Policies for Recording Award Credit and Establishing Financial Accounts

For major sponsored programs, the Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) offers several alternative methods for assigning award credit in the Vice President for Research’s (VPR) Annual Report of proposal and award activity and for establishing financial accounts. Major programs are defined as large, complex programs that can be broken down into several distinct, yet related, research projects and/or training activities. Examples of major programs include NSF’s science and technology centers and the NIH’s program project and specialized center grants. NIH usually awards major programs with grant support mechanisms in the "P" and "U" series. Following are the three alternative methods for handling major programs.

Alternative #1 Redistributed Awards: The redistributed model allocates all award credit in the VPR’s Annual Report to the PI and the administering unit as noted on the OSR-1 form. In addition, subsidiary award records are recorded which identify co-investigators and the amount assigned to each. A subsidiary distributed award report is available from OSR upon request. On the financial side in this model, separate CUFS accounts are established for all redistributed award segments. CUFS accounts can either be assigned to the PI’s administering unit or to the co-investigator’s unit. Decisions regarding designation of the administering unit are jointly determined by the PI, the co-investigators, and heads of their administering units.*

Alternative #1 Examples: . One annual report credit, subsidiary listings of co-investigators available, multiple accounts in CUFS

Annual Report Award Listing:

J. Doe, Life Sciences, NIH, Program Project Grant, 1/1/2001 - 12/31/2001, $1,000,000. (Co-investigators may be listed in the main record as well.)
Redistributed Award Listing:
J. Doe, Life Sciences, NIH, Program Project Grant Project A 1/1/2001 – 12/31/2001, $200,000
V. Smith, Med. School, NIH, Program Project Grant Project B, 1/1/2001 - 12/31/2001, $200,000
M. Burns, Engineering, NIH, Program Project Grant Project C, 1/1/2001 - 12/31/2001, $225,000
E. Jones, University Center, NIH, Program Project Grant Project D, 1/1/2001 – 12/31/2001, $200,000
S. Hall, Life Sciences, NIH, Program Project Grant Project E, 1/1/2001 – 2/31/2001, $175,0000
CUFS Accounts:
0600 300 M300 (Doe) - $200,000
0600 370 C301 (Smith) - $200,000
0600 350 K302 (Burns) - $225,000
0600 520 D303 (Jones) - $200,000
0600 300 N304 (Hall) - $175,000

Alternative #2 Separate Award Records and Financial Accounts: The separate award record model assigns award credit in the VPR Annual Report to the PI and co-investigators (apportioned as directed by the PI) in separate award entries. These award entries can either be assigned to the PI’s administering unit or to the administering unit of each co-investigator and the PI. Decisions regarding assignments for the VPR Annual Report are jointly determined by the PI, the co-investigators, and heads of their administering units.* Assignment of CUFS accounts is the same as described in Alternative #1.

Alternative #2 Examples: Annual report credit divided, multiple accounts in CUFS

Annual Report Award Listing:

J. Doe, Life Sciences, NIH, Program Project Grant Project A 1/1/2001 – 12/31/2001, $200,000
V. Smith, Med. School, NIH, Program Project Grant Project B, 1/1/2001 - 12/31/2001, $200,000
M. Burns, Engineering, NIH, Program Project Grant Project C, 1/1/2001 - 12/31/2001, $225,000
E. Jones, University Center, NIH, Program Project Grant Project D, 1/1/2001 – 12/31/2001, $200,000
S. Hall, Life Sciences, NIH, Program Project Grant Project E, 1/1/2001 – 2/31/2001, $175,0000

CUFS Accounts:

0600 300 M300 (Doe) - $200,000
0600 370 C301 (Smith) - $200,000
0600 350 K302 (Burns) - $225,000
0600 520 D303 (Jones) - $200,000
0600 300 N304 (Hall) - $175,000

Alternative #3: Single Award: In this model, one award record is listed in the VPR’s Annual Report and all credit is given to the PI and the PI’s administering unit as noted on the OSR-1 form. On the financial side, one CUFS account is established and assigned to the PI and the PI’s administering unit. Decisions regarding use of this alternative for major programs are jointly determined by the PI, the co-investigators and heads of their units.* Please note that this alternative will be used for all awards** that do not meet the criteria for major programs.

Alternative #3 Examples: One annual report credit, one account in CUFS

Annual Report Award Listing

J. Doe, Life Sciences, NIH, Program Project Grant, 1/1/2001 - 12/31/2001, $1,000,000
( Co-investigators may be listed as well)

CUFS Account:

0600 300 M300 - $1,000,000

All proposal credit in the VPR’s Annual Report for major programs will reside in the PI’s administering unit as noted on the OSR-1 form, irrespective of which award alternative is selected. The method for recording VPR Annual Report credit for major program awards and establishing financial accounts for these awards, should be determined at the time of proposal submission and provided as an attachment to the OSR-1 form.

*If the concerned parties are unable to come to agreement over which option to use, the issue can be mediated by the appropriate Dean (if all parties are within the same school), or by the Vice President for Research (if parties are from different schools.)

**Traditional NIH R01s are not considered major programs and are not eligible for alternatives #1 or #2 above. Instead, R01s and similar award mechanisms will always be handled in accordance with alternative #3 above. Credit will be assigned in both the VPR annual report and in the financial system to the PI and the administering unit identified on the OSR-1 proposal routing form.