ABCs of Research - Meeting Minutes March 19, 2009

Meeting Agenda
(PDF handout from the meeting)

• Updates - These items were not discussed during the meeting, but are of importance; please review them!
  1. Save the Date!
     Research Administration Conference 7/21/09
  2. New OSR Subcontracting Team
  3. Reminder - New NSF PAPPG - effective April 6, 2009 
  4. Updated SU-42
  5. NIH Salary Cap Increase
  6. Capital Equipment Approver Routing Procedure

Code of Conduct
Peggy Wiley

A "Helpline" form is available on the Institutional Compliance website to provide reporting of non-compliance (anonymity optional), or for asking questions regarding compliance issues. 

You may submit a Compliance Helpline Request in several ways:

1. Web Submission (anonymous, if desired): Helpline Request Form
2. Email Submission: compliance@stanford.edu
3. Telephone or fax contact:
   
   • Compliance Help Line
     Phone: 650-721-2667
                (650-721-COMP liance) 
   • Peggy Wiley, Sr Associate Director - Institutional Compliance
     Phone: 650-736-8196
     Fax: 650-725-0073
   • Rick Moyer, Executive Director of Institutional Compliance
     Phone: 650-736-1201
     Fax: 650-725-0073

Posters are available to put in break/coffee areas; contact Peggy to order.

New Travel Card
Belinda Vaughan & Liane Pfeiffer

Demo of new MTA eRouting system
Sally O'Neil

• Presentation
• Electronic SU-18A
• Material Transfer Agreements

Research Administration Updates
Anne Hannigan

• Presentation

New Cost Transfer Policy
Ken Schulz

• Presentation

SeRA Update
Mich Pane

• Presentation

New Forecasting Systems (FFIT and CMS)
Patti McCabe and Bryan Brown

• Presentation

President Barack Obama recently signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law. The $787 billion stimulus bill allocates $21.5 billion for federal research and development, to be invested within two years.

We’ve set up a website and ListServ to keep you apprised of all the information coming out on this. There are going to be very significant reporting requirements, which will also flow down to any subawards, so keep that in mind as you move forward. Also, submission dates are coming very quickly - some will be in April and May.

How can PIs Prepare?  Some of our large agencies, such as NIH and NSF, are planning to award grant applications submitted late in CY2008 that showed merit but could not be funded because of budget constraints.  In these cases, the PIs are being contacted by the agencies directly. 

NIH will fund projects that have the potential for making scientific progress in 2 years.  They expect to:

1. Select recently peer reviewed highly meritorious research grant applications (R01s and others), that can be accomplished in 2 years or less.
2. Accelerate the tempo of ongoing science through targeted supplements to current grants.
3. Support new types of activities such as the NIH Challenge Grant program that meet the goals of the ARRA.  Note to PIs:  If you submitted to NIH recently and were not funded, and are planning a challenge grant, contact your institute and see if they are considering previously rejected proposals before you do the work.  In some cases, the institutes are contacting PIs and having them submit revised budgets, aims, and other components in a JIT format.

Note for NIH Subawards on Challenge Grants: "... funding for any foreign component should not exceed 10% of the total requested direct costs or $25,000 (aggregate total for all subcontracts and subawards), whichever is less." (read the full notice for further details)

NSF is planning to award projects as follows:

1. All grants issued with Recovery Act funds will be standard grants with durations of up to 5 years.  This approach will allow NSF to structure a sustainable portfolio.
2. Funding of new Principal Investigators and high-risk, high-return research will be top priorities.
3. The majority of proposals eligible for Recovery Act funding include those that are already in house and will be reviewed and/or awarded prior to September 30, 2009.   NSF also will consider proposals declined on or after October 1, 2008.

Other agencies have their priorities listed on their recovery websites.

In all cases, be sure to detail how you are retaining or creating positions as a result of stimulus funding.

Updates:

1. Save the Date!  Research Administration Conference 7/21/09
   
   
2. New OSR Subcontracting Team
   
   
3. Updated NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (Again!)
   
   
   • Proposers responding to a funding opportunity with a due date on or after January 5, 2009 must comply with these guidelines
     
   • Proposers responding to a funding opportunity with a due date on or after April 6, 2009 must comply with these guidelines

   NSF has published a revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) which will be effective for proposals received on or after April 6, 2009.    

   Part I of the PAPP Guide, which consists of the Grant Proposal Guide, has been revised to update NSF’s implementation of the mentoring requirement contained in the America COMPETES Act.  Beginning April 6, 2009, each proposal that requests funding to support postdoctoral researchers must include, as a supplementary document, a description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals.  In no more than one page, the mentoring plan must describe the mentoring that will be provided to all postdoctoral researchers supported by the project, irrespective of whether they reside at the submitting organization, any subawardee organization, or at any organization participating in a simultaneously submitted collaborative project. 

   While the new version of the PAPP Guide becomes effective on April 6, 2009, in the interim, proposers must adhere to the current policy which requires the plan be submitted as a separate section within the 15-page Project Description.  The Summary of Significant Changes provides more detail on the various sections of the Grant Proposal Guide that were updated to effect this change.  Additional significant changes are available online. 
   
   

4. Updates to SU-42
   
   The SU-42 form was updated on February 24, 2009.  As part of an initiative by the President's Office to capture international activities on campus, and in order to meet new IRS reporting requirements, a question has been added to Section B: "Research is International in scope or location: Y/N". 
   
   

5. NIH Salary Cap Increase
   
   Effective January 1, 2009, the Executive Level I salary level salary rate increased to $196,700.  When the final FY 2009 Appropriation is enacted, additional information on the salary cap will be published. 
   Refer to Notice Number: NOT-OD-09-037
   
   

6. Capital Equipment Approver Routing Procedure
   
   Standard requisitions created for the purchase of capital equipment must be routed to the Department Property Administrator (DPA) in addition to the Department Budget Approver. Capital equipment is defined as a stand-alone, moveable item, having an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more, and a useful life of more than one year. During the requisition approval process, it is the responsibility of the DPA to enter Screening Attestation information in the Capital Equipment template.
   
   Issue:

   • If capital equipment requisitions are routed to the Budget Approver and others prior to the DPA, the DPA will be unable to edit the requisition to enter the required capital equipment Screening Attestation information.
   • In this case, the Originator will need to update the requisition and re-route it to the previous approvers on the Approver Routing list.
     

   Action Required:

   • When Requisition Originators are reviewing and updating approver routing lists in iProcurement, they must add a DPA name to the routing list.  Note that the required budget approvers name will appear by default on the requisition routing.
   • When adding the DPA name to the Approver Routing, make sure that you update the sequence of approvers so that the DPA name is listed "before" all other approvers.  This will enable the DPA to edit the Capital Equipment template with the required information.

   Questions:

   • Overview: Buying and Accounting for Capital Equipment
   • To identify your local Department Property Administrator, use the DPA Lookup Tool
   • For additional assistance, contact your Property Service Representative within the Property Management Office.
   • Oracle Financial Systems Support
     Visit the Gateway to Financial Activities Web Site