation during a shutdown. Most likely, each agency plan will not be identical. In addition, certain programs may have special operating instructions.

Important revisions have been made to the Resumption of Operations at NSF page on the NSF website, including identification of new deadline dates for specific solicitations and Dear Colleague Letters. This updated information will be of interest to your membership and we would appreciate your sharing with your colleagues as soon as possible. This page will continue to be updated as new information becomes available.

Policy-related questions regarding the resumption of operations at NSF may be addressed to policy@nsf.gov.

A Resumption of Operations at NSF page has been developed that includes Important Notice No. 145, Resumption of Operations at the National Science Foundation, dated January 28, 2019, as well as supplemental guidance that addresses grant and cooperative agreement-related policy and systems issues. This page will be of interest to your membership and we would appreciate your sharing this link as soon as possible. This page will continue to be updated as new information becomes available.

Policy-related questions regarding resumption of operations at NSF may be addressed to policy@nsf.gov.

Significant revisions to the “Common Rule” – a regulation that governs research involving human subjects conducted or sponsored by the Federal departments and agencies that have adopted those rules – are expected to take full effect on January 21, 2019.

This is the first revision to the Common Rule since its publication in 1991 and aims to strengthen the protection of research participants, while also reducing administrative burden for investigators.

The UD Institutional Review Board (IRB) will continue providing oversight of any studies reviewed and approved prior to January 21, 2019 under the version of the Common Rule under which the study was originally approved (pre-revisions). All new project submissions to the UD IRB beginning January 21, 2019 will be required to comply with the Revised Common Rule and will need to use the new templates as posted in IRBNet.

A new course on the “Revised Common Rule” is available under the University of Delaware training curriculum at www.citiprogram.org. Below is a summary of several key provisions and changes that will require compliance beginning January 21, 2019.

A partial government shutdown has continued into the new year. While NIH and the Department of Education are funded, others such as NSF, NASA, NOAA, USDA, NIST, and NEH are not. Agency Contingency Plans and FAQs can be found on the OMB website.