Starting immediately  we recommend using the following as the F&A rate budget justification when a proposal includes  on-campus research.  Previously it was suggested that F&A be budged based on the rate for the majority of the project year.  This has caused some confusion when F&A periods are set during the award process.  Also,  if using the detailed budget in Kuali the pro-rated F&A will be automatically calculated.  Therefore OSP is not recommending that for budgeting purposes if there is a change in the F&A rate during a project year F&A calculations be pro-rated based on the number of months at each rate.

All other UMBC F&A rates do not change throughout the life of the new F&A Rate Agreement and therefore do not need special explanation, so the standard wording can be used for those justifications.  Please see the new agreement at http://cga.umbc.edu/files/2016/11/FINAL-UMBC-FY2016-FY2020-FA-Rate-Agreement-and-Component-Sheet.pdf for a full listing of applicable F&A rates.

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F&A – UMBC has a Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA).

The negotiated rates for on campus research applicable to this proposal are (NOTE PICK ONLY THE RATES THAT APPLY):

07/01/2015-6/30/2016   50.5%

07/01/2016-6/30/2017   52.0%

07/01/2017-6/30/2019   52.50

07/01/2019-6/30/2020   53%

If a project year incorporates more than one rate F&A recovery is calculated on a prorated basis with the rate reflecting the date of the NICRA change.

MTDC excludes tuition, equipment over $5,000 and the cost of subgrants over $25,000.

DATE: February 22, 2018

TO: Faculty and Staff

FROM: Dean Drake
Associate VP for Research

SUBJECT: OSP Deadline for Proposal Submissions

OSP requests that you deliver your full, ready to submit extramural funding proposal to the Office of Sponsored Programs at least three (3) UMBC business days prior to the submission deadline. This 3-day period should help to eliminate most errors in processing. OSP will review and submit your proposal. If any changes are needed, OSP will communicate those changes to your unit.

An “expedited review” is available to assist principal investigators in the proposal application process to allow an internal review at the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) to occur before the application is fully completed. This expedited review requires only the cover page, abstract, detailed budget and budget justification, and any necessary documentation such as IACUC or IRB approval/application letters as well as budgets, scope of work, sub-award commitment form and commitment letters for any subcontracts included in the project. A copy of the complete proposal must subsequently be submitted to OSP three UMBC business days prior to the sponsor deadline.

Kuali Proposal and Budget System now provides the opportunity for the PI and Department Administrator to work with the OSP Support Staff at any stage of proposal development process and before the proposal is submitted for signature approvals. OSP suggests everyone take advantage of collaborating early with your OSP Support Person on your project and budget.  

On-time submissions gives OSP a chance to complete a full review. Late submissions may lead to errors and omissions and can result in your proposal being rejected for funding by the sponsoring agency. 

Thank you for your assistance. We aim to provide a high-quality level service to our research community, and your cooperation is critical. If you have any questions, please contact me at ddrake@umbc.edu, or Stan Jackson, OSP Director at jacksons@umbc.edu.

There is a new Subrecipient  Commitment Form available on OSP website: https://research.umbc.edu/files/2014/06/Subrecipient-Commitment-Form-2018.pdf. The changes to the form address the existence of an FDP (Federal Demonstration Partnership) Expanded Clearinghouse initiative. This initiative provides an online organization Profiles that allow obtaining information needed by OSP when issuing subawards or monitoring subrecipient entities. The new form allows the FDP Expanded Clearinghouse participants to skip the Certifications section on the form. The same will apply to all University System of Maryland units. Please remember to always provide OSP with signed Subrecipient  Commitment Form during the proposal stage as it is one of the UMBC required risk assessment tools.

In addition, OSP strongly encourages always to use forms and templets available at OSP website as they are updated continuously to meet sponsors current requirements.

NSF PAPPG Revised

Here is a quick rundown of the functionality of the extramural funding systems of some of the major Federal sponsors.  If you have any questions please contact OSP and if we don’t have the answer we will do our best to find out in this highly fluid situation.   Of course we are all hoping for a quick resolution.

NSF

Reseasrch.gov and Fastlane are down for the duration of the shutdown.  Basically you should continue to work on any funded NSF projects but other than that NSF is shutdown.  Presumably once the shutdown is over they will allow for submission of any proposals that had submit dates during the shutdown.  This is usually on extremely short turn around so we advise that you still have any proposals completed and ready to upload to Fastlane on short notice.

https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/postshutdown.jsp

NIH

So far there is very limited information out of NIH.  During the 2013 shutdown it was advised not to submit proposals during the shutdown but we have not been able to find specific information for 2018.  On the DHHS page is says that no action will be taken on extramural awards during the shutdown.  I would suggest going ahead and having any grants.gov workspace packages completed.  At this time it appears Grants.gov and NIH Commons are up and running.  Work should continue on already funded NIH awards.

https://www.hhs.gov/about/budget/fy-2018-hhs-contingency-staffing-plan/index.html

NOAA

NOAA’s Grants Online system is not functioning during any shutdown.  Unfortunately NOAA has not made any statements about proposal submission. If you have a proposal due during the shutdown we would advise going ahead and completing the proposal in Grants.gov Work Space so we can attempt to submit during the deadline.  Work should continue on already funded NOAA awards.

https://rgw.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/noaa_2018_shutdown.pdf

NASA

Again, specific advice on NASA proposals is a bit hard to come by.  Best guess is that they will follow the same as the notice for government proposers which is that deadlines missed during the shutdown will be extended (see link below).  In November NASA submitted an updated plan for shutdowns but it does not include proposal submission.   That plan is also linked below. Work should continue on currently funded NASA awards. NSPIRES does appear to be functioning.

https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2017/possible-government-shutdown

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/171130_revised_shutdown_plan.pdf

This is what we know as of 8:00 this morning (1/22/2018).  As we receive new information we will update this group.  For any questions please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

While we continue to hope that there will be a positive resolution to this situation it is certainly possible  we may be facing a partial shutdown of the Federal Government.  While we know what has happened in the past, we do not know if things will be the same this time. In the past Grants.gov continued to take submissions, even though some of the Federal agency systems that receive proposals from Grants.gov were not operational. However, to ensure that proposals were counted as submitted on time they still needed to be submitted to Grants.gov by the deadline.  NSF Fastlane did shutdown last time and allowed for late submissions due to the shutdown, but basically gave very little turnaround time once they were back up.  Therefore, the Office of Sponsored Programs is recommending that we continue with business as usual submitting proposals by their due dates.  If this changes we will communicate any changes.

If there is shutdown new awards and increments will undoubtably be delayed.

Below is a link to agency specific information that is available at this time, but I have checked some of the links and they do not all link to documents at this time.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/agency-contingency-plans/

I want to assure you that OSP and OVPR will continue to monitor the situation and stay in communication.

Thank you,

Stan Jackson

Director, OSP

Kuali Live in 2018!                   

UMBC is now live with Kuali!  Kuali is a new software system aiming to significantly improve the process of proposal submission and several other critical extramural related activities for our faculty and department administrators.

Kuali is partnership between the Kuali Foundation and a community of R1 institutions, including the University of Maryland Baltimore and College Park. The system was designed by university research administration subject matter experts specially for universities.

It provides a web-based, single resource for proposals, all extramural award types, compliance, and unfunded agreement information while providing a solution for many complex workflows as part of the review and approval process. Kuali allows for Administrators, Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators, Chairs and Dean's one cloud-based portal to their individual, unit, college or center information.

 Easing the burden of extramural funding submissions, Kuali provides tools to assist in collaboration, budget and compliance approvals. The system provides the UMBC community an electronic approval and submission process, and eliminates the requirement to create Federal Agency form packages. Kuali submits automatically to System-to-System Grants.Gov. The system also has compliance tracking, for example, COI financial disclosures tied directly to proposals, awards and IRB.

 UMBC is joining sister system campuses who are committed to the transition of the research management format from PeopleSoft to the cloud-based Kuali system. The alignment presents a unique opportunity for UMBC to benefit from a system-wide initiative sharing of resources.          

 UMBC funded proposals and awards will be managed in Kuali. Future functionality will include tracking negotiations, reporting, compliance and finally the close-out process.

 For questions, just email us at OSP Team at the following:  http://OSPA@UMBC.edu.

 For further information and to sign-up for Kuali training, go to UMBC Kuali Website at: