As a best practice, everyone responsible for sponsored research expenditures should be reviewing their expenditures on a regular basis.
Some things to look for:
Unallowable costs, erroneously charged to an award, must be promptly transferred to your Departmental University Cost Center, Discretionary Account, or other non-sponsored project account. Departments should work with ICI or the Business Office if they have any questions on how to resolve.
Re-budgeting may be required throughout the life of the project. In some cases, departments want to re-budget their award in order to align budget with expenditures. This is not a requirement by the sponsor, however, it is something that departments can work with ICI to achieve. In some cases, re-budgeting will have to be approved by the sponsor. Listed below are common examples of when a sponsor requires such a re-budget:
Change of Scope
If the PI/PD changes the scope of the award, a re-budget to achieve the new goal may be necessary. The change in scope and the budget request must be submitted through ICI for sponsor approval.
Most common changes of scopes:
Equipment
If your award restricts the use of equipment or is specific to the piece of equipment you can purchase and you need to make a change, this requires Sponsor approval and must be submitted through ICI.
In some situations, where you have remaining unspent funds near the end of a project period, you can use appropriate justification to request a carryover of those funds into the next budget period or a no-cost extension to your project period. Information on what carryovers and no-cost extensions are, as well as how and when to request them, are below. If you have further questions, contact ICI.
Carryover
Unobligated funds remaining at the end of any budget period that, with the approval of the sponsor or with automatic carryover, may be carried forward to the next budget period to cover allowable costs of that budget period. There must be a bona fide programmatic need justified for the use of carryover funds in the next budget period. Send your request for carryover to ICI.
No-Cost Extension (NCE)
Extends the project period beyond the original end date with no additional funding. May be allowed when: the end of the project period is near; there is a programmatic need to continue research; and there are sufficient funds left to cover the extended effort. Send your request for a no-cost extension to ICI.
The initial review of the subrecipient/contractor invoice is done by the PI/PD and department administrator. The PI/PD reviews the invoice to determine if sufficient technical progress has been made to justify payment of the invoice. This review should include:
Any problems should be brought to the attention of both the departmental administrator and ICI.
Following review and approval, the department administrator completes and submits the invoice payment request, which includes the applicable documentation as required by the Business Office and sponsor.
Below are the forms and policies you will likely need.
PSU Purchasing Policies and Procedures
PSU Purchasing policies including but not limited to: Departmental Purchasing Authority, Competitive Bids and Exceptions, Delegated Competitive Bid Authority, Evaluation and Award, Public Notice, Vendor Relations, and Capital Equipment.
PSU Purchasing Procurement Card Information
PSU Purchasing policies when using a PSU Business Procurement Card.
PSU Purchasing forms including but not limited to: Prior Authorization Form, Sales Tax Exempt Certificates, Single Source Justification Form, and W-9 for vendors.
PSU Business Office Policies and Procedures
PSU Business Office policies and procedures including but not limited to: accounts payable, travel, and reimbursements.
PSU Business Office forms including but not limited to: Correction Request Forms, Independent Contractor Worksheet, Lost Receipt/Exception Request Form, Official Hospitality/Food Form, Pay Vendor Form, Travel Request Form, and W-9 for vendors.
Funding
Once a cost center is established, all funding for the sponsored project must be funneled through this cost center. If a PI receives a check directly, these funds MUST be taken to Cashiers to be deposited to this cost center.
Principal Investigators (PI)/Project Directors (PD) and Administrative Support
Institutional Compliance and Integrity (ICI)