Your OSP representative can assist you with interpreting proposal guidelines.

The Codes and Numbers webpage contains helpful information about the RFSUNY/SBU as well as frequently used rates and figures used in sponsored research activities.

Your Chair and Dean are required to sign off on the proposal so that they are aware of the research and sponsored activity taking place in their department and college; their signatures are obtained via myResearch Grants. Additionally, the Chair and the Dean are permitted to commit university resources to the proposal if required. Their signatures authorizing such commitments are necessary for the university's records.

Some Federal Sponsors offer funding for the purposes of specialized pieces of equipment.  Often, equipment grants incorporate more than one user, more than one department, and even more than one institution.  There is often a “funding range” for proposals.  Sometimes, specific directorates of federal agencies will cooperate with other federal agencies or directorates within the same agency to fund the acquisition of certain equipment. Some Federal Sponsors offer funding for the purposes of specialized pieces of equipment.  Often, equipment grants incorporate more than one user, more than one department, and even more than one institution.  There is often a “funding range” for proposals.  Sometimes, specific directorates of federal agencies will cooperate with other federal agencies or directorates within the same agency to fund the acquisition of certain equipment.

 

Institutional NRSAs support a research training program at a specific domestic public or non-profit institution in a specified area(s) of research.  Individual NRSAs support an individual predoctoral, postdoctoral or senior level fellow in a targeted area of research.

The distinction between an independent contractor and employee rests upon the degree of control or right to control that the PI/PD exercises over the contractor’s physical conduct in the performance of the work or duties involved. If the PI/PD has NO RIGHT to control the way the result is produced, the agent is called an independent contractor.  If the PI/PD HAS THE RIGHT to control the agent’s physical conduct in the performance of the work, he or she is an employee. The essential analysis is whether the PI/PD has the right, even though they may not wish to exercise that right, to control HOW the tasks are to be performed. 

Fringe benefits are retirement and health insurance benefits associated with salaries. Medicaid and workers compensation are also included in fringe benefits. For current rates visit this page.

Cost sharing is the provision of internal university funds or third party funds in support of a project funded by a sponsor. Most sponsors do not require cost sharing; if it is not required, you should not provide cost sharing as part of your budget.

If the sponsor requires cost sharing, you can cost share in two ways - cash or in-kind. A cash match is a match of dollars. An in-kind match is a match of services. Typically, faculty will provide in-kind cost sharing through donation of their effort.

Faculty must be cautious not to over-commit effort. Faculty are not permitted to work more than 100% of their time (except in limited circumstances). All cost-shared effort donated to sponsored activity must fit into the 100% available. Generally, faculty cannot commit more than 25%.

Institutional Base Salary Guide for Sponsored Awards

To develop your own budget, you should consider including the following line items which are included in most budgets:

• Salaries and Wages
• Fringe Benefits
• Materials and Supplies
• Equipment
• Travel
• Other Direct Costs (includes subrecipient and services agreements)
• Facilities and Administrative Costs

For the development of most sponsor budgets, you can use one of the templates on OSP's website to assist in developing the budget. See this link for budget forms. OSP will review your budget prior to submission to the sponsor to ensure compliance with sponsor, university, and RFSUNY’s requirements. Some departments are staffed with a research coordinator or Departmental Administrator who can provide support in proposal preparation.

 No. The Research Foundation rules require that OSP accept awards on behalf of the university.

The funding agency will contact you and/or the OSP Specialist once an award is made or is going to be made. If the notice of award is sent directly to the PI, the PI should forward the notice to OSP. In case of contracts or clinical trials, Principal Investigators will have to either review and provide consent to proceed with the signature process, or will be asked to sign “Read and understood”.

Should you receive the award directly from the sponsor, deliver it to OSP for review and signature, as required. The Account Establishment and Maintenance Unit shall set up your internal account number in Oracle.

 In many cases you may transfer your award. Discuss transfer with your department chair and if s/he approves the transfer, contact OSP. OSP will review sponsor requirements for the transfer process. You should finalize all expenditures on the project if transfer is approved. Additionally, if you anticipate transferring equipment or data, please let OGM know the details. You must let Inventory know if you are transferring equipment so that inventory can be updated.

All financial reports (FFR, SF 425, quarterly financial disclosure, cumulative invoices) MUST be prepared, endorsed and submitted by the Office of Grants Management.  Some sponsors require periodic reports to contain both technical and financial information.  In these limited situations, you should coordinate with your assigned OGM Sponsored Award Analyst to obtain updated financial information before submitting the combined report.

 Yes. PIs will receive notifications and reminders to submit technical reports through myResearch. 

OSP recognizes that technical reporting due dates may change during the course of a sponsored project.  If you receive a due date change notification from a sponsor, you are responsible to promptly inform OSP at osp@stonybrook.edu so our records can be updated.  This will avoid unnecessary escalations.

Certain sponsors do not list technical report due dates in the award document.  They may instead provide the due dates to you at a later date.  If you do not have the technical report due dates, you should contact your Program Manager / Technical Contact for more information. Once you have the dates, promptly inform OSP at osp@stonybrook.edu so our records can be updated.

Please provide the sponsor’s updated guidance and/or waiver in response to this email so that our records can be updated.

You must provide OSP Provide proof of sponsor’s consent in order to update the reporting records.

If you cannot meet technical report deadlines, you should first contact your Program Manager / Technical Contact to see if it’s possible to obtain a deadline extension.  Your Program Manager / Technical Contact is not required, or may not have authority, to grant an extension. If the PI provides suitable justification, OSP can also contact the sponsor to request an extension on the PIs behalf.

If the extension request is unsuccessful, you may contact your Department Chair and/or Dean.  They may be aware of other resources available (e.g., graduate students) to assist you. 

Yes.  Unless you have written confirmation from your Program Manager / Technical Contact that your report is not due, you must submit your report by the existing deadline.

For example, National Science Foundation has advised: “A ‘no cost extension’ adds time to an award, but does not relieve the awardee of reporting requirements. Annual reports are still due every 12 months. When the award finally does expire, the final report and project outcomes report are both due within 120 days.”  See, e.g., Dear Colleague Letter No. NSF 16-040.

The automated email reminders described above ask that you submit a copy of your technical report in myResearch. Other acceptable methods include (i) copying osp@stonybrook.edu when you submit your report via email; and (ii) forwarding a copy of a confirmation you receive from an online portal after your submission.  Please note that merely stating you have submitted your report is not sufficient.  OSP needs written information from an independently verifiable source, as OSP may be required to provide this information to our external auditors.

NSF

 The NSF has published memo number NSF 16-040, Meeting NSF's Technical Reporting Requirements. The memo contains answers to frequently asked questions and links to additional resources and information regarding NSF's reporting requirements.

Submission website: https://research.gov

Who is responsible for submission: Principal Investigator submits directly

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As of October 1, 2019 USARMY MEDICAL RESEARCH ACQUISITION ACTIVITY (USAMRAA) transitioned all Technical Report submissions to a new system the Electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) https://ebrap.org

All reports including Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-annual, Annual and Final reports must be submitted through eBRAP. Reports will not be accepted by email. If your original agreement contains an email address for submission of reports, the address is no longer valid.

Most investigators already have an eBRAP account; if so please login and navigate to the Technical Reports Tab under "Award Management" to submit your reports. If you have forgotten your password, please click on "Forgot your Password?" on the homepage and follow instructions; do not register/start a new account.

If you are new to eBRAP, please register using the Start Registration button on the homepage.

If there was a PI or Institutional transfer of the original award and you do not see the award after you login please contact the eBRAP help desk (Help@eBRAP.org).

______________________________________________

AFOSR MEMORANDUM FOR GRANTEES AND BILLING OFFICES dated January 18, 2022

 You should review your award terms and conditions to determine the appropriate process for requesting changes to your award budget. If a sponsor approval is required, submit your rebudget request to your OSP representative through myResearch Grants. Access your award, select Request Award Modification and select the appropriate action. OSP will forward the request to the sponsor. Upon receipt of sponsor approval, OSP will update the budget in the university's accounting system.

 Request an extension through myResearch Grants. Access your Award and select Request Award Modification. You will need to provide a justification of why the extension is necessary. (Spending out the account is not a valid reason to extend a project.) OSP will submit the request to the sponsor and update the end date if the extension is approved

  All Principal Investigators are required to certify the effort on their sponsored project for all individuals whose salaries are charged directly to their federal and federal flow-through award or for effort identified as cost share.   If you do not certify your effort statement, you will not be in compliance with OMB Circular A-21. The university is then at risk of losing existing and future funding from sponsoring agencies

Graduate Research Assistants are eligible for tuition remission. Policy may be found at this site.

Accounts are automatically suspended if they have not been confirmed for a year or longer. Look for the accounts that have been identified as suspended and confirm that the Delegate information is accurate by: Clicking on an account number.

If you do not need to make any changes to your Delegates, click on the Save and Confirm button

Research Foundation funded reimbursements must use the RF Independent Contractor Services Form and complete the travel section of the form. Original receipts are required. Consultants may only be reimbursed for their actual receipted meal expenses. They cannot claim the diem that is allowed employees and must have actual receipted expenses.

Being reimbursed with RF funds must use the Travel Voucher

 

The Principal Investigator is responsible for monitoring subrecipients' performance of the work they agreed to perform. In addition, the Principal Investigator shall work with the Office of Grants Management in reviewing and approving all subrecipient invoices for correct billing, including any required cost-sharing. The PI is also responsible for insuring the subrecipient submits all deliverables and technical reports as required under the subrecipient agreement.

You should complete a Purchase Requisition form and submit it to OSP for processing.

A vendor provides a commercial item like paper, or a service, such as maintenance services for copiers. Vendor agreements are handled by the Procurement Office. A subrecipient, on the other hand, participates in the research by contributing to the development of the research and has an impact on the direction of the research. A subrecipient is a participant and collaborator in the project, unlike a vendor.

You will need a statement of work and budget to document their costing. Depending on the sponsor and the nature of the award, you may need to obtain detailed costing information from the subrecipient. This is particularly true in the case of subcontracts under prime agreements with Federal Acquisition Regulation clauses.

You would reference subrecipient by name in both your statement of work (and describe their activities) and in your budget, under either Subrecipients or Other Direct Costs and in your budget justification. Your subrecipients should also submit a Subrecipient commitment form, a statement of work, a budget, and justification. 

Performance and completion of a designated portion of project objectives executed by an organization other than Stony Brook.

 Faculty should discuss potential commitment of university resources with OSP prior to submission of a proposal. Typically, faculty are not authorized to commit university resources in a contractual arrangement. University officials such as Chairs, Deans, Vice Presidents, the Provost and the President have the ability to commit resources but any such commitment for a sponsored project must be approved by the university officials and submitted to the sponsor through OSP.

 The authorization to sign proposals, awards, and other non-financial official documents related to sponsored programs is vested in the Director, Grants, Contracts and Clinical Trials Specialists within OSP. Researchers should not sign any documents as the authorized university signatory.

 A sponsored project is defined as an activity that is sponsored, or funded, by an external organization, such as a federal, state, or private organization or agency to conduct research, training, educational activities, and public service projects which requires some kind of deliverable (a technical report, a financial report, milestones, etc.).

OSP contacts are listed here. OGM staff are listed here. 

OSP's administrative structure divides the OSP staff into teams: 1. Grants and Contracts Specialists, who oversee the review, submission and administrative management of grants, cooperative agreements,  outgoing federal subawards and some NYS contracts; 2. Contracts and Clinical Trials Specialists, who oversee the submission, negotiation and execution of all federal, industry State, local and other contractual/sub-contractual activities.

OSP is the coordinating office for external research funding. The Office assists faculty with proposal submissions for funding, negotiates and accepts awards. OSP also sets up awards, processes extensions, budget revisions and assists with other administrative matters.

Documentation would consist of letters from your collaborators acknowledging their participation on the project. Use of outside facilities, equipment or other resources require a letter from the person at that facility who is authorized to make such a commitment

Please include the following in your email to osp@stonybrook.edu:

• Your name
• Your email address
• Your phone number
• The priority level of your question (Urgent/Important/Informational)

Your question

OSP is committed to providing a variety of training workshops, labs, and outreach programs. The Learning Resources section on the OSP/OGM website lists current and past webinars, with corresponding training materials (where applicable), as well as links to other learning resources.

The News page provides a central repository for updates and policy changes at OSP/OGM as well as other issues that may pertain to research activities at RFSUNY/SBU.

It depends on department and college requirements. If such an arrangement is required or permitted, it is recommended that the PI provide the Chair or Dean with written or emailed approval to submit the proposal under the PI's name (with a copy to OSP for records).