Operational Excellence

IN RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION

WHY WE’RE DOING THIS

The quality of administrative services provided by the Research Office is critical to creating an efficient and effective research environment at the University. Our goals during this initiative are to:

  • Improve service to faculty who participate in sponsored research
  • Increase process efficiency via enhanced policies, procedures, tools, and systems
  • Bolster institutional compliance with federal and sponsor requirements
  • Implement performance metrics to continuously review administrative effectiveness

 

PROGRESS UPDATES

We will be engaging the broader research community and sharing our progress throughout this transformation effort. Ongoing communications and status updates can be viewed in the announcement section below.

Announcements


1. NASA Policy Update: Implementation of New Grant and Cooperative Agreement Manual (Friday, October 18, 2024)

On October 1, 2024, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released an updated version of the NASA Grant and Cooperative Agreement Manual (GCAM) which now provides a single resource for guidance covering the full life cycle – from proposal to closeout – of NASA-sponsored programs. The 2024 GCAM, available here, implements the Office of Management and Budget’s 2024 revisions to Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations (2 CFR), and fully incorporates the guidance previously found in the Proposer’s Guide, which will no longer be utilized.  

The 2024 GCAM is effective October 1, 2024, and applies to all new awards and amendments issued on or after 10/1 regardless of when the proposal was submitted. The NASA Grant & Cooperative Agreement Terms and Conditions, which set forth general and specific award terms, have been separated from the GCAM to create a standalone document posted on the Grants Policy and Compliance page and available here.

To implement requirements of the National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 (NSPM-33) and the CHIPS and Science Act, all covered individuals, as defined in the 2024 GCAM, are now required to submit the common disclosure forms with their applications. The templates for the biographical sketch and current and pending support forms are posted here along with NASA’s Pre-Award and Post-Award Disclosure Requirements table.  Both common forms require a signed certification that the individual is not a party to a malign foreign talent recruitment program.

As a reminder, senior/key personnel are required to disclose pending applications to and current participation in programs sponsored by foreign governments, instrumentalities, or entities, including foreign government-sponsored talent recruitment programs. Covered individuals are prohibited from participating in a malign foreign talent recruitment program.

All Announcements

2. UD – Compliance Hotline (Saturday, April 28, 2012)

Please visit the UD Compliance site for Hotline and Compliance related information.

3. UD – Travel and Compliance (Saturday, April 28, 2012)

UD Travel with or Transportation of Research Related Data MEMO FROM – Dr. Charles (Charlie) Riordan, Vice Provost for Research: The purpose of this memo is to remind and inform all University of Delaware employees of the laws, policies and procedures that may impact the transportation of University of Delaware property, including research-related materials, software, data, biological materials and equipment. These laws, policies and procedures apply whether the materials, software or data are hand-carried during travel or shipped commercially. The laws, policies and procedures apply to our international visitors as well.

4. NSF – UD Grant Management Service (Wednesday, February 1, 2012)

Information Technologies now offers University researchers a streamlined way to log in to NSF’s Research.gov site for grant management services including FastLane.

5. NIH – Notice of Salary Limitations (Friday, January 20, 2012)

Notice Number NOT-OD-14-043 provides information regarding the salary limitation for NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards and extramural research and development contract awards (referred to as grants). Executive Level II salary has increased by 1 percent from $179,700 to $181,500 by Executive Order 13655.

6. AFOSR – No-Cost Extension Guidelines (Sunday, January 1, 2012)

According to AFOSR, there has been a new development for the administrative guidelines dealing with no-cost extension of continuing grants. As mentioned quite a while ago, all unspent funds sitting at the university accounts are becoming a potential target for congressional budget scrutiny and an excuse for reshuffling of the budget within the same agency. On top of this situation, the reduction of supporting personnel in the Government agencies creates major delay in the procurement process. As a consequence, all requests for no-cost extension of the grants beyond the designated expiration date will go through the Office of AFOSR Director. Please be conscious of this new rule making no-cost extension virtually impossible and try to find a way of spending the allocated budget on schedule. If the funds are not spent within the original timeframe, there is the potential to lose the funds.

7. UD – Cayuse (Monday, January 31, 2011)

Cayuse Proposal Development and Grants Submission Tools