Process Overview

Abbreviations

  • PI - refers to the principal investigator and/or a staff member with delegated authority
  • Sponsor - the organization or person providing the grant/contract
  • OSP - Office of Sponsored Programs (Authorized Official)
  • GCA - Grant and Contract Administrator
  • SFRA - Senior Financial Research Administrator

The following outlines the different post-award stages, steps taken, and roles and responsibilities when an award includes cost sharing.

TimingRoleAction
Approval / Acceptance / SetupSponsorApproves the proposal, issues the award including cost share commitment, and notifies UMass Lowell Office of Sponsored Programs.
GCAReviews and confirms the cost share.
Notifies Department / PI budget has been set up.
Notes the Cost share commitment in PS (amount/detail)
PIReviews/commits** to the cost share.
**It is the PI's responsibility to ensure that the cost sharing pledge on the grant or contract is correct and that it is met on schedule.
Throughout the Life of a GrantPIAt the frequency required by the contract, but no less than quarterly, review the cost share activity.
Document and report to SFRA.
SFRAWorks with PI to document the activity and track the details for reporting.
ClosingSFRACloses budget once all expenditures have posted.
Reports to the sponsor as required.
PI / SFRAEnsures the cost share has been collected and reported to sponsor.

Changes to mandatory cost sharing commitments must be reviewed and approved by UMass Lowell Office of Sponsored Programs, and often by the sponsor, as well.

Current Procedures

UMass Lowell Funds

  1. Principal Investigator (PI) requests via UMass Lowell Cost Share Form, confirmation of cash commitment from the source within the University (Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation; College Dean). (Proposal stage)
  2. Internal project ‘R’ is set up using fund 51402 (PI) to capture the cost share expenditures.
  3. Details of the cost share source of funds is available and notated on chartfield form.
  4. UMGL7047 Report is run periodically to evaluate the cost share expenditures charged to the project.
  5. Journal entry is prepared annually, or sooner if need be, to fund the Cost share project using the source of funds from the chartfield setup form. (592010/492010)

In-Kind Salary

  1. PI requests confirmation of course release from Department Head and Dean. The Grants & Contracts Administrator (GCA) calculates the value of each course release, including the staff fringe benefits rate and full indirect costs. (Proposal stage)
  2. The FA sends the PI an email inquiring if a course release occurred during a specific time period.
  3. Upon receipt of the PI’s confirmation email, the FA runs a payroll query for the PI’s time to document the expenditures up to the budgeted amount through an excel spread sheet.
  4. The spread sheet includes the PI’s name, the dates, hours and amount worked and the cost share amount.

Tuition / Fee Waiver

  1. Tuition waiver amount is computed by GCA based on the number of externally funded Research Assistants in the proposal budget. (Proposal Stage)
  2. The FA sends Principal Investigator (PI) an email inquiring if a tuition waiver has occurred and requests the details of who & when.
  3. Upon receipt of the PI’s confirmation email and confirming that payment to RA is on the project, the FA will request a copy of the corresponding student bill from the Cash Management office.
  4. The waiver amounts display as credits on student bill and are summarized to documents the cost share.

Waived Overhead

  1. Documented in the award agreement, accepted less than full amount of negotiated rate, F&A rates is set in PS
  2. Query is run in PS to determine the amount of waived OH. (Can also be calculated)
  1. Commitments that are paid from non-federal sponsored projects.
  2. Prior approval must be obtained from authorized official of the cost sharing source.
  3. Tracked manually by the PI & FA.
  4. Run UMGM7047 for specific projects and time period to document CS.
  5. Additional backup may be required.

Third Party In-Kind Cost Sharing

Third party non-cash contributions of time or resources donated by third parties for which UMass Lowell is responsible. Third-party in-kind contributions may be in the form of real property, equipment, supplies and other expendable property, or goods and services directly benefiting and specifically designated for the project or program.

Pertains to All Cost Sharing

  1. If reporting cost share on OSP/UMass Lowell billing invoice, detail cost share documents are sent to Billing to report to the Sponsor.
  2. If reporting on financial reports, SF425, etc., the back-up is forwarded to Grant Accountant for UMass Lowell’s records and the cumulative cost share amount is reported. ** Amounts will be prorated based on the invoice/report
  3. Expenditures on a federal sponsored project may not be used to meet any cost sharing requirements.