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Topics:
Introduction of Mark Barnes and Cathy Gorodentsev
Discussion: New Administrative and Clerical Salary Policy for Federal Awards
Discussion: What processes, coordination, and systems do departments use to get non-financial reports filed on time?
Announcements:
1. Changes to NIH Proposal Instructions
2. New Responsible Conduct of Research requirements for Grads and Undergrads: NSF and NIH
3. Faculty Effort Reporting Update
4. Affirmation of Awareness and Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and Conflicts of Commitment Online Process Update
5. NSF Award Terms and Conditions Revisions-- Significant Changes (summary email from NCURA Pre-award Listserv)
Introduction of Mark Barnes and Cathy Gorodentsev
Mark Barnes is the new Chief Research Compliance Officer and Senior Advisor to the Provost for the University. He'll be working hand-in-hand with David Korn, the Vice Provost for Research, and with Cathy Gorodentsev, the former FAS Interim Executive Dean and the new Director of the Office for Sponsored Programs. Mark and Cathy each have extensive experience working on the PEPFAR project at the School of Public Health. Future plans: assess the central research administration function, improve customer service, make research administration more efficient, and standardize University-wide policies wherever possible. Mark also wants to recognize the professionalization of research administration. For more information, see the Harvard Gazette article "Mark Barnes Appointed Chief Research Compliance Officer"
Discussion: New Administrative and Clerical Salary Policy for Federal Awards
This is a follow-up to the discussion at the RAS Friday in November. The new policy has been written by the University Cost Analysis Group and is effective December 15th. To download the new policy, click here. Summary: The administrative checklist and the 25% FTE requirement have been eliminated. Principal Investigators must now specifically justify why an administrator is needed and why the project is considered a major project in proposal budget justifications. Any proposals containing administrative and clerical costs must be reviewed by RAS.
The previous policy will stay in effect for people currently correctly charged to federal projects. As projects reach their end dates, departments and FAS will assess where the administrator formerly charged directly to the federal award will now be charged to non-federal funds. FAS does not anticipate that this policy change will reduce the number of sponsored research staff.
Discussion: What processes, coordination, and systems do departments use to get non-financial reports filed on time?
Non-Financial reports are usually not mentioned in Action Memos so it is extremely important for departments to check the sponsor award notices in GMAS and to use a tracking system to keep track of deadlines and remind PIs to submit the reports on time. Departments use a variety of shadow systems to accomplish this-- from Google Calendar to Excel spreadsheets to Access Databases. FASSPAR contains an excellent data entry report (Report H- History, UPAS & Deadlines) which rolls dates into a Consolidated Deadlines Report ("Report I"). In all cases, it is best to marshall patience, give the Principal Investigator as much lead time as possible, and follow up periodically until a copy is received for departmental files. Many departments also send copies to OSP to be sure all bases are covered.
For more specific information, please download the Reporting Roles handout here.
Announcements:
1. Changes to NIH Proposal Instructions: Download by Clicking Here
2. New Responsible Conduct of Research requirements for Grads and Undergrads: Click the links below to read the notices.
NSF: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-10-019.html
NIH: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/rcr.jsp
3. Faculty Effort Reporting Update: Faculty effort certification for FY 09 must be completed by Thursday, December 24th. Faculty effort coordinators in departments and centers will work with faculty members to meet this important deadline.
4. Affirmation of Awareness and Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and Conflicts of Commitment Online Process Update: Faculty have been requested to re-sign their Affirmations and Disclosures online at: https://asperin.fas.harvard.edu/disclosure/web/. For more information go to: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~research/policy/coi.html#faq. We now have something over 80% response to the Affirmation and Disclosure process, and we will be diligently pursuing the others over the next few weeks.
5. Click to download NSF Award Terms and Conditions Revisions-- Significant Changes (summary email from NCURA Pre-award Listserv): These revisions apply to all new awards and funding on existing NSF awards issued on or after January 4, 2010, with the exception of the Responsible Conduct of Research Article which applies to new proposals submitted on or after January 4, 2010.
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