Frequently Asked Questions
The following are questions frequently asked by researchers and administrators about Sponsored Programs.
Pre-Award
https://www.grantforward.com/index
The Division of Research also provides other sources for funding opportunities through the Research Development Office who disseminate relevant information about funding opportunities tailored to investigator’s research interests. For assistance, contact proposaldevelopment@fau.edu.
- Tenure track faculty (full, associate and assistant professors)
- Non-tenure track research faculty (full, associate and assistant professors)
- Non-tenure track Clinical research faculty (full, associate and assistant professors)
- Instructor (Instructors, if not limited by the length of their contract, and with supervisory recommendation. VPR approval is required.
- Executive Director/Director of a state designated university pillars/institutes or university center
- Librarians holding faculty status equivalent to or greater than assistant professor
- Vice Presidents, Senior/Executive Associate VP, Associate VP & Assistant VP of service areas
- Principals, Assistant Principals, Directors (Associate and Assistant) and Professors (Associate and Assistant) A.D. Henderson School and FAU High School. These proposals and awards will be under and managed by the College of Education
- Senior Research Fellows
Individuals who are employed by Florida Atlantic and hold one of the following positions may serve as a Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) or Co-Investigator (Co-I) when one of the individuals listed on the “Eligible Positions List” above is named as the Principal Investigator (PI).
- Adjunct Faculty
- Affiliate Faculty
- Post-Doctoral Fellows
- Visiting Faculty
Exceptions may be granted at the discretion of the Vice President for Research when the department chair and dean recommend an exception and the Assistant Vice President in the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Integrity Office approves.
Proposal materials, including Florida Atlantic internal documents, must be reviewed and approved by the chair and dean’s office and submitted to the Sponsored Programs office five (5) business days before the sponsor’s deadline. Many colleges impose additional time to allow for the review by the chair and dean’s office.
Proposals received by the OSP at least five (5) business days prior to the sponsor/submission deadline date will receive a full review and will have priority status. Proposals submitted with less than five (5) business days will receive a limited review or no review depending on when it is received in OSP and the current workload of the assigned PCA.
Yes. The Sponsored Programs office reviews pre-proposals, white papers, and letters of intent to sponsors prior to submission even when budget information is not required at that time. The information may not necessarily need to be entered into Novelution during this time if no budget details are being submitted, but should be e-mailed to the college dean and appropriate proposal and contract administrator (PCA) in Sponsored Programs for review.
Sponsors frequently require that Florida Atlantic faculty provide letters of intent, statements of interest (SOI), and preliminary proposals prior to submission of a final proposal. Such documents vary greatly in their content and use by sponsors. Some may be limited to a brief description of the project to allow the sponsor to assess whether the area of work meets their needs. Other preliminary proposals, letters and statements may be close to a complete proposal with some combination of a detailed scope of work, budget, justification, a commitment to provide matching funds, agreement to terms and conditions, sign-off by the Sponsored Programs institutional official and other requirements normally part of a final proposal. Because of this variability, all funding announcements for preliminary proposals, letters and statements must be submitted to the assigned Sponsored Programs proposal and contract administrator for review. The administrator will review and determine whether the letter, statement or preliminary proposal may be expedited or requires review and approval through Florida Atlantic’s Novelution system.
Procedures:
Pre-proposals, white papers, LOIs that do not include budgetary information, cost-share commitments, subcontractors or consultants, do not need to be entered into Novelution. Rather, e-mail the document to the college dean and appropriate Sponsored Programs administrator for review and tracking.
Pre-proposals, white papers, LOIs that include budget information and/or cost-share commitments are treated the same as a full proposal. The proposal information should be entered into Novelution and routed for review by the chair, dean, and Sponsored Programs.
Pre-proposals, white papers, LOIs that a subcontractor or consultant but no budgetary information will need at a minimum an e-mail from the subcontractor and/or consultant outlining their commitment to the project before submitting to Sponsored Programs for review.
https://www.fau.edu/research-admin/docs/policies/sponsored-programs/pre-proposal-policy.pdf
https://www.fau.edu/research-admin/research-admin/sponsored-programs/administrative-information/
However, Florida Atlantic recognizes that some sponsors provide F&A rates that are less than Florida Atlantic’s full rates. Sponsors that have published rates that are less than Florida Atlantic’s full rates are generally accepted. When submitting a proposal to a sponsor who requires a F&A rate that is less than Florida Atlantic’s established rates, a copy of the sponsor’s F&A policy must be attached to the proposal. See Florida Atlantic Policy 10.2.5:
- Subrecipients are entities who have a tax identification number and have the infrastructure and internal controls to carry-out their portion of the Scope of Work
- A PI is identified for the subrecipient and has responsibility for programmatic decision-making and completion of reports (i.e., conduct, direction and reporting of research)
- Must provide a letter of intent signed by subrecipient’s institutional/authorized official
- Must provide a scope of work/statement of work
- Must provide a detailed budget and budget justification
- May include indirect costs when based on a federally approved rate
- Uses the funds to carry out a program within the organization as compared to providing goods or services for a program
- Is responsible for adhering to applicable program compliance requirements (e.g., Uniform Guidance, agency regulations)
- Subrecipient’s PI may be a co-author on publications or may seek patent protection for inventions
- May provide cost sharing or matching funds
- A subaward agreement is executed between the subrecipient and the prime institution (Florida Atlantic)
Consultants
- An individual who is clearly a bona fide consultant (i.e., expert advisor) who pursues this line of business for him/herself
- Consultants are typically individual unless they are a consulting firm or other consulting entity.
- Do not meet the requirements for subrecipient or vendor
- Are non-Florida Atlantic personnel and not classified as an employee at Florida Atlantic
- Is paid based on a daily or hourly fixed rate
- Considered a “work for hire” and thus all intellectual property and copyrightable information is assigned to Florida Atlantic University
For additional information on subrecipients:
https://www.fau.edu/research-admin/sponsored-programs/subawards/
- A letter of intent or National Institutes of Health form called PHS398 signed by the subrecipient’s authorizing official
- Scope of work
- Detailed budget and budget justification
- Copy of the subrecipient’s approved F&A rate agreement
- Letter of commitment outlining the consulting services which is signed by the consultant and includes both the hourly rate and estimated numbers of hours
- Copy of their resume
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In most cases, No. Sponsors typically allow proposals to be submitted while the IRB or IACUC approval is pending. When proposals submitted are pending, the proposal or application should be checked as pending on the routing form. If approval has already been received, the protocol number and approval date should be entered in grantsERA on both the proposal and routing sheet.
Cost share is further classified as either mandatory or voluntary. Mandatory cost share is required by the sponsor as a condition of the award, as stated in the solicitation, program announcement or request for proposal. Failure to include mandatory cost share in a proposal makes the application ineligible for an award.
Voluntary cost share is funding of a sponsored project that is not required by the sponsor.
The Florida Atlantic policy is to include only mandatory cost sharing in proposals submitted to sponsors. If cost sharing is not required for the completion of the project, it should not be included in the proposal.
The level of cost share required may be explicitly stated in the request for proposal as a matching contribution of a specific amount, a minimum percentage of the total allowable costs or a maximum sponsor percentage of participation in such costs. For example, “the applicant must provide an amount equal to the sponsor’s funds – a 50 percent or 1:1 match.” Or, “the applicant must provide 20 percent of total project costs; the sponsor will provide funds not to exceed 80 percent of the total project costs.”
Documentation for cost share in a proposal should include:
- A copy of the sponsor’s documentation providing details of the required cost share (usually a section or page from the request for proposal)
- Completed cost-share form signed by the PI, Chair and Dean. The cost-share (short form) is required at proposal time. If proposal is selected for funding, the detailed cost-share form will need to be completed and submitted to the Office of Sponsored Programs.
- Third party cost share requires a letter of commitment from the authorized representative of the entity endorsing and quantifying the contribution
Florida Atlantic Cost Sharing Policy 10.5.4 contains additional details on the treatment of cost sharing:
For NIH eRA Commons registration, the PI must provide the administrator his or her first and last name, institution email address and a preferred user ID. If a user ID is not provided, the standard user ID issued will contain the investigator’s first initial followed by their name if that user ID is available. Once registered, the investigator will receive an email guiding him/her through the log-in process, including establishing a unique password.
For NSF registration, principal investigators must go to Research.gov and complete the new user registration. They will be required to affiliate themselves with Florida Atlantic. Once the registration has been completed, the PCA in OSP will assign the Principal Investigator role and proposals can now be created.
Budget Development
Direct costs are expenses that can be directly associated with a particular sponsored project or activity. These include, but are not limited to, salaries, benefits, other personnel services, other contractual services, travel, supplies, materials and equipment.
Division of Cost Allocation
330 Independence Avenue, SW Cohen Building, Room 10-67
Washington, DC 20201
This is the agency with which Florida Atlantic negotiates its indirect costs rates.
Florida Atlantic Rate Agreement may be found here: https://www.fau.edu/research-admin/sponsored-programs/files/fau-3020-rate-agreement-2020-fy22-rates.pdf
Florida Atlantic Rate Agreement may be found here:
- Equipment and instrumentation grants
- Doctoral dissertation grants or other student augmentation grants
- Faculty mentors (also known as preceptors or program faculty) on institutional training grants.
- Faculty mentor’s effort will be assigned to their specific research projects on which the trainees are involved
- Specialty License Plates
- Limited purpose awards characterized as Other Sponsored Activities like travel grants or conference support.
Please choose from the twelve or nine month appointment charts as appropriate.
Twelve Month Appointments (Full Time)
Percent Effort to Calendar Months
| Percent Effort | Calendar Months | Percent Effort | Calendar Months | Percent Effort | Calendar Months | Percent Effort | Calendar Months | Percent Effort | Calendar Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1% | 0.1 | 21% | 2.5 | 41% | 4.9 | 61% | 7.3 | 81% | 9.7 |
| 2% | 0.2 | 22% | 2.6 | 42% | 5 | 62% | 7.4 | 82% | 9.8 |
| 3% | 0.4 | 23% | 2.8 | 43% | 5.2 | 63% | 7.6 | 83% | 10 |
| 4% | 0.5 | 24% | 2.9 | 44% | 5.3 | 64% | 7.7 | 84% | 10.1 |
| 5% | 0.6 | 25% | 3 | 45% | 5.4 | 65% | 7.8 | 85% | 10.2 |
| 6% | 0.7 | 26% | 3.1 | 46% | 5.5 | 66% | 7.9 | 86% | 10.3 |
| 7% | 0.8 | 27% | 3.2 | 47% | 5.6 | 67% | 8 | 87% | 10.4 |
| 8% | 1 | 28% | 3.4 | 48% | 5.8 | 68% | 8.2 | 88% | 10.6 |
| 9% | 1.1 | 29% | 3.5 | 49% | 5.9 | 69% | 8.3 | 89% | 10.7 |
| 10% | 1.2 | 30% | 3.6 | 50% | 6 | 70% | 8.4 | 90% | 10.8 |
| 11% | 1.3 | 31% | 3.7 | 51% | 6.1 | 71% | 8.5 | 91% | 10.9 |
| 12% | 1.4 | 32% | 3.8 | 52% | 6.2 | 72% | 8.6 | 92% | 11 |
| 13% | 1.6 | 33% | 4 | 53% | 6.4 | 73% | 8.8 | 93% | 11.2 |
| 14% | 1.7 | 34% | 4.1 | 54% | 6.5 | 74% | 8.9 | 94% | 11.3 |
| 15% | 1.8 | 35% | 4.2 | 55% | 6.6 | 75% | 9 | 95% | 11.4 |
| 16% | 1.9 | 36% | 4.3 | 56% | 6.7 | 76% | 9.1 | 96% | 11.5 |
| 17% | 2 | 37% | 4.4 | 57% | 6.8 | 77% | 9.2 | 97% | 11.6 |
| 18% | 2.2 | 38% | 4.6 | 58% | 7 | 78% | 9.4 | 98% | 11.8 |
| 19% | 2.3 | 39% | 4.7 | 59% | 7.1 | 79% | 9.5 | 99% | 11.9 |
| 20% | 2.4 | 40% | 4.8 | 60% | 7.2 | 80% | 9.6 | 100% | 12 |
Nine Month Appointments (Full Time)
Percent Effort to Calendar Months
| Percent Effort | Calendar Months | Percent Effort | Calendar Months | Percent Effort | Calendar Months | Percent Effort | Calendar Months | Percent Effort | Calendar Months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1% | 0.1 | 21% | 1.9 | 41% | 3.7 | 61% | 5.5 | 81% | 7.3 |
| 2% | 0.2 | 22% | 2 | 42% | 3.8 | 62% | 5.6 | 82% | 7.4 |
| 3% | 0.3 | 23% | 2.1 | 43% | 3.9 | 63% | 5.7 | 83% | 7.5 |
| 4% | 0.4 | 24% | 2.2 | 44% | 4 | 64% | 5.8 | 84% | 7.6 |
| 5% | 0.5 | 25% | 2.3 | 45% | 4.1 | 65% | 5.9 | 85% | 7.7 |
| 6% | 0.5 | 26% | 2.3 | 46% | 4.1 | 66% | 5.9 | 86% | 7.7 |
| 7% | 0.6 | 27% | 2.4 | 47% | 4.2 | 67% | 6 | 87% | 7.8 |
| 8% | 0.7 | 28% | 2.5 | 48% | 4.3 | 68% | 6.1 | 88% | 7.9 |
| 9% | 0.8 | 29% | 2.6 | 49% | 4.4 | 69% | 6.2 | 89% | 8 |
| 10% | 0.9 | 30% | 2.7 | 50% | 4.5 | 70% | 6.3 | 90% | 8.1 |
| 11% | 1 | 31% | 2.8 | 51% | 4.6 | 71% | 6.4 | 91% | 8.2 |
| 12% | 1.1 | 32% | 2.9 | 52% | 4.7 | 72% | 6.5 | 92% | 8.3 |
| 13% | 1.2 | 33% | 3 | 53% | 4.8 | 73% | 6.6 | 93% | 8.4 |
| 14% | 1.3 | 34% | 3.1 | 54% | 4.9 | 74% | 6.7 | 94% | 8.5 |
| 15% | 1.4 | 35% | 3.2 | 55% | 5 | 75% | 6.8 | 95% | 8.6 |
| 16% | 1.4 | 36% | 3.2 | 56% | 5 | 76% | 6.8 | 96% | 8.6 |
| 17% | 1.5 | 37% | 3.3 | 57% | 5.1 | 77% | 6.9 | 97% | 8.7 |
| 18% | 1.6 | 38% | 3.4 | 58% | 5.2 | 78% | 7 | 98% | 8.8 |
| 19% | 1.7 | 39% | 3.5 | 59% | 5.3 | 79% | 7.1 | 99% | 8.9 |
| 20% | 1.8 | 40% | 3.6 | 60% | 5.4 | 80% | 7.2 | 100% | 9 |
Conversion of percentage of effort to person months is straight-forward. To calculate person months, multiply the percentage of your effort associated with the project times the number of months of your appointment. The percent effort conversion can be calculated using the effort calculator.
https://www.fau.edu/research-admin/research-admin/sponsored-programs/time-and-effort-calculator/
Please refer to the following link for eligibility and policy guidelines:
http://www.fau.edu/graduate/tuition-benefits/pdf/Tuition_Benefits_Policy_for_Graduate_Students.pdf
Post-Award
Prior to a Workday account being fully setup, all sponsored projects involving humans, animals or biohazardous materials must have an IRB, IACUC or IBC protocol approval on file. The PI should contact the Research Integrity Office for guidance on obtaining approval.
If a researcher discloses a financial conflict on the Disclosure of Financial Interest Form, the potential conflict must be reviewed by the FCOI prior to the set-up of a Workday account. The FCOI committee will review the conflict and determine if there is a financial conflict of interest and if a management plan should be established.
If IRB/IACUC/IBC or FCOI is still pending, the Office of Sponsored Programs will prepare the post-award paperwork and forward to the Research Accounting Office as a “SP HOLD”. Research Accounting will establish the Workday account, but will not authorize spending on the account until the pending compliance approvals have been received. Once all compliance approvals are in place, the Office of Sponsored Programs office will notify Research Accounting to finalize the Workday account.
A no-cost extension is requested when additional time is needed to complete the research. The request is submitted to the sponsor and, if approved, it allows the PI additional time to complete the scope of work of his/her project without additional funding.
Before requesting a no-cost extension, PIs should be sure that there are sufficient funds still available for the PI to maintain the same level of effort during the no-cost extension period. If sufficient funds are not available, approval from the sponsor may be needed to reduce the effort during this time. Contact the proposal and contract administrator in the Office of Sponsored Programs for guidance on how to submit a request for a no-cost extension.
Research study subjects are individuals who agree to participate in a research study funded either internally or externally (sponsored) and who will receive payment for their participation as allowed by the programmatic guidelines and approved by the funding agency. There are two types of payment methods for study subjects:
University payment through accounts payable – Florida Atlantic prefers the use of Florida Atlantic EFT/ACH (Electronic Fund Transfer/Automatic Clearing House) when compensating research study subjects. Although this method may require incremental administrative effort, it substantially minimizes the risk of loss or misappropriation of funds.
Gift cards purchased after receiving an advance via accounts payable – The distribution of gift cards to research study subjects in exchange for participation in a research study may be appropriate based on the perceived preference of the recipient population. Gift cards are considered cash or cash equivalents and are subject to the university’s expenditure guidelines and could be considered income to the individual for tax purposes.
For more information regarding study subject payment, please refer to the Accounting for Payments to Research Study Subjects, Including Gift Cards policy at: https://www.fau.edu/research-admin/research-admin/docs/policies/research-accounting/10.5.1-gift-card-policy.pdf
As a state university, Florida Atlantic is required to follow the State of Florida’s procurement requirements when purchasing materials, supplies, equipment or services for research purchases. This requires obtaining an additional quote from another vendor/company when purchasing an item or service that is $20K or more. Certain provisions in federal law allow state universities to exempt the requirements when certain conditions are met.
For federally funded project, one or more of the following criteria should be included to support the justification:
- Item is available only from a single source and is not available from other sources;
- A public exigency or emergency for the requirement will not permit a delay resulting from competitive solicitation;
- The federal awarding agency expressly authorizes noncompetitive proposals in response to a written request from non-Federal entity (Florida Atlantic);
- After a solicitation of a number of sources, competition is determined inadequate.
In most cases, an SP Exemption form is used for exemption C. When a specific vendor/service is named in the proposal and the awarding agency approves and awards the project, this has met the requirements of exemption C.
For exemptions A and D, the procurement office must deem the vendor/item as a sole source or inadequate solicitation.
When a purchase is $20K or more and meets one of the above criteria, the PI should complete a Sponsored Programs Exemption Form and certify that the purchase is necessary for the efficient or expeditious execution of the research project and forward to the Office of Sponsored Programs for approval.
A Sponsored Programs exemption shall only be used when the purchase is fully funded from sponsored funds.
Permission to re-budget from one budget category to another budget category depends on the terms and conditions outlined by a sponsor and/or stated in the award document. Principal Investigators and research administrators should review the award terms and be aware of any sponsor imposed budget restrictions or requirements for the sponsored project.
When rebudgeting is necessary and if the sponsor allows the re-budgeting, the PI or his/her designee should submit a budget amendment request through Workday and upload a completed Budget Amendment for Sponsored Account form:
Once the budget amendment request is routed and approved by the college approvers, the request will route to the Office of Sponsored Programs for review and final approval.
Work-for-hire projects are typically solicited by industry sponsors who require very specific deliverables and desire to enter into a more commercial type of purchasing agreement with Florida Atlantic. In most cases, the sponsor expects to own all of the intellectual property developed under the agreement and may also restrict publication and require warranties on the work.
Conversely, Florida Atlantic typically conducts research projects that promote public interest and usually lead to publishable research or provide for educational opportunities. Such agreements must permit the disclosure and publication of university research results, although limited delays in publication for patent filing may be acceptable.
It is Florida Atlantic’s policy, except in unusual cases, to require that works and inventions developed in the course of university research sponsored by private persons, business and not-for-profit entities, and state and local governmental agencies, be the property of Florida Atlantic. See the Office of Technology Development website for more information: http://www.fau.edu/research-admin/technology-development/
Additionally, Florida Atlantic research projects are performed on a best-effort basis, and by its very nature, the results of research may not be guaranteed. Publication restrictions from any source can lead to significant risks, such as loss of the fundamental research exemption and the not-for-profit purpose of the organization.
When presented with a work-for-hire project, the PI should consult with the Office of Sponsored Programs. Florida Atlantic’s Sponsored Research Agreement template will be offered to more suitably frame the project in terms of academic research.