Proposal and Award Roles and Responsibilities

The submission of proposals, execution and administration of awards, and the conduct of research at UT involves many people and support groups. It is truly a team effort. While there are important variations from college to college and department to department, the matrix below outlines the process and identifies who has primary responsibility for these activities.

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Identification of Funding Opportunities:

Search for opportunities	X				X
Provide guidance on funding opportunities		X	X		X

Proposal Preparation:

Write technical narrative	X
Provide editing of technical narrative					X
Provide project management of proposal					X
Identify subcontractors and request budget and statement of work	X
Develop budget and budget justification	X	X		X
Identify need for cost sharing funds	X
Provides approval of cost sharing requests		X	X	X
Evaluate requests for F&A waivers or reductions		X	X	X
Coordinate space arrangements		X	X
Provide expert guidance on proposal preparation				X	X
Complete TERA-PAMS and route proposal for approval	X	X

Regulatory Requirements:

Complete compliance forms: Institutional Review Board, Animal Care and Use, Institutional Bio Safety Department	X	X
Complete conflict of interest disclosure form	X
Review conflict of interest disclosure form and facilitate institutional oversight		X	X

Proposal Review and Approval:

Confirm that proposal meets sponsor requirements (text, margins, font, etc)	X			X
Review entire proposal before sending proposal to Sponsored Programs		X	X
Verify that mandatory cost sharing is captured	X	X	X	X
Review proposed cost sharing for appropriateness		X	X	X
Programmatic review of proposal and certify/approve proposal in TERA-PAMS	X	X	X
Provide institutional review and final approval of proposal				X

Proposal Submission:

Send proposal to sponsors after institutional approval

Pre-award:

Request advance account	X
Consider appropriateness of advance account request and approves request		X	X
Establish advance account				X
Monitor advance account		X		X

Award Acceptance:

Accept sponsor notification of grant or contract award		X
Review terms and conditions	X	X
Negotiate terms and conditions with sponsor		X
Approve award terms and conditions		X

Award Set-Up:

Confirm that regulatory compliance requirements have been met		X
Modify proposed budget	X	X
Prepare award documents		X
Ensure that cost sharing is documented (if applicable)		X	X
Establish account number in IRIS			X
Notify PI of account number			X

Conducting the Project:

Prepare personnel transactions		X
Initiate purchases on project	X	X
Initiate prior approvals for changes to project (description, PI, etc)	X	X
Review and approve changes to project (or forward to sponsor)			X
Initiate re-budgeting requests	X	X
Approve re-budgeting requests (or forward to sponsor)			X
Initiate no cost time extensions	X	X
Approve no cost extensions (or forward to sponsor)			X
Use financial reports to monitor and oversee expenditures	X	X		X
Reconcile accounts on a monthly basis	X	X
Coordinate resolution of issues on oversight reports			X
Audit expenditures				X
Approve or forward to sponsor prior approvals for changes to project			X
Ensure regulatory compliance offices are notified of changes to project	X
Review and approve incoming MTAs and Non-disclosure Agreements			X
Complete invention disclosure form	X		X
Ensure integrity of notebooks and data	X

Program Income:

Identify program income	X		X	X
Notify Sponsored Programs of program income	X	X		X
Include program income as a sponsored program funding			X
Invoice/Collect program income		X
Receive and deposit program income		X
Identify use and reportability of program income				X
Monitor program income levels	X	X		X

Invoicing and Financial Reporting:

Prepare and submit the invoice and/or financial report

Accounts Receivable Management:

Receive and deposit payments from sponsors						X
Produce and record a letter of credit draw request (federal awards)						X
Monitor and pursue the collections of overdue payments from sponsors						X

Subcontracts and Subawards:

Oversee programmatic aspects of subcontract/subaward	X
Prepare, negotiate, and sign subcontracts/subawards			X
Review and approve subcontract invoices	X	X
Subrecipient monitoring			X

Technical Reports:

Prepare technical reports	X
Submit technical reports to sponsor	X	X
Maintain the official copy of the technical report	X

Personnel and Effort Certification:

Initiate hiring and appointment process	X
Maintain the effort certification database and reporting system			X
Complete necessary adjustments to award charges and/or payroll distribution		X
Obtain necessary supervisory reviews and approvals		X
Ensure accuracy of completed effort certification reports	X	X
Resolve problems or follow up on certifications not submitted		X	X

Project End and Closeout:

Identify early close-out situations	X	X	X
Ensure all appropriate expenditures have been posted to accounts		X		X
Prepare final financial invoice and/or report				X
Approve final financial invoice/report	X	X		X
Resolve issues related to unreconciled accounts				X
Ensure that all financial reports have been submitted to sponsor				X
Ensure that all technical reports have been submitted to sponsor	X		X
Ensure that all final invention reports have been submitted to sponsor			X
Ensure that all patent reports have been submitted to sponsor			X
Inactivate award account(s) in financial accounting system				X
Maintain official project documents for sponsored projects				X

Lead Principal Investigator (PI):

The lead principal investigator is the primary individual in charge of a grant, cooperative agreement, or contract for the purpose of research, training, instruction, or public service. The lead principal investigator reports to a unit head (or other designated official).

Department:

Department Head
The department head is an academic leader with programmatic, managerial and fiscal responsibilities for a designated area, such as a department, division, school or center. The department head reports to a dean.

Department Administrator
Administrative staff at the departmental level provides administrative support for one or more sponsored projects. With respect to financial management of sponsored accounts, department administrators complete and process financial, human resource and other electronic and paper transaction documents.

Dean:

Deans are academic leaders who have programmatic, managerial and fiscal responsibilities for a college or school. The dean's office, the administrative center for a school or college, may include one or more Associate Deans, who report to the Dean.

Sponsored Programs (SP):

SP is the only institutional unit legally able to submit proposals to external entities for financial support in the form of a contract, grant, or agreement, and legally able to commit the University in the event an award is made. The head of SP is designated as an Institutional Official and has the authority to sign submitted proposals, to receive awards and to conduct any other official business with funding agencies, whether federal or private. The head of SP is a Director who reports to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research.

Proposal Development Team (PDT):

The PDT is composed of a team of editors, project administrators, and representative from the Sponsored Programs office. The proposal development team works on large, multi-disciplinary, high-dollar proposals. The head of PDT is an Associate Vice Chancellor for Research that reports to the Vice Chancellor for Research. To utilize the services of the PDT, please contact Dr. Gregory Reed.

Sponsored Projects Accounting (SPA):

SPA is a division of Finance and Administration. They handle the post-award accounting functions of externally funded project. They are responsible for all financial compliance, invoicing, collections, and serve as primary point of contact for external audits. The head of SPA is a Director who reports to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration.

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Proposal and Award Roles and Responsibilities