GCFA CONNECTION

Grants & Contracts Financial Administration

OklahomaStateUniversity

Vol. 1, 7/04

EMERGENCY ACCOUNT PROCEDURES

The following procedures will be used to establish and to maintain Emergency Accounts.

1.OSU Policy 3-0253, 2.03-2.04 addresses the need to set up emergency accounts prior to an award document being received. Section 2.04 states that routing of award documents is normally targeted for completion within a 30-day period for an emergency account.

2.Request for emergency accounts should be on the GCFA approved form and include all information that is marked with an asterisk. (Derivatives are acceptable if all required information is included). Other information that should be included if available is:

A.Prior year account number(s).

B.ADACs (department number) numbers of each department/college involved (if more than one account is requested).

C.Primary routing number if the request is for a secondary account number. (i.e. NSF/EPSCoR and OSRHE/EPSCoR accounts should always refer to the primary GU routing number).

3.Procedures for extension of an emergency account:

A. The GCFA office sends out a total of three (3) letters electronically to the college research offices stating the current status of an emergency account.

1.The first letter is sent after the account is 30 days old.

2.The second letter is sent after the account is 60days old.

3.The third letter is sent after the account is 90days old.The third letter will also be sent tothe college Research Directors.

4.All letters require a response within 10 working days (the date is specifically stated on each letter). Non-response will result in:

a.the account being frozen;

b.a request for an account number thatany expenses can be moved; and

c.the account being deleted.

4.There are some notable exceptions:

A.The college may request an extension beyond the 90 day window due to on-going

negotiations with the sponsor. Documentationthat validates this request (copy of sponsor email, etc.) will be provided to the GCFA office.

B.Other extenuating circumstances may occur to prevent timely delivery of the award documents. The college is responsible for notifying and providing GCFA with documentation of these circumstances and keeping GCFA informed of the progress of the negotiations.

5.Emergency Accounts set up for BDS purposes will be noted as exceptions to the normal emergency accountextension procedures. The time frame for beginning the extension procedures for BDS emergency accounts will begin on the stated start date of the account. At that time all other procedures for emergency accounts will become effective.

The revised GCFA Emergency AccountRequest letter can be found on the GCFAwebsite at: under the Forms & Contracts section.

Please contact Kathie Tanner(744-8240 ) regardingany questions on these procedures.

USDA Changes Indirect Cost Rate

We have been advised that USDA has changed their indirect costs (F&A) rates for fiscal year 2005. The new rate is 20% of total federal funds provided, except for grants under the Small Business Innovation Research Program which receives full F&A costs. Another method of calculation is 25% on the total direct costs. Some programs are not subject to this limitation; be sure to check the appropriate RFA’s for applicability. The website for this announcement is:

NIH Revises Salary Cap

The March 2004 issue of the Report on Research Compliance included thisinformation: NIH announced its salarylimitation for grant and cooperative agreementawards and extramural research anddevelopment contract awards for 2004. Thecap limits individual salaries that can becharged to a grant, though it does not limit thesalary that an institution can pay a researcher. In 2003, the executive Level I salary rate was$171,900. For 2004, it has increased to$174,500. For more information about the capannouncementvisit thiswebsite:

OMB Issues Changes to Circular A-21

On May 10, 2004, The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) issued revisions to Circular A-21 in an effort to create consistency across all the federal cost circularsand to clarify and make the policies moreunderstandable where possible, whileremaining consistent with original intent, e.g.none of these changes are meant to be policychanges. The revisions became effective June9, 2004.

You can access a summary of the changes on the GCFA website under the Newsletter and Information section.

The final version of the Circular can be accessed at

Also, the guidelines for Identifying Unallowable Costs has been revised accordingly and is also available on the GCFA website as listed above.

If you have any questions, please contact Cindy Todd at 744-6097.

Request for Cost Share & Waived F&A Form Update

The Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer’s (VPR) office has revised the form used to request VPR Cost Share to also include items that address the changes occurring in the waived F&A policy. The form now addresses the following actions:

  • Request for VPR Cost Share
  • Request to Return F&A to the project - to be used as cost share
  • Request to Return F&A to the project - to enhance the project (not as cost share)
  • Request for an exception to the proposed procedure regarding the voluntary waiver of F&A. (If this action is approved by Dr. McKeever, then central administration would share in the waiver; otherwise, any voluntary waiver of F&A would be funded from the college working fund account).

The new form is located on the VPR website in the forms section: If you have any questions, please call Jason Pogue at 744-9992.

OMB Completes Changes to A-133 Compliance Supplement

OMB has finished its revision of the March 2004 A-133 Compliance Supplement. It will apply to auditsperformed for fiscal years beginning after June 30, 2003.

The full supplement is available at:

A list of changes for the 2004 Compliance Supplement can be found on this OMB website:

Update on Policy Revisions

Policy 1-0112 (Distribution of F&A) is scheduled for Executive Team review in July. The most notable change in the policy update is the manner in which voluntary waiver will be managed. In the past, voluntary waiver was shared between the college/department and General University. Unless certain criteria are met or otherwise approved by the Vice President of Research and Technology Transfer, the college/department will bear the full share of voluntary waiver.

Confusion still arises over the treatment of annual leave and sick leave for faculty and staff supported by soft funds. Rough drafts of policies that will address these issues have been forwarded to Human Resources. Once HR has reviewed the drafts and has proposed certain deletions or additional language, the drafts will be circulated to the members of the Sponsored Program Research Committee (SPRC) working group.