NEW ACCOUNT CODE FOR NON-IBS SALARIES

October 22, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Through a collaborative effort, dedicated supplemental compensation accounts have been created to assist with the proper identification of an employee’s Institutional Base Salary.

The 14 new account codes should be used in the LAM to accurately track all supplemental pay for UD employees (excluding summer salary for faculty paid via supplemental contracts).

Before, if an employee held a secondary appointment, the compensation for that appointment was distributed on the same account code (typically 121100/120200) as the compensation for the primary job. This can present problems when reporting an employee’s institutional base salary (IBS) on an effort report.

Now, an employee’s secondary appointment that is beyond the employee’s primary responsibilities can be captured through the 14 account codes outlined below.

For questions related to LAM, please send an email to lam-system@udel.edu. For questions about effort reporting, please send an email to Effort Certification effortcert@udel.edu.

Dear Colleagues,  

The University has continued to focus on improving services for research administration under the Operational Excellence in Research Administration (OPERA) initiative. Throughout this initiative, the Research Office has worked closely with colleagues across campus to reevaluate and enhance various processes and resources. Our goal has been to increase support to faculty by increasing efficiency and reducing administrative burden in several areas.

As a result, we are announcing new policy enhancements and resources available effective immediately:

We will continue to provide updates as the OPERA initiative progresses. Please reach out to the Research Office with any questions or ongoing feedback.

July 13, 2020

Dear Colleagues,  

The University of Delaware’s FY21 Fringe Benefit rates have been finalized with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), our new cognizant agency for the period 7/1/2020 to 6/30/2021. The new rate agreement with DHHS and the new rates are located on the Research Office (RO) website for your reference.

Effective immediately, all new proposals will use the fixed fringe rates, which have been programmed into PeopleSoft. These rates will also be applied to existing awards.

Several job aids have been revised for use by the research community regarding the fringe rates:

1. Here is a link to an updated FY20-21 Salary Reference Sheet.
2. The Research Office has modified the budget template which may be found on the RO website under Frequently Asked Questions, Getting Started, “How do I construct a budget?” to include the updated rates.
3. The Research Office has also updated the budget justification template which may be found on the RO website under Budgets & Rates, Budget Justification Template.
4. Due to the transition to DHHS as UD's cognizant agency, the F&A rate agreement has been updated as well.

If you have any questions, please contact your Contract & Grant Specialist.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Friedland
Associate Vice President, Research Administration

Dear Colleagues,  

The University of Delaware has submitted FY21 Fringe Benefit Proposal to Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for the period 7/1/2020 to 6/30/2021. You will find a letter from the Office of the Vice President for Finance and Deputy Treasurer on the Research Office (RO) website for your reference. You will also find the new rates on the RO website in the UD Proposal Development Guide.

Effective immediately, all new proposals will use the provisional fringe rates which have been programmed into PeopleSoft. These rates will also be applied to existing awards. Please note that these provisional rates have not yet been finalized with our new cognizant agency, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Several job aids have been revised for use by the research community regarding the fringe rates:

1. Attached to this email please find an updated FY20-21 Salary Reference Sheet
2. The Research Office has modified the budget template found on our website under Frequently Asked Questions, Getting Started, “How do I construct a budget?” to include the updated rates.
3. The Research Office has also updated the budget justification template found on our website under Budgets & Rates, Budget Justification Template.

If you have any questions, please contact your Contract & Grant Specialist.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Friedland
Associate Vice President, Research Administration

COVID-19 Research Costs

Tagging COVID-19 research costs will make it easier to identify, review, and clean-up costs as sponsor guidance continues to evolve.  Monitoring COVID-19 costs will also allow leadership to gauge the potential financial impact to the institution and its research portfolio. While there is no commitment to cover these costs with institutional funds, UD continues to advocate with sponsors for cost extensions during the pandemic.

The tagging includes costs that are allocated to extramural funding due to sponsor-issued administrative relief temporarily allowing costs that are not normally chargeable to awards, as well as other costs associated with loss of operations. The primary examples include:

• Personnel costs for individuals that may be unable to work as a result of or related to the effects of COVID-19.

• Non-refundable costs associated with the cancellation of events, travel, or other activities necessary and reasonable for the performance of the award.
• Costs associated with ramping down research efforts (ex. abandoned experiments, etc.).
• Costs associated with ramping up research efforts when the time comes (ex. replacement supplies for abandoned experiments, etc.).
• Costs of PPE donated (including PPE prepared) by researchers to support local response efforts.  Due to the public health emergency, some agencies may provide flexibilities in spending and consider these “other costs” that may potentially be allowable. As a specific example, NIH COVID-19 FAQ Section 4, Part D, No. 6  indicates recipients may donate PPE and other lab supplies in support of COVID-19 efforts.

Tagging Guidance

While the specific period for tagging costs may vary by sponsor, the general timeframe should be considered as March 2020 onward, through the expiration of the sponsored-issued administrative relief and if applicable the ramping up of research efforts.

Personnel Costs

The Provost’s Office has issued guidance that personnel costs should be tagged with Userfield “CV19-COMP”.  Please note that the Userfield is titled “UD Chartfield” in the LAM.

 Non-Personnel Costs

The Research Office recommends that units tag non-personnel costs that are allocated to sponsored programs with Userfield “CV19-RSCH”.

Allocating Sponsored Expenditures to Temporary Purpose Codes

The Research Office would like to remind department administrators about adherence to Uniform Guidance regulations to avoid temporarily charging expenses to purpose codes, specifically 2 CFR section 200.405: Allocable Costs. All efforts should be made to initially allocate the expense to the correct purpose code as to avoid cost transfers at later dates. If the purpose code is unavailable at the time of the expenditure, the expense should be allocated to either a departmental pending/holding code or, if applicable, a request for a pre-award purpose code should be made to the Research Office. Under no circumstances should a sponsored purpose code be used to temporarily hold expenses that are to be transferred to another award at a later date.

An administrator should charge salary expenditures to an award only if they are confident the accompanying level of effort was performed on the award. If there is uncertainty regarding the effort distribution of an individual over the course of a pay period, a non-sponsored departmental code should be charged until the effort of the individual can be confirmed by the PI or the individual themselves.

Participant Support Costs: Post-Award Monitoring

Participant Support Costs (per Uniform Guidance 2 CFR § 200.75) are direct costs for items such as stipends or subsistence allowances, travel allowances, and registration fees paid to or on behalf of participants or trainees.  Please be aware that some federal sponsors may place additional restrictions on these types of costs.  For example, the NIH Grants Policy Statement notes that participant support is only allowable when it is identified in the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to which the PI applies to.  If it was not specifically identified in the FOA, participant support costs are unallowable.

Undergraduate research programs that issue stipends for research or training experiences, such as the Summer Scholars Program, are participant support costs.  Since participants do not provide services it is not necessarily clear how they benefit the award.  If a PI would like to fund an undergraduate researcher providing services in direct benefit of an award, the appropriate option is to employ the individual, so the costs are expensed as a salary/wage.  The addition of a participant program, where not previously awarded, may be considered a change in scope requiring an agency’s prior approval.

Listed below are some helpful questions to consider when choosing to allocate participant support costs to a sponsored program:

• Does the awarding agency have any policy restrictions on participant support costs?
• How were the funds internally budgeted in PeopleSoft upon receipt of the award?
• Is prior approval of the awarding agency required in order to allocate participant support costs?

Additional guidance on participant support costs can be found in the Grant Management Guide.  For any questions, please consult with your unit’s assigned Contract & Grants Specialist in the Research Office.