Resources – Office of Research Services

Assignments

Accounting Sponsor Assignments

Proposals

Allowable, Allocable & Reasonable Cost

Costs charged to extramural projects should be in accordance with Subpart E – Cost Principles at 2 CFR 200 http://go.hawaii.edu/JTo.

To be chargeable to an award, costs must be:

Allowable: UG 200.403: http://go.hawaii.edu/2pJ Permitted by federal or governmental regulations and/or the sponsor’s award terms and conditions, and consistently treated.
Reasonable: UG 200.404: http://go.hawaii.edu/Jpk Such that a “prudent person” would have paid the stated amount for the goods and services. “Prudent person” is generally defined as a person of “ordinary prudence and intelligence”.
Allocable: UG 200.405: http://go.hawaii.edu/XpJ Necessary to carry out the scope of, and provide a benefit to the project. Note: Unencumbered payments that are processed in KFS after the award termination date should include a justification for allowability and allocability and an explanation as to why the transaction is being processed after the award termination date.

Additional information can be found in the Extramural Award Cost Guidelines.

Rates

Indirect cost rates, fringe cost rate, and sponsor specific rates.

Awards

Agreement review and negotiation

OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES

The Office of Research Services is responsible for the review, negotiation and execution of ALL extramurally funded agreements between the University of Hawaiʻi and governmental, private, non‑profit and foreign sponsors.

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

The Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation is responsible for review and negotiation of agreements when unrelated to an extramurally funded agreement:

Letters of Intent (LOI)
Letters of Agreement (LOA)
Memoranda of Agreement (MOA)
Memoranda of Understanding (MOU)

For questions regarding LOIs, LOAs, MOAs and MOUs, please contact the OVPRI at uhovpri@hawaii.edu.

OFFICE OF INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION

The Office of Innovation and Commercialization is responsible for review and negotiation of:

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA)
Material Transfer Agreements (MTA)

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY AND CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER

The Office of the Vice President for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer is responsible for review and negotiation of:

Data Use Agreements (DUA)
Data Sharing Agreements (DSA)

For questions regarding DUAs and DSAs, please contact the OVPIT/CIO at (808) 956-3501.

CAMPUS CHANCELLORS

Campus chancellors are delegated authority to sign and execute affiliation agreements, sponsored class and sheltered class memoranda of agreements between their associated campus and an external agency, which are defined as:

Affiliation Agreement – An agreement between the College and an external agency that delineates responsibilities between the two parties when students are placed in clinical settings or internships within the external agency. No financial remuneration can be included in an affiliation agreement.
Sponsored Class – An agreement where an external agency pays all of or part of the cost of offering a class in lieu of charging tuition to students, provided that (a) no federal funds are involved; and (b) the agreement terms and conditions do not create risk to the university and are consistent with university policy. Agreements that include terms and conditions that could potentially create risk to the university or are inconsistent with university policy (including, but not limited to, requiring indemnification of the sponsor, or requiring the university to submit to a jurisdiction other than Hawaiʻi) should be reviewed and signed by the Office of Research Services.
Sheltered Class – An agreement between the College and an external agency to deliver a non-credit class for the agency where the funds will be deposited into the Community Colleges Special Fund accounts and provided that the contract or agreement is not for the type of awards listed below:
1. Curriculum development projects at any level, including projects involving evaluation or curriculum or teaching methods;
2. Projects which involve students in community service activities for which they are receiving academic credit (e.g. service learning);
3. Activities funded by awards to departments or schools in support of students;
4. Dissertation work funded by grants, including grants for travel in relation to a dissertation;
5. Upward Bound program;
6. Source of funding from federal funds; and
7. Agreements that include terms and conditions that could potentially create risk to the university or are inconsistent with university policy (including, but not limited to, requiring indemnification of the sponsor, or requiring the university to submit to a jurisdiction other than Hawaiʻi)
Agreements that fall within categories 1-7 shall be reviewed and signed by the Office of Research Services.
Agreements for the payment of tuition and fees, regardless of source of funding; provided the fees are for (a) credit courses using established BOR rates or (b) non credit courses with established rates, either as published tuition rates and fees, or rates established using approved campus policy, provided, however, that if such agreements include terms and conditions that could potentially create risk to the university or are inconsistent with university policy (including, but not limited to, requiring indemnification of the sponsor, or requiring the university to submit to a jurisdiction other than Hawaiʻi), the agreement shall be reviewed and signed by the Office of Research Services.

If you have any questions please contact your assigned Contract & Grant Specialist at ORS or ORS Helpline at 956-5198.

Project Management

Rebudgeting and Prior Approvals

As with any project, there may be a need for revisions to the budget or program plans. For non construction awards, recipients must request prior approvals from Federal awarding agencies for the following program or budget-related reasons:

(1) Change in the scope or the objective of the project or program (even if there is no associated budget revision requiring prior written approval).

(2) Change in a key person specified in the application or the Federal award.

(3) The disengagement from the project for more than three months, or a 25 percent reduction in time devoted to the project, by the approved project director or principal investigator.

(4) The inclusion, unless waived by the Federal awarding agency, of costs that require prior approval.

(5) The transfer of funds budgeted for participant support costs to other categories of expense.

(6) Unless described in the application and funded in the approved Federal awards, the subawarding, transferring or contracting out of any work under a Federal award, including fixed amount subawards. This provision does not apply to the acquisition of supplies, material, equipment or general support services.

(7) Changes in the approved cost-sharing or matching provided by the non-Federal entity.

(8) The need arises for additional Federal funds to complete the project.

A Federal awarding agency is authorized, at its option, to waive other cost-related and administrative prior written approvals. Such waivers may include authorizing recipients to do any one or more of the following:

(1) Incur project costs 90 calendar days before the Federal awarding agency makes the Federal award.

(2) Initiate a one-time extension of the period of performance by up to 12 months

(3) Carry forward unobligated balances to subsequent budget periods.

(4) For Federal awards that support research, unless the Federal awarding agency provides otherwise in the Federal award or in the Federal awarding agency’s regulations, the prior approval requirements described above are automatically waived. Appendix A Prior Approval Matrix for participating federal agencies is available at https://www.nsf.gov/awards/managing/rtc.jsp

Prior approval requirements apply to grants. Contracts require modifications. For additional information, refer to the Project Lifecycle / Post-Award Changes.

Cost Transfers

Cost transfers are an after-the-fact correction or reallocation to move costs from or to an extramural project account. With the FA’s assistance, PIs shall review and reconcile all sponsored accounts in a timely manner. Cost transfers should generally be processed no later than 90 days after the date of the original transaction (preferably within 60 days after posting of original transaction) in order for the UH to prepare accurate financial statements and receive proper reimbursement from our sponsors. An explanation of why the cost was incorrectly charged in the first place, and why a transfer is necessary shall be provided. Documentation to support the authorization of the cost transfer shall also be attached, if applicable. If the transfer is to a sponsored account, certification that the charge is allowable, allocable and reasonable is required. All unallowable costs should be transferred to a non-extramural or departmental account. Reason for any untimely cost transfers should also be provided.

Principal Investigator (PI) Award Transfer Procedures

Responsible Stewardship of Extramural Awards

As a part of responsible stewardship for administering extramural awards, ORS is responsible for notifying PIs and Department Administrators of award requirements to ensure compliance with all of the sponsor’s award terms and conditions as well as applicable laws, rules and regulations. In accordance with 2 CFR 200.328 and 329, the University is also responsible for performance and financial monitoring and reporting to the awarding agencies which includes any significant problems (e.g., adverse events, unanticipated problems with facilities, personnel, or laboratory resources, including human and animal subjects and fiscal or budgetary concerns) which have the potential to impede attaining the goals of an award.

In order to ensure that UH meets its reporting responsibilities, should a PI run into significant problems, project delay/difficulties, or compliance issues, the PI has the responsibility to notify ORS who, in turn, may be required to alert the awarding agency. Information that ORS (orscomp@hawaii.edu) shall report to the awarding agency may include a description of the problem and any proposed solutions which have received the appropriate concurrence or approval from the Chancellor or Vice President for Research and Innovation.