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Doing it the right way!
Post-award management
NUHS Research Office Brown Bag Outreach Session #3
Zhang Zhenglong
30 Oct 2014
Programme Schedule
1. Presentation (20mins)
2. Q&A (10mins)
3. Lunch
Agenda
Post-award Management
- Brief overview
- Where to park your grant?
- T&Cs and Policies
- Spend according to your budget
- General Grant Finance
- Finance (Cash flow Projection & Claims)
- Progress Report (Annual/Final)
- Variations/Extensions
- Overall Timeline
- Other post-award matters
Overview of NUHS
NUHS
Research
Office
National
University
Health System
(NUHS)
National University
Hospital (Singapore)
Pte Ltd (NUH)
Subset of
Management overview
National University
of Singapore (NUS)
SoM, FoD, SPH
Where to park your grant?
•
For non-MOH/NMRC grants:
– PI should choose where to park at during the application stage by listing
the correct host institution (HI)
– Funds will be parked at the HI listed on the award letter
•
For MOH/NMRC grants:
– General guideline is to follow where most of the work is done at and/or
the department that will provide the admin support/resources
T&Cs & Policies to take note
•
Please read through the grantor T&Cs prior to accepting the grant.
•
Grant must be activated within 6 months from the award letter date
– Ethics approvals may take months to be approved. Please apply
immediately after accepting the award.
– The approvals should have the same project title as the grant title.
– To expedite in opening a project account:
• Declare in GEF that IRB/DSRB/IACUC will be required at a later part in the
project
• For NUS ILO: submit SoU for RCA if required. For NUH, an email to Timothy
Chia (medccpt@nus.edu.sg) will suffice
• OSHE is generally mandatory for account activation.
T&Cs & Policies to take note (cont’d)
•
Most grantors have a similar list of fundable/non-fundable items
– Computers, laptops are typically non-fundable unless strongly justified
for a scientific purpose (e.g. for computational studies)
– Admin headcounts should not be funded under grants
– There may be a cap for overseas conferences/travel
•
Expenditure of IRC
– Usage of IRC is subjected to grantor and institutional policies
T&Cs & Policies to take note (cont’d)
•
NMRC (in general)
– Procurement of new manpower or equipment is not allowed 6 months
before project completion date
• This excludes replacement of previously approved manpower or approved
equipment.
•
Procurement of goods
– All expenses must be incurred during the project duration. All delivery
orders and invoice dates must be within the project period
• Expenses cannot be charged to the account if the delivery orders or invoice
dates are after the project end date.
•
Acknowledgement of publications
– All publications should acknowledge both NUHS and NUS/NUH
– Grantor should be acknowledged if the publication is funded by the
grant
Spend according to your budget
VS
•
To note
– Be general, but with sufficient details
– Keeping within each category
General Grant Finance
•
Financial Year (FY)
– April to March the following year
•
Quarters
– Q1 = Apr – Jun
– Q2 = Jul – Sep
– Q3 = Oct – Dec
– Q4 = Jan – Mar
E.g. FY14Q2
– 1st July 2014 to 30th September 2014
E.g. FY15Q4
– 1st Jan 2016 to 31st March 2016
Finance (Cash flow Projection & Claims)
Cash flow Projections (Only applicable for NMRC grants)
The cash flow projection exercise is to estimate the quantum of claims to be submitted by our institution
to NMRC for disbursement in the same period. This will allow NMRC to accurately prepare the required
funds for reimbursement. Projections can be revised on a quarterly basis where deemed necessary.
Frequency: Almost every quarterly
– Projections are required 2 weeks before the quarter ends
(I.e. Mid-June, Mid-Sept*, Mid-Dec*)
– Actual expenditure for the current/past quarters have to be included too
* PIs have to submit projections for the subsequent FY in addition to the
current FY’s projection
Finance (Cash flow Projection & Claims) (Cont’d)
Claims submission to grantor
In most cases, funds provided by grantors work on a reimbursement basis (I.e. The institution will pay
for the expenses incurred first; subsequently claiming it from grantor). It is therefore important that
claims are submitted timely for reimbursement.
Frequency: Quarterly
– Actual expenditure (excl’d PO commitments) charged to PI’s account for
the quarter
– Claims are due 2 weeks after the quarter ends
(I.e. Mid-July, Mid-Oct, Mid-Jan, Mid-Feb/Mar*)
* Dependable on grantor’s financial year-end closing
– Claim forms will be sent to PIs via NUHS Research office
– PI/Coordinator verifies numbers are correct, goods/services have been
paid/rendered before endorsing on the claim form
– Only email confirmation is required for the following grants because
submission is via nGager:
CIRG, CBRG, IRG, CNIG, BNIG, EDG, NIG, HSRG, HSRNIG
Finance (Cash flow Projection & Claims) (Cont’d)
Claims submission to grantor
If PI is away, HOD can sign on his/her behalf
Annual Progress Reports and Final Reports
•
Submission of Annual Progress Reports (APR) & Final Reports (FR)
– Submit reports in both soft and hardcopy, and with the latest statement
of account and publications (if any)
– Endorsement by PI & HoD is required
• Late submissions may result in PIs being blacklisted by grantor
•
Deadline for reports:
– External grants
• APRs due 1 month after grant award anniversary
• FRs due 3 months after end date
– Internal grants
• APRs due 1 month after grant award anniversary
• FRs due 1 month after end date
Variations & Extensions
•
Variation/Extension forms can be found on our RO intranet page
– Variations should not be done just because there are savings. It must
be driven by a justifiable need (e.g. additional experiments).
•
Deadline for submission
– Please refer to grantor’s administrative guidelines for submission
deadlines.
• NMRC: all requests must reach NMRC at least 3 months before the end
date. An additional explanatory letter must be provided if such requests are
submitted within 3 months from end date
• MOE T1/T2: all requests must be submitted to RO at least 4 months before
the end date
Variations & Extensions (Cont’d)
•
Admin tips for variations & extensions
– Variations & extensions may be submitted via hardcopy or through an
online system
• Some A*STAR grants go through iGrants
• Some NMRC grants will go through nGager (to be rolled out in the future)
– Please fill up all tables/blanks and answer all questions in the variation
form, particularly:
1. How savings are derived
2. Why item is required
– Variation for equipment purchase not encouraged when nearing the
grant end date
– NUS Self-virement policy for MOE T1 FRC and selected NUS grants
• PI has authority to vire remaining $10k or 10% (whichever is the lower
amount) of their TPV.
https://staffportal.nus.edu.sg/staffportal/research/manage/
Overview (Timeline for PIs)
FY Q4
FY Q1
FY Q2
FY Q3
Claims*
Claims
Claims*
Cash flow
Projections
Claims
Claims
Cash flow
Projections
Cash flow
Projections
Variation/Extension requests can be submitted anytime, but not within 3 months before
grant expires
Annual progress report to be submitted 1 month after grant award anniversary
Final progress report to be submitted 1 month after grant ends
*Only for grants administered in NUH
Other Post-award Matters
Please contact Research Office (Grant_RO@nuhs.edu.sg) on the
relevant documentation for the following scenarios:
•
Resignation of PIs
− Staff departures for any reason (e.g. resignations or end of contract)
•
Change of Department
– PI changes the primary appointment to another department within HI
•
Transfer of HI/ PIs
− Including transferring to/from NUH/NUS
•
Sabbatical Leave
– For PIs going on long leave (>1 month)
Websites for reference
NUHS Research Portal
http://nuhs-portal/departments/nuhs-corporate-office/nuhs-research-office.html
NUS Research Portal
https://staffportal.nus.edu.sg/staffportal/portal/research.html
Websites for reference (Cont’d)
Grant Finance FAQs
Websites for reference (Cont’d)
Clinical Trials Finance FAQs
Q&A
NUHS Research Bulletin!
http://www.nuhs.edu.sg/research.html
Thank you and enjoy your lunch