Research Administration Terms
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- A-21
- AAN
- Administrative Salaries
- Award
- Allocable Costs
- Allowable Costs
- Award Terms and Conditons
- Capital Equipment
- Cayuse 424
- Compliance Training Requirements
- Consistent Costs
- Cost Principles
- Cost Sharing
- Cost Transfer
- Direct Costs
- Early PTA
- Effort
- eSubmit
- FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations)
- Fabrication
- Federal Regulations
- Fringe Benefit Rate
- Gift
- Guarantee PTA
- IO (Institutional Official)
- Indirect Costs
- MTDC - Modified Total Direct Cost
- NCX (No Cost Extension)
- NOA (Notice of Award)
- PDRF
- PI Quarterly Review and Certification
- Preaward Spending
- Proposal
- Reasonable Costs
- SBS (Stanford Based Salary)
- SeRA (Stanford Electronic Reseaerch Administration) System
- SOW (Statement of Work)
- Solicitation
- Sponsored Award Notification
- Sponsored Project
- Stanford Base Salary
- Subaward
- TGP (Tuition Grant Program)
- Uniform Guidance
A-21
Circular No. A-21 Cost Principles for Educational Institutions is an OMB (Office of Management and Budget) document that sets forth the government regulatory costing principles which must be followed by educational institutions conducting Government Sponsored Research. As of 12/26/2014 the Uniform Guidance replaced OMB Circular A-21 for all new awards and increments with effective dates on or after 12/26/2014.
AAN
A SeRA Award Approval Notification (AAN) is a SeRA system generated e-mail notification to the PI and PTA Manager advising that a sponsored project award has been accepted on behalf of Stanford University and the Account Setup is in progress.
Administrative Salaries
Salaries of clerical and administrative personnel may not be charged directly to federal project unless the effort is proposed as integral to the project and justified.
Administrative salaries can be charged to nonfederal project if the effort benefits the project. Some nonfederal sponsors may prohibit charging administrative salaries.
Award
The award is the official agreement document notifying the grantee, recipient, and others that an award has been issued and stating the terms and conditions of the award.
Allocable Costs
Only those costs that BENEFIT a project may be charged to that project
Allowable Costs
Allowable and unallowable costs are defined by federal regulations and in the terms of specific awards
Award Terms and Conditons
Each award notice specifically identifies certain conditions that are applicable to, and become part of, that award. The award conditions are typically available electronically on the sponsor's website.
Capital Equipment
Unless otherwise specified by the sponsor terms and conditions, assets are defined as capital equipment by Stanford when the following three criteria are met.
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Cost is $5,000 or greater
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Useful life of more than one year, and
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It is an individual, stand-alone, moveable, tangible item
Cayuse 424
Cayuse 424 is a web-based system-to-system solution that allows users to create, review and submit Grants.Gov proposals to OSR or RMG for institutional review and submission to federal sponsors.
Please visit the ORA SeRA and Cayuse 424 User Guides webpage for the full suite of informative Cayuse 424 user guides.
Compliance Training Requirements
Principal Investigator (PI) responsibilities include directing research and managing financial aspects of research in compliance with Stanford policy, federal and state laws, and sponsor requirements.
Training that addresses these responsibilities is available, and in some cases, it is required. PIs are responsible for ensuring that they, their students and staff meet compliance training requirements.
Consistent Costs
Costs must be handled consistently across the university by following Stanford policy
Cost Principles
Stanford policy and federal regulations such as the Uniform Guidance state fundamental principles of research administration.
An expense qualifies as a direct cost to a sponsored project only when it meets the following four principles.
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Allowable: Allowable and unallowable costs are defined by federal regulations and in the terms of specific awards
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Allocable: Only those costs that BENEFIT a project may be charged to that project
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Reasonable: Costs must reflect what a prudent person would pay
- Consistent: Costs must be handled consistently across the university by following Stanford policy
Everyone that authorizes expenses at Stanford for any purpose must confirm prior to approving a transaction that the expenditures are:
- reasonable and necessary
- consistent with established Stanford policy and practices, as well as a sponsor's terms & conditions
- applicable to the work of Stanford, which includes; instruction, research, and public service
Cost Sharing
Cost sharing is that portion of the project costs represented in the proposal budget borne by Stanford rather than the sponsor. Cost sharing must be proposed and accepted by the sponsor and must be accounted for in its own task. Any direct cost that is allowable, allocable, reasonable and consistent can be cost shared. However equipment cannot be offered as cost sharing unless it is specified in the award announcement.
Mandatory Cost Sharing
Required by the sponsor as a condition of obtaining the award. It is quantified in the proposal and is legally binding.
Voluntary Cost Sharing
Is not required by the sponsor as a condition of obtaining the award. It must be included in the proposal.
Committed Cost Sharing
Is when an award is received and there was either a mandatory or voluntary cost sharing commitment by Stanford in the proposal. The cost sharing activity becomes a binding commitment which the University must provide as part of the performance of the sponsored agreement. This commitment must be tracked in the accounting system as cost sharing.
Voluntary Uncommitted Cost Sharing
Faculty donated effort or other direct costs agreed to as part of the award. Since it was not proposed and constitutes “additional” time or materials it is not considered a binding agreement and is not accounted for as cost sharing.
Matching
Refers to the sponsor requirement that the University match grant funds in some proportion with funds from another party, either from the University or more typically another sponsor (with both sponsors’ approval). Matching requirements may be in the form of actual cash expenditure of funds or may be an “in-kind” match, which is the value of non-cash contributions to the project. An in-kind or matching contribution made by a party other than Stanford requires documentation from the third party supporting the use of the funds as in-kind/matching and may require a certification of fair market value.
Cost Transfer
A cost transfer is an after-the-fact reallocation of costs associated with a transaction from one project to another.
Direct Costs
Direct costs are those costs that can be identified specifically with a particular sponsored project, an instructional activity, or any other institutional activity, or that can be directly assigned to such activities relatively easily with a high degree of accuracy. Direct costs include, but are not limited to:
- salaries
- travel
- equipment
- material and supplies directly benefiting the sponsored project or activity
According to Stanford policy and federal regulations, an expense qualifies as a direct cost for a sponsored project when it meets all four cost principles: allowable, allocable, reasonable and consistent.
Early PTA
A PTA (Project-Task-Award) is set up, in the SeRA Sponsored PTA Manager module, to establish a new project or activity. An Early PTA is an internal option to allow spending in advance of a fully executed award.
When it is necessary to request an early PTA, the PI must identify a guarantee PTA with unrestricted funds to cover the costs in the event that the award does not materialize.
Effort
Effort is a financial concept that you apply when writing a proposal and during award management. The Research Policy Handbook (RPH) and The Administrative Guide (AGM), provide extensive detailed guidance on this topic.
Effort refers to the percentage of a person’s Stanford FTE (Full-Time Equivalence) allocated to a specific activity or project. For faculty this includes teaching, research activities, and University citizenship and can never exceed 100%.
eSubmit
eSubmit is Stanford's drop box for electronic research proposals and provides storage, routing, and tracking features. Potential users include faculty, departmental staff, and central office staff who participate in the creation, approval, and submission of these electronic proposals. It is primarily used in the School of Medicine.
FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations)
FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations) set forth the terms and conditions for Federal contracts.
Fabrication
Equipment fabrication: a unique individual piece of equipment, or scientific instrument built by Stanford personnel not a vendor or subcontractor. The completed fabricated product must meet the criteria listed for capital equipment and the fabrication criteria listed in the Property Management Manual 2.6 Fabrication
Federal Regulations
Shorthand for OMB Circular A-21, A-110, A-133 and the Uniform Guidance and other government regulations.
Fringe Benefit Rate
Fringe Benefit Rates are established in accordance with the federal policy. They are negotiated between Stanford and the ONR (Office of Naval Research), the cognizant federal agency overseeing the administration of sponsored agreements at Stanford.
The fringe benefit rate covers the costs of employee benefits.
Gift
A gift is any item of value given to the University by a donor who expects nothing of value in return, other than recognition (for example, being listed on an honor roll or naming a building, fund, professorship, etc. in the donor's honor), and disposition of the gift in accordance with the donor's wishes.
Guarantee PTA
A guarantee PTA is an unrestricted source of funds that could cover the costs in the event that an award does not materialize.
A guarantee PTA is used when requesting an Early PTA for spending in advance of a fully executed award.
IO (Institutional Official)
The IO (Institutional Official) is an individual named by Stanford, who is authorized to act for the institution, and to assume the obligations imposed by federal, state and local laws, regulations, requirements and conditions, as well as Stanford policy that applies to a proposal and award.
The IO reviews, endorses, signs and submits proposals to the sponsor on behalf of Stanford. In signing a proposal and in accepting a corresponding award, this individual certifies that Stanford will comply with the assurances and certifications referenced in the application.
This individual's signature further certifies that Stanford will be accountable both for appropriate use of funds awarded and performance of the sponsored project activities resulting from the application.
Indirect Costs
Also known as F&A.
F&A (Facilities & Administrative) costs are related to expenses incurred in conducting or supporting research or other externally-funded activities but not directly attributable to a specific project.
Federal agencies use different terms to describe these costs. The terms F&A costs and IDC (Indirect Costs) refer to the same thing.
F&A rates are established in accordance with federal policy. They are negotiated between Stanford and ONR (Office of Naval Research), the cognizant federal agency overseeing the administration of sponsored agreements at Stanford.
MTDC - Modified Total Direct Cost
MTDC is the base to which F&A (indirect cost) rates are applied. The Uniform Guidance excludes participant support costs from the MTDC base and defines this base for sponsored projects awarded on or after December 26, 2014 as follows:
MTDC means all direct salaries and wages, applicable fringe benefits, materials and supplies, services, travel, and up to the first $25,000 of each subaward (regardless of the period of performance of the subawards under the award). MTDC excludes equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, rental costs, tuition remission, scholarships and fellowships, participant support costs and the portion of each subaward in excess of $25,000.
NCX (No Cost Extension)
A no-cost extension extends the project period beyond the original project end date. As the phrase “no cost” suggests, there is no additional funding. It allows a PI (Principal Investigator) additional time to complete the scope of work of her/his project without additional funding. The fact that funds remain at the expiration of the grant is not, in itself, sufficient justification for an extension without additional funds.
A no-cost extension may be requested by the PI when all three of the following conditions are met:
- The end of the project period is approaching, AND
- There is a programmatic need to continue the research, AND
- There are sufficient funds remaining to cover the extended effort
To request a No Cost Extension submit a Central Office Request in SeRA
NOA (Notice of Award)
The SeRA NOA is an email to the PI and PTA Manager generated by the SeRA system which indicates that a sponsored project award has been fully set up in Oracle financials and contains the Oracle PTA account number.
PDRF
The PDRF (Proposal Development Routing Form) is an electronic form that is accessed through the SeRA system. PIs and department administrators are required to use the PDRF to document, route and track a proposal for institutional review.
PI Quarterly Review and Certification
The PI is responsible for reviewing all project expenses including cost shared expenses and certifying that the costs are appropriate. The following certification statement appears in the eCertification system as is applicable for every sponsored project and cost sharing account:
As the principal investigator I confirm to the best of my knowledge that the salary and wages charged to this project are appropriate in relation to work performed on this project. All other costs charged to this project are, to the best of my knowledge, appropriate. Where required, corrections have been or will be made through the accounting system.
Preaward Spending
It is possible to spend before the anticipated award start date if the sponsor authorizes it in writing.
Most federal sponsors allow preaward spending for grants 90 calendar days prior to the anticipated award start date.
Proposal
A proposal is a detailed request for funding usually prepared in accordance with the sponsor’s instructions. A PI (Principal Investigator) documents his/her research ideas and methodology in a detailed proposal to ask for a potential sponsor's financial support. The proposal is submitted to the sponsor for funding consideration; acceptance by the sponsor is conveyed by an award to Stanford University.
Reasonable Costs
Costs must reflect what a prudent person would pay.
SBS (Stanford Based Salary)
SBS (Stanford Base Salary) is the annual compensation paid by Stanford to individuals whose time is spent on research, teaching and/or other activities. It includes regular and supplemental salary. It excludes bonus payments and extra compensation such as faculty housing allowance, tuition reimbursement, etc.and any income that an individual is permitted to earn outside of Stanford responsibilities e.g., consulting payments. It may not be increased as a result of replacing Stanford’s salary funds with sponsored project funds.
SeRA (Stanford Electronic Reseaerch Administration) System
SeRA is the institutional system of record for sponsored projects that supports the various stages of a project's lifecycle. SeRA is comprised of five modules: PDRF (Proposal, Development and Routing Form), Award Processing, PTA Manager, Subawards and ARC (Award Reporting in Closeout). The Central Office Request form, which allows you to submit requests for action, by OSR is also accessed through SeRA.
SOW (Statement of Work)
The statement of work describes the what, why, how, and when of the research project. It shows how the project relates to the sponsor’s purpose and goals. For the proposal to succeed in peer review, it must win over the assigned reviewers. The application has two audiences: a small number who are familiar with the field, and the majority of reviewers who are probably not familiar with the proposed research techniques or field. All reviewers are important because each reviewer gets one vote. The proposal should be written and organized so all the reviewers can readily grasp and explain what is proposed and advocate for the proposal.
The statement of work should provide a clear description of the work to be undertaken and must include:
- Objectives for the period of the proposed work
- Expected significance of the proposed work
- Relation to longer-term goals of the PI's project
- Relation to the present state of knowledge in the field
- Relation to work in progress by the PI under other support
- Relation to work in progress elsewhere.
The statement of work should outline the general plan of work, including the broad design of activities to be undertaken, and, where appropriate, provide a clear description of experimental methods and procedures.
Solicitation
A Solicitation is a publicly available document by which a federal agency, corporation, foundation or other nonprofit agency make known its intentions to award discretionary grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts, usually as a result of competition for funds. The solicitation is the roadmap for putting together the proposal. At Stanford, a Solicitation is typically called a Program Announcement (PA).
Sponsored Award Notification
A sponsored award notification is a communication (formal or informal) from an external sponsor to the University or to a PI (Principal Investigator) that their proposal has been selected to be awarded.
It may be an informal communication between an external sponsor and a PI. Some agencies like NIH have a formal mechanism. See NIH Notice of Award.
Sponsored Project
A sponsored project is an externally funded activity governed by terms and conditions specified in a written agreement between the sponsor (e.g., a federal agency, a foundation or a corporation) and an entity such as Stanford University. The sponsored agreement (referred to by many sponsors as the award) is the legal instrument that binds the University to perform the Statement of Work under the direction of a PI (principal investigator) and further specifies the level of funding.
Se RPH 13.1 Gift vs. Sponsored Projects and Distinctions from Other Forms of Funding
Stanford Base Salary
Stanford Base Salary (SBS) is the annual compensation paid by Stanford to individuals whose time is spent on research, teaching and/or other activities.
Stanford Base Salary:
- Includes regular and supplemental salary
- Excludes honorarium, vacation accrual, bonus payments and extra compensation such as faculty housing allowance, tuition reimbursement, etc.
- Excludes any income that an individual is permitted to earn outside of their Stanford responsibilities (e.g., consulting payments)
Subaward
A subaward is a formal written agreement made between Stanford University and another institution or organization to perform an intellectually significant portion of the SOW (Statement of Work) under a Stanford sponsored project.
TGP (Tuition Grant Program)
The TGP (Tuition Grant Program) Fringe rate is assessed on regular benefits eligible salaries charged to all non-government funded PTA’s including sponsored projects, operating budgets and auxiliary PTAs to support the costs of the Tuition Grant Program.
The TGP charge appears in expenditure type 51770 FRINGE BENEFITS TGP.
Uniform Guidance
The Uniform Guidance, issued by OMB (Office of Management and Budget), streamlines and supersedes guidance that was previously contained in eight different OMB Circulars for all new federal awards and increments with effective dates on or after 12/26/2014.
Included in the new guidance are definitions, uniform administrative requirements (both pre- and post-award), cost principles, and audit requirements. From Stanford's perspective, the Uniform Guidance supersedes OMB Circulars A-110, A-21, and A-133.