Region VI & VII Fall Meeting
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting Life Elevated: reaching new heights through research administration
Salt Lake City, Utah October 4-7, 2015
Compliance in the New World of Uniform Guidance (Part 1 ‐ Session) Debra Murphy, Arizona State University Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Credit the University of Wisconsin - Madison The Good News is– it provides more flexibility and ability to make institutional decisions based on risk tolerance and assessment Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Uniform Guidance • Resulted from: • November 23, 2009, Executive Order 13520 on Reducing Improper Payments • February 28, 2011, Presidential Memorandum on Administrative Flexibility, Lower Costs, and Better Results for State, Local, and Tribal Governments • OMB issued two calls for comment • A Request for Information in July of 2011 • An Advance Notice of Proposed Guidance in February 2012
• The Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on December 26, 2013 Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Uniform Guidance • Is a combined “simplified” version of 8 previous circulars 2 CFR 200 Subpart A – Acronyms and Definitions Subpart B – General Provisions Subpart C - Pre-award Requirements & Contents of Federal Awards • Subpart D – Post Federal Award Requirements Subpart • E – Cost Principles • Subpart F – Audit Requirements • • • •
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Uniform Guidance • Applies to all proposals and new awards - Agency implementations should clarify applicability for each agency’s awards prior to December 26, 2014 • Overarching focus is on internal controls, performance and transparency • Clear distinction between “should” (best practice) and “must” (a requirement) per OMB • Guidelines move away from examples of process (prescriptive statements) to descriptions of desired results and outcomes Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
TOP 10
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#1 – Effective Date Implementation12/26/2014 Inventory of awards to identify those that have compliance requirements due to incremental funding • Establish a process for tracking award to ensure changes in the UG are applied and monitor moving forward • Review pros and cons of managing all federal awards under the UG for consistency and simplification
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#2 – Conflict of Interest • Relates primarily to how decisions are made to select subrecipients and contractors • Institutions are struggling with interpretation • Different than institutional COI for individual faculty • Policies may need update or development of Guidance Documents Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#6 – F&A Recovery (subs)
Subrecipients • Pass through entity must pay federally negotiated rate unless the federal program has published limitations • De minimus rate (10% MTDC) can be applied or rate negotiated if rates have never been negotiated • “NEVER” is a MUST
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#8 – Compensation for Personal Services Alias – Effort Reporting • Focuses on stringent internal controls • Certification of time records is not required (implementation will rely on strong internal controls
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#9 – Certifications • Assurance that expenditures are proper within terms/conditions • Annual and final fiscal reports and vouchers for payment must include certification by an institutional official legally authorized to bind the organization
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#10 - Audit Considerations • Calendar year ends 2014 – little effect to audit • Fiscal Year ends the 2015 • Audit may include test procedures under both sets of regulations • Single Audit includes increased threshold from 500K to 750K • Effective for any FY beginning after 2014 • 2015 Calendar year-end will be first audits under the UG related to Federal Single Audit
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Hot Topics §200.332 Fixed amount subawards • Limited to $150K or less • Requires agency prior approval • Prior approval may be inferred if the intent is included in a proposal submission and awarded • FAQ .332-1 Acceptable to have more than one fixed amount subaward with the same subrecipient • Each must have distinct scope of work
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Hot Topics §200.320(a) Procurement by micropurchases • Specifies the methods of procurement to be followed • States definitively that all procurements which exceed the micro-purchase limit of $3,000 must be conducted competitively Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Hot Topics §200.430 Compensation – personal services • (i) Standards for documentation of personal expenses
• Charges must reflect actual work performed and records must be supported by internal controls
• No requirement for activity/effort reports • No examples of acceptable methods for payroll distribution • Emphasizes written policies and processes to review after-the-fact
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Other examples Other examples: • §200.110 Effective/applicability date • §200.407 Prior written approval • §200.413 Direct costs •
Clerical & administrative salaries
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Uniform Guidance and Institutional Risk Tolerance • Assess organization’s tolerance for risk • Blue rules vs. red rules* • Have a defendable position • Execute in good faith • Consider impact of not taking risk *“Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service”, Performance Research Associates Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Risk Tolerance
*billiondollargraphics.com Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Uniform Guidance Housekeeping Tasks that should have been completed: • Inventory awards to identify those that have compliance requirements due to incremental funding. • Establish a process for tracking award to ensure changes in the UG are applied • Review pros and cons of managing all federal awards under the UG for consistency and simplification • “The devil’s in the details” - read actual verbiage from applicable section(s) of 2 CFR Part 200
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Open Discussion Hot Topics • Fixed Amount Sub Awards • Compensation (effort reporting) • Procurement by micro-purchases • Subrecipient Monitoring • Risk Assessment
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Questions ? Contact information: Debra Murphy Arizona State University [email protected]
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Resources Arizona State University: https://researchadmin.asu.edu/omb-uniform-guidance Columbia University: http://spa.columbia.edu/uniform-guidance Emory University: http://www.ogca.emory.edu/ugep/index.html Harvard :http://osp.fad.harvard.edu/content/new-omb-uniform-guidance MIT: http://osp.mit.edu/grant-and-contract-administration/sponsored-programs-basics/ombs-uniformguidance Michigan State University: https://www.cga.msu.edu/PL/Portal/DocumentViewer.aspx?cga=aQBkAD0AMgA5ADkA University of Maryland College Park: http://www.ora.umd.edu/resources/federal/uniform-guidance University of Michigan: http://orsp.umich.edu/policies/federal/omb-guidance/ University of Minnesota: http://www.ospa.umn.edu/documents/UG.html University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/researchservices/OMB%20Announcement.html University of Tennessee - Knoxville: http://research.utk.edu/osp/ug/ University of Wisconsin: https://www.rsp.wisc.edu/UG/ Virginia Commonwealth University – College of Humanities and Sciences: http://wp.vcu.edu/bspfister/2014/05/20/updates-on-new-omb-uniform-guidance-ug/
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Credits Arizona State University, Uniform Guidance, Lisa Mosley and Michele Wrapp Arizona State University, The Evolution of Operations, Tamara Deuser University of Minnesota, Uniform Guidance, Pamela Webb and Nicole Pilman University of Wisconsin – Madison (Photo Credit) OMB Uniform Guidance Implementation “Top 10” Changes, Deby MacLeod
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Salt Lake City, Utah October 4-7, 2015
Compliance in the New World of Uniform Guidance (Part 1 ‐ Session) Debra Murphy, Arizona State University Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Credit the University of Wisconsin - Madison The Good News is– it provides more flexibility and ability to make institutional decisions based on risk tolerance and assessment Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Uniform Guidance • Resulted from: • November 23, 2009, Executive Order 13520 on Reducing Improper Payments • February 28, 2011, Presidential Memorandum on Administrative Flexibility, Lower Costs, and Better Results for State, Local, and Tribal Governments • OMB issued two calls for comment • A Request for Information in July of 2011 • An Advance Notice of Proposed Guidance in February 2012
• The Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on December 26, 2013 Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Uniform Guidance • Is a combined “simplified” version of 8 previous circulars 2 CFR 200 Subpart A – Acronyms and Definitions Subpart B – General Provisions Subpart C - Pre-award Requirements & Contents of Federal Awards • Subpart D – Post Federal Award Requirements Subpart • E – Cost Principles • Subpart F – Audit Requirements • • • •
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Uniform Guidance • Applies to all proposals and new awards - Agency implementations should clarify applicability for each agency’s awards prior to December 26, 2014 • Overarching focus is on internal controls, performance and transparency • Clear distinction between “should” (best practice) and “must” (a requirement) per OMB • Guidelines move away from examples of process (prescriptive statements) to descriptions of desired results and outcomes Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
TOP 10
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#1 – Effective Date Implementation12/26/2014 Inventory of awards to identify those that have compliance requirements due to incremental funding • Establish a process for tracking award to ensure changes in the UG are applied and monitor moving forward • Review pros and cons of managing all federal awards under the UG for consistency and simplification
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#2 – Conflict of Interest • Relates primarily to how decisions are made to select subrecipients and contractors • Institutions are struggling with interpretation • Different than institutional COI for individual faculty • Policies may need update or development of Guidance Documents Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#6 – F&A Recovery (subs)
Subrecipients • Pass through entity must pay federally negotiated rate unless the federal program has published limitations • De minimus rate (10% MTDC) can be applied or rate negotiated if rates have never been negotiated • “NEVER” is a MUST
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#8 – Compensation for Personal Services Alias – Effort Reporting • Focuses on stringent internal controls • Certification of time records is not required (implementation will rely on strong internal controls
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#9 – Certifications • Assurance that expenditures are proper within terms/conditions • Annual and final fiscal reports and vouchers for payment must include certification by an institutional official legally authorized to bind the organization
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
#10 - Audit Considerations • Calendar year ends 2014 – little effect to audit • Fiscal Year ends the 2015 • Audit may include test procedures under both sets of regulations • Single Audit includes increased threshold from 500K to 750K • Effective for any FY beginning after 2014 • 2015 Calendar year-end will be first audits under the UG related to Federal Single Audit
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Hot Topics §200.332 Fixed amount subawards • Limited to $150K or less • Requires agency prior approval • Prior approval may be inferred if the intent is included in a proposal submission and awarded • FAQ .332-1 Acceptable to have more than one fixed amount subaward with the same subrecipient • Each must have distinct scope of work
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Hot Topics §200.320(a) Procurement by micropurchases • Specifies the methods of procurement to be followed • States definitively that all procurements which exceed the micro-purchase limit of $3,000 must be conducted competitively Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Hot Topics §200.430 Compensation – personal services • (i) Standards for documentation of personal expenses
• Charges must reflect actual work performed and records must be supported by internal controls
• No requirement for activity/effort reports • No examples of acceptable methods for payroll distribution • Emphasizes written policies and processes to review after-the-fact
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Other examples Other examples: • §200.110 Effective/applicability date • §200.407 Prior written approval • §200.413 Direct costs •
Clerical & administrative salaries
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Uniform Guidance and Institutional Risk Tolerance • Assess organization’s tolerance for risk • Blue rules vs. red rules* • Have a defendable position • Execute in good faith • Consider impact of not taking risk *“Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service”, Performance Research Associates Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Risk Tolerance
*billiondollargraphics.com Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Uniform Guidance Housekeeping Tasks that should have been completed: • Inventory awards to identify those that have compliance requirements due to incremental funding. • Establish a process for tracking award to ensure changes in the UG are applied • Review pros and cons of managing all federal awards under the UG for consistency and simplification • “The devil’s in the details” - read actual verbiage from applicable section(s) of 2 CFR Part 200
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Open Discussion Hot Topics • Fixed Amount Sub Awards • Compensation (effort reporting) • Procurement by micro-purchases • Subrecipient Monitoring • Risk Assessment
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Questions ? Contact information: Debra Murphy Arizona State University [email protected]
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Resources Arizona State University: https://researchadmin.asu.edu/omb-uniform-guidance Columbia University: http://spa.columbia.edu/uniform-guidance Emory University: http://www.ogca.emory.edu/ugep/index.html Harvard :http://osp.fad.harvard.edu/content/new-omb-uniform-guidance MIT: http://osp.mit.edu/grant-and-contract-administration/sponsored-programs-basics/ombs-uniformguidance Michigan State University: https://www.cga.msu.edu/PL/Portal/DocumentViewer.aspx?cga=aQBkAD0AMgA5ADkA University of Maryland College Park: http://www.ora.umd.edu/resources/federal/uniform-guidance University of Michigan: http://orsp.umich.edu/policies/federal/omb-guidance/ University of Minnesota: http://www.ospa.umn.edu/documents/UG.html University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/researchservices/OMB%20Announcement.html University of Tennessee - Knoxville: http://research.utk.edu/osp/ug/ University of Wisconsin: https://www.rsp.wisc.edu/UG/ Virginia Commonwealth University – College of Humanities and Sciences: http://wp.vcu.edu/bspfister/2014/05/20/updates-on-new-omb-uniform-guidance-ug/
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
Credits Arizona State University, Uniform Guidance, Lisa Mosley and Michele Wrapp Arizona State University, The Evolution of Operations, Tamara Deuser University of Minnesota, Uniform Guidance, Pamela Webb and Nicole Pilman University of Wisconsin – Madison (Photo Credit) OMB Uniform Guidance Implementation “Top 10” Changes, Deby MacLeod
Region VI & VII Fall Meeting, Salt Lake City – October 4-7, 2015
