What's New:
RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION AND COMPLIANCE LISTSERV
The College of Medicine, Research Administration and Compliance (RAC), formerly the Office for Research Affairs, has created an email listserv for College of Medicine proposal processing.
If you need to notify the office regarding the review of a proposal or to obtain proposal information via email, please email the new listserv at COM-RESEARCH-ADMIN-COMP-L@LISTS.UFL.EDU. One of the RAC staff will respond appropriately.
NEW COLLEGE OF MEDICINE BUDGET REVIEW POLICY
As of Feb 6, 2008 the College of Medicine, RAC will no longer require or review internal budgets. The new policy initially addressed NIH Modular grants; however this is being extended to any sponsor that does NOT require a budget during proposal submission. It is up to the PI and the Department administrator to make sure the “costs of the research” fits into the amount allowed by the sponsor. PI/Dept will also be responsible to disclose and report cost share and/or time and effort situations (Cost share, Time and Effort, K-Award Compliance, VA Time Commitment)
RAC will still monitor cost share, effort, indirect cost, and other federal, sponsor or university budgetary restrictions. Although a detail budget is not required RAC will still need some budgetary information which may be provided using the Budget Checklist for Grants (similar to the old Modular Budget Checklist). RAC still needs to capture information such as Personnel Effort, IDC Restricted categories such as tuition, equipment, rent, subcontract amounts over $25000, and patient care cost.
The College of Medicine will not override any departmental rules or requirements. If a department and/or college require a sub-account or an inter-college agreement, this will need to be communicated between the participating departments/college. The goal of the new procedure is to expedite reviews and not burden the departments with more than what the sponsor is asking for.
RAC still wants to be fiscally responsible and make sure proposal are compliant. If there are cost share issues that cannot be readily seen, it is expected that it be disclosed of on the DSR-1 or the modular budget checklist.
- If there is a “time and effort” issue, RAC requires this to be documented.
- If submitting a K Award, there is K award compliance form that is required: indicating the appropriate effort would be kept track of and reported by those responsible.
- If there are VA people on the grant where VA time is being committed, Dr. Wingo’s signature on the VA time commitment letter must be obtained.
If a VA/UF joint appointed faculty is on a grant, this has to be disclosed on the justification that VA salary is not being requested. Information regarding total professional time needs to be provided to verify the justification.
Also, even though internal budgets are not required, the following is still needed for review and approval:
- DSR-1 or WF approvals
- Disclosure of Conflict of Interest (PHS, NSF, and American Heart)
- Agency Face Page/Cover page
- Abstract or Project Description
- Subcontract Proposal if applicable
(Official signature, Budget/Justification and Scope of work) - Human Subject plan if applicable
If there are any questions regarding the new policy, please contact RAC at 273-5398.
NEW CMS CLINICAL TRIALS BILLING REQUIREMENTS
As of January 1, 2008, CMS has discontinued the QA, QR, and QV modifiers and is requiring the use of two new modifiers, Q0 and Q1, which will be used to differentiate between routine and investigational clinical services for study participants who are enrolled in approved clinical research studies. These services are the services that you have identified on your Registration Form billing grid with an “M” which is your attestation that the service is for a Medicare approved (or qualified) study.
- The Q0 modifier (now replacing QA and QR) should be used when identifying a service as an investigational clinical service (defined as those items and services that are being investigated as an objective within the study such as procedures to insert an investigational device).
For example: Procedure for inserting an investigational Cochlear Implant with an IDE Number.
Device Trials: Continue to notify both Shands PFS and FGP of all participants who are enrolled in the device trial before or at the time of services so that claims can be coded and properly processed. - The Q1 modifier (now replacing QV) should be used when providing a routine clinical service (items and services covered for Medicare beneficiaries outside of the research study; used for direct patient management within the study; are not investigational clinical services).
These can be items or services used solely for the provision of the investigational clinical services (e.g. administration of a chemotherapeutic agent)
Clinically appropriate monitoring, (e.g. blood tests to measure tumor markers)
Items or services required for the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of research related adverse events (e.g. blood levels of various parameters to measure kidney function).
Please begin to use the new modifiers immediately, as all encounter forms have now been updated. You may find the official change request at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/Transmittals/downloads/R1403CP.pdf. Please feel free to contact the Clinical Trials Compliance Office at (352) 273-5946 if you have any questions regarding the use of the new modifiers. Access our Clinical Trials Compliance Website for more information about clinical trials compliance at: http://ctc.health.ufl.edu/index.shtml . This announcement will be added to the website next week.
BUDGETING TRAVEL IN GRANT OR CONTRACT APPLICATIONS
Beginning July 1, 2007, the University of Florida will be required to follow Florida Statute 112.061 for all travel reimbursements including travel costs budgeted in grant and contract applications.
Effective immediately please use the state travel reimbursement rates when budgeting travel in grant and contract applications being submitted to our federal and non-federal sponsors, with the exception that the state per day meal rate does not pertain to foreign travel. Foreign travel meals may be budgeted for and will be reimbursed based on the General Services Administration`s Foreign Per Diem Rates.
As announced the current state travel reimbursement rates will be actual expenses incurred, except for mileage and meals. The specific rates for mileage and meals at this time are provided below.
Mileage:
Effective for all travel as of July 1, 2007, the standard mileage rates to reimburse for the use of an automobile for business purposes will be 44.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven.
Meals:
Effective for all domestic travel as of July 1, 2007, the following amounts for subsistence are allowed while traveling on official University business:
Breakfast $6
Lunch $11
Dinner $19
Total $36
Please contact Proposal Processing at 392-9267 if additional information is needed.
EARLY SUBMISSION OF ELECTRONIC R01 GRANT APPLICATIONS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT
For some time, NIH has been gradually transitioning to an electronic grant application submission process using Grants.gov as the portal.
From DSR`s experience with other NIH electronic submissions, it will be extremely important that you make every possible effort to submit your Grants.gov proposals to DSR at least 10 business days prior to the NIH deadline.
This 10-business day lead time is extremely important for two critical reasons:
(1) Grants.gov is still a new system to many of you, and it is likely you will encounter problems or make errors in your first attempts to build the electronic grant application. The lead time will allow Grants.gov experts at the department, college or DSR level to help troubleshoot problems and correct errors that will allow the application to be successfully submitted and accepted by Grants.gov.
(2) Once the grant application is accepted by Grants.gov, it is then moved to NIH`s eRA Commons system where an additional system check of the application occurs. If fatal errors are identified in the eRA Commons check, they must be corrected and the entire application resubmitted through Grants.gov to meet the original agency deadline.
Principal Investigators must be registered in the NIH eRA Commons and have an updated personal profile. If the PI is not registered with Commons, the submitted Grants.gov application will not be accepted by NIH.
To learn about the Grants.gov submission process at UF, visit DSR`s Grants.gov and UF web site at http://rgp.ufl.edu/research/grantsgov/index.html.
DSR'S POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR SUBMIISSION OF MULTIPLE PI PROJECTS
At the Proposal stage, the following criteria specific to Multiple PI Proposals must be met prior to submission:
- All proposed UF PIs must have PI status as defined in UF`s PI Eligibility Policy.
- All proposed non-UF PIs must have PI status as defined by their homeinstitution. UF will treat non-UF PIs and their home institutions as sub recipients, until other mechanisms are offered by federal agencies like linked awards.
- All UF proposals must identify a UF PI as the Contact PI. The Contact PI will be responsible for relaying communications between all of the PIs, University Officials and the Sponsor, where appropriate.
- The allocation of funds for each PI should be detailed in the grant application.
At the Award stage the following will occur:
- For each UF PI a separate project will be established by NOA for their allocation of funds
- The Contact PI must provide this information to DSR prior to release of the NOAs. If a separate allocation of funds were not detailed in the grant application.
- For non-UF PIs a subcontract will be issued to their home institution in support of the scope of work and funding allocation.
Questions can be directed to DSR`s Proposal Processing Office, 392-9267, ufproposals@ufl.edu and Award Administration Office, 392-5991, ufawards@rgp.ufl.edu.
NIH PROGESS REPORTS DUE APRIL 1, 2008
For those Progress Reports due on 04/01/08, if you decide to submit through NIH Commons, the due date is extended to 04/15/08.
As a component of the NIH eRA Commons, eSNAP, electronic Streamlined Non-competing Award Process, allows institutions to submit an electronic version of a Type 5 (non-competitive) progress report to NIH via a web interface.
The eSNAP allows an extra two weeks to submit your progress report. In order to submit your progress report, you will need to be registered with NIH Commons. To establish an account, please email DSR, Proposal Processing at ufproposals@rgp.ufl.edu with an active UF email address.
If you are already registered, you can login to the NIH ERA Commons website
Contact proposal processing if you do not remember your username.
SALARY LIMITATIONS FOR GRANTS, COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS
This notice provides updated information regarding the salary limitation for NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards and extramural research and development contract awards (referred to here as a grant).
Effective January 1, 2008, the salary limitation for Executive Level 1 is $191.300 For a historical record of the salary cap, including effective dates see: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/salcap_summary.htm
IMPLEMENTATION OF NIH FISCAL POLICY FOR GRANT AWARDS- FY 2008
The following NIH fiscal policies are instituted in FY2008:
Non-Competing Research Awards: The FY 2008 appropriation as specified in P.L. 110-161 provides NIH a 1 percent inflation allowance to NIH investments in research supported by research grants. Implementation requires a reduction to previously established commitments, based on a 3 percent inflation allowance. Accordingly, each Institute and Center (IC) will use its own discretion to allocate the adjustment among its non-competing research grants (modular and non-modular) to ensure compliance with the 1 percent inflation allowance provided in its FY 2008 committed level. Future year commitments will be adjusted accordingly, as consistent with the FY 2007 fiscal policy. This policy does not apply to Career Awards, SBIR/STTRs, and Ruth L. Kirschstein-National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Fellowships & Institutional Training Grants.
Non-competing awards previously issued in FY 2008 at reduced levels will be revised to restore funds to the level indicated above. (see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-08-001.html).
Competing Research Awards: Each NIH Institute and Center (IC) will manage its competing portfolio using funds that have not been committed for non-competing awards. Consistent with the FY 2008 Congressional action, the FY 2008 average cost of competing grants is allowed to increase by 1 percent over FY 2007 when compared to similar policies. It is estimated this will allow ICs to support the NIH investigator pool with approximately 9,700 new and competing RPGs. The following guidelines will apply to competing research awards in FY 2008:
- Maintain the number of new investigators comparable to the average of the most recent five years.
- Continue to use The NIH Director's Innovator Awards within the Common Fund (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-08-014.html) and NIH Pathway to Independence Awards (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-07-297.html) as previously described.
- Continue to use the NIH Directors Bridge Award Program (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not-od-07-056.html), which provides continued but limited bridge funding to meritorious investigators whose applications were close to the funding range of the relevant IC and have minimal other support. This program provides NIH with a flexible NIH-wide tool to help balance the grant cycling variation challenges and support other approaches to sustain established grantees and first time competing renewals. As in FY 2007, this program is designed to provide only one-year of continued but limited funding.
Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA): Funds for the NRSA program are held at FY 2007 levels and policies for tuition and training-related expenses established for FY 2007 remain in effect for FY 2008 (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-07-057.html).
