Awards Setup, Management & Closeout

The award management process begins once you have met your funding source's compliance requirements, the program provisions are complete, and the award is available and set up in PeopleSoft.

Throughout the project term, some of the following changes may occur:

• Changes in key personnel
• Award end dates
• Budgeted amounts
• International travel
• Specialized equipment

The UTSW financial system must reflect accurate award limitations and restrictions. This critical stage receives regular audits throughout the project life cycle.

How to Manage Your Award

• Confirm Award Details

  Review your Grant Notification Report (GNR) to confirm that your award details are correct and let SPA know of any issues you might need to be addressed.

• Ensure an Accurate Budget

  Verify funding to ensure an accurate project budget, analyze funding to ensure an accurate project budget, confirm award start and end dates, and review your award budget monthly. Pay close attention to and verify terms and conditions and special terms and conditions listed in the Notice of Award (NOA). Contact SPA through ServiceNow for corrections to inaccurate information.

• Confirm Compliance Requirements

  Confirm compliance requirements such as spending, reporting, and disclosures throughout each project stage. Failure to obtain an approved IACUC or IRB protocol may result in restricted funding categories and delay in proceeding with projects as anticipated.

• Monitor Subrecipients

  Make sure your agreement is executed and a purchase order has been created. Check with your subrecipient to ensure they are invoicing on a regular basis. Monitor your purchase order, encumbrance balance, and accounts payable on the SCi005 - Invoices Vouchered by Accounts Payable report in Orbit.

• Source Your Employees

  Source your employees working on this project and review regularly for updates.

Ongoing Review for Your Success

• Review Encumbrances

  Regularly review your monthly encumbrances to ensure SPA can accurately help you manage your award. Work with Accounts Payable, Purchasing, or SPA’s Contracts Team to clear obstacles for your award.

• Review Budget Errors

  Review your COA (Chart of Accounts) to ensure you are using the correct information that pertains to your specific award. If the COA is inaccurate, contact SPA’s Maintenance Team for assistance with your budget error.

• Review Expenditures

  Review expenditures and disallowed expenses, ensuring allowability, allocability, and reasonableness. Making necessary corrections in a proactive manner allows for addressing issues earlier in the financial management stage, rather than at the end of the award. We recommend monthly financial reviews.

• Control Deficit Spending

  Control deficit/over-the-limit (OLT) spending of the project's total funded amount.

• Monitor Award End Dates

  Monitor upcoming PeopleSoft end dates and review notice of award (NOA) and no-cost extension (NCE). Notify SPA if plans are to request an NCE.

Incorporate Best Practices

• Communicate Early Terminations and Relinquishments

  Communicate early terminations and relinquishments to SPA by initiating the modification in eGrants.

• Submit Award Amendments

  Enter all award amendments to SPA through eGrants by providing the correct award modification type under the Awarded tab. The UTSW financial system must reflect accurate award limitations and restrictions. (See Expert Tips for additional guidance.)

• Use Accurate Identifiers for Cash Management

  If the invoice is generated by a department, use mail code 9020. If you receive a check directly, please do not send it through interoffice mail. Send the check to the Cash Management window and include the award and invoice number.

• Invoice for Industry Clinical Trial

  These invoices should contain a SPA award number, project ID, PI name, and full study title (not abbreviated).

• Create a Financial Management Process

  Form a system for managing your project's financial, human resource, and operational aspects.

• Examine Scientific Progress

  Observe scientific progress throughout the project and report necessary modifications with the sponsor for approval when pertinent.

How to Manage Financial Reporting

1. Review Agreement Documents
   Periodically review your agreement documents to ensure that you know upcoming due dates and check your project ahead of the grant year-end dates for any reconciliation or cleanup your award might need.

2. Review Expenses Incurred During Performance Period
   Review all expenses incurred within the period of performance for allowability. Your department needs to ensure all expense invoicing has been received. If there is a subcontract, the department should ensure all invoices have been received for financial reporting during the period.

3. Transfer Disallowed Personnel Expenses
   Transfer any disallowed personnel expenses by the direct retro process for Maintenance Award group approval. If disallowed other expenses, transfer off using the non-salary cost transfer (NSCT) tool.

4. Review Encumbrances
   Review encumbrances and, if necessary, work with Purchasing to clear them.

5. Use the Financial Reporting Template
   Ensure that your team uses an accurate sponsor financial report template for reporting. If your department receives the template from the sponsor, please send it to the SPA Reporting team.

6. Request a No-cost Extension, if Needed
   If you are going to request a no-cost extension, please notify SPA through ServiceNow.

7. Review and Approval
   Once the SPA Reporting team has completed the financial report, using the eGrants process, the financial report will be sent to the PI/Department for review and approval signature.

8. Certify and Submit to Sponsor
   After the PI has uploaded the report and performed the certification in eGrants, the report will route to the Financial Officer for approval and submission to the sponsor.

Expert Tips

• Award Amendments & Modifications in eGrants

  Before reflecting in PeopleSoft, award modifications are recorded in eGrants by initiating the correct award modification type under the Awarded tab. Accurate award limitations and restrictions should reflect in the UTSW financial system.

• No-Cost Extension

  A no-cost extension (NCE) extends the project period beyond the original project end date without additional funding. Once the NCE has been approved by the sponsor, SPA will update the end dates in PeopleSoft.

• Re-budgeting or Budget Revisions

  After a grant or contract has been awarded, you may determine that the approved budget allocations are not consistent with actual project needs. You may request the formal reallocation of funds from one spending category to a category that better reflects the project requirements, including:

  • Effort changes (Process per the sponsor’s guidelines)
  • International travel (Process per the sponsor’s guidelines)
  • Specialized equipment (Process per the sponsor’s guidelines)
• Revised Notice of Award

  If you receive a revised notice of award (NOA), you should provide the NOA modification to reflect the sponsor’s requested changes, including an increase or decrease in funding or project.

• Carryover of Funds

  Sponsor approval to carry funds forward to apply existing funds to the next year’s segment. eGrants will notify department staff when a carryover modification has been submitted to the sponsor. Once sponsor approval has been received, SPA will update PeopleSoft.

• Award & Personnel Changes

  When significant changes occur, such as PI changes or award terms and conditions, a modification should be initiated in eGrants to update the historical and financial record.

FAQ and Guidance Materials

• How do I disencumber a Purchase Order? (PDF)
• Why do I have funds in the restricted budget account? (PDF)
• When are end dates extended on a grant project? (PDF)
• Which awards receive an Unobligated Balances Report and when? (PDF)
• How do I look up the current award balance in PeopleSoft to view expenditures? (Video)
• How does the PI access, upload signed financial report, and complete PI Assurance? (PDF)
• How do I determine which employee has been overcharged fringes for CPRIT financial reporting? (Video)
• How do I submit PI approvals in ProposalCENTRAL? (Video)
• How do I view my completed financial report in eGrants? (Video)
• How do I view open encumbrances? (Video)
• How do I use Orbit to pull the payroll detail report used by the financial reporting team? (Video)
• What are disallowed expenditures and how do I identify them? (PDF)
• What are some things I can do to manage my awards more efficiently? (PDF)
• How do I determine the contract type for an award or project? (Video)
• How do I confirm that payment has been received? (Video)
• Has this invoice been paid? (Video)
• What is the banking information for SPA clinical trials? (PDF)
• Has SPA received this check/ACH payment? (Video)
• How do I find out what Sub K invoices have been paid? (Video)
• Which reports does SPA Maintenance Team use to monitor awards? (Video)
• How to determine and clear budget errors in PeopleSoft? (Video)
• How to complete a re-budget request for an award setup outside of eGrants? (Video)
• How to reconcile facilities and administrative costs? (Video)
• How do I complete a NSCT for available Account Codes? (Video)

Taleo Training

• Module H: Award Maintenance Overview Level One
• Module I: Introduction to Revenue Cycle and Cash Management Level One
• Module J: Financial Reporting and Award Closeout Overview Level One

Ask for Guidance

Inquiries reviewed and assigned within 4 hours, Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Open a ServiceNow TicketWhich SPA Team Can Help

Leadership

Nataliya Samodov

Interim Director, SPA Finance

Nataliya.Samodov@UTSouthwestern.edu

Julia Spesivtseva, MBA, CRCP

Director, Clinical Research Services & SPA Cash Management

Julia.Spesivtseva@UTSouthwestern.edu

Contact Us

As your project comes to an end, there are essential tasks you will need to complete to ensure your award has an orderly close. Your award closeout procedures will vary based on the sponsor and whether your funding is in the form of a grant or contract.

Estimated Duration

You have 45 days to pay the expenses incurred during your award's performance period. Please reference your 60-day award close notice to review your closeout responsibilities.

How to Close Out Your Award

1. Award Closeout Notice

   Review your 60-day award closeout notice and follow the applicable outlined required steps.

2. Award Funds

   If you have an industry-sponsored clinical trial or fixed FIX award, you can submit a ServiceNow ticket to expedite your closeout and state the Chart Field String (CFS) you desire your residual funds transferred to at this time.

FAQ and Expert Tips

• The award has a balance. Can I spend it or transfer it to a consolidated account?

  Yes, if it is a residual balance, an award may be transferred, but only to a consolidated account. A consolidated account contains excess cash received over expenses.

  However, any unobligated balance or funds cannot be transferred to a consolidated account and must be returned to the sponsor. These funds are typically found on Federal (i.e., Letter of Credit) and Cost Reimbursable (CRB) awards.

• Can a closed project be reopened to approve an expense form?

  If the expense was incurred after the period of performance, SPA cannot re-open the project due to control features within PeopleSoft, which prohibit reopening the project.

• What should be included on a residual funds statement?

  A written explanation from the PI is required to justify why funds were not expended on research activities during the period of performance. The statement must include the following:

  • An explanation of why expenses were not incurred within budget expectations, if applicable.
  • An explanation for why all expenses incurred were not booked to the project, if applicable.

  The statement should be sent via email to the SPA Closeout staff member assisting with the closeout of the award.

• How do I fix a “date out of bounds” error? (I was instructed to move expenses off an award, but the Non-Salary Cost Transfer (NSCT) gives me a “date out of bounds” error.)

  To request moving expenses off an award:

  1. Submit a ServiceNow ticket via email to SPAOutreach@utsouthwestern.edu.
  2. Enter the subject line as, “To SPA Award Maintenance Team – NSCT Override.”
  3. Include the NSCT form # and explanation of request for override.
• The residual transferred to the consolidated funds was less than I expected. What is the reason?

  Normally, the variance is due to SPA netting the indirect (F&A) expense before transferring the residual.

• Facilitate a Smooth Closeout

  Read and follow outlined instructions on the 60-day Notice of Award Close letter from SPA.

  Ensure the completion of encumbrances and no outstanding financial transactions, including cost transfers or posting expenses.

  You must send invoices to the sponsor program for NBP and FIX awards and ensure all invoices are paid and posted to the award.

• Specify Cost Sharing in a Proposal

  Cost sharing occurs when the sponsor does not pay a quantified portion of the award costs. It is paid instead with resources within a department, institution, or other parties outside the funding source.

  Types of Cost Sharing

• Manage No-Cost Extensions for Your Award

  Suppose you would like to request additional time for research. In that case, you may submit a request to your sponsored program and coordinate with your proposal specialist.

  If you believe your request will receive approval, create a ServiceNow ticket to inform SPA not to start the award closeout process.

• Request a Residual Transfer or Consolidation of Earned Funds

  Create a ServiceNow ticket to request a consolidated residual transfer. If you want a specific CFS to transfer the residual, please list it in a ServiceNow ticket.

  Submit all invoices to the sponsored program and ensure all invoices are paid and posted to the award.

  You must complete all no-cost transfers or expense transactions.

  If residual funds are more than 10% of the award amount or greater than $10,000, the PI must submit a statement explaining why the residual funds were not spent on the award’s research-required activities.

  If your department has not established a process, approved by the department chair, to transfer earned funds on industry sponsored clinical trials; you will need to include documentation that you have the chair’s consent to move the funds to the PI’s consolidated account.

• Determine Whether Your Award Has Been Closed

  If it is 120 days past the award end date, it should be closed or is in the process of being closed. Ask your department if anyone received the GNR – Closeout report.

  If confirmation is needed, create a ServiceNow ticket for SPA.

• My Award Still Has a Balance. Can I Spend It?

  If the award end date has passed (45 days for federal; 60 days for other sources), no one should post additional expense to the award.

  SPA will no longer post a closing budget entry to zero out budget lines, so it is common for balances to remain listed.

• What to Do With a Check After the Award Closes

  Once the award is closed, it is incredibly problematic to reopen it. That is why SPA asks for all transactions to be posted to the award, including cash transactions, before the award begins the closeout process.

  In the rare event where you receive a check after the award is closed, we recommend posting the check to the CFS, where we post residual funds.

Taleo Training

• Module J: Financial Reporting and Award Closeout Overview Level One

Additional Training

• How to determine if an award has closed (Video)

Ask for Guidance

Inquiries reviewed and assigned within 4 hours, Monday – Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Open a ServiceNow TicketWhich SPA Team Can Help

Leadership

Nataliya Samodov

Interim Director, SPA Finance

Email

Contact Us