Grant Management
- Basic Information
- Helpful Sections of ORDA's Sponsored Project Guide
- Other SIUC Grant Management Resources
- Federal Research Regulations and Sponsor Policies
- Other Resources
Grant/contract awards are officially made to the University, not to the individual. (Exceptions are individual awards, such as some fellowships.) For details, see the Policy on Institutional Submission of Grant/Contract Applications and Acceptance of Awards.
When you receive notification of a grant award, contact the ORDA research project specialist who worked with you on the proposal. That staff member will be your liaison for negotiating the award agreement with the agency, rebudgeting if necessary, and arranging for the grant account to be established. He or she also will assist you with administrative aspects of managing the grant, such as requesting no-cost extensions or budget reallocation. Complicated contracts, as well as subcontracts and funding agency audits, are handled by Sonjie Schwartz, 453-4541 or sonjie@siu.edu.
Assistance with fiscal accounting of the grant is provided by Grant & Contract Accounting (536-2351, mailcode 6812), a unit of Accounting Services. The Administrative Information Systems (AIS) financial system is now being used for grant accounts. Accounting Services assigns grants both an AIS budget purpose number and an old FAS (Financial Accounting System) account number. The grant's budget purpose number is used in filling out fiscal and hiring forms. You also need it, along with another number issued by Accounting Services called the fund number, to track your expenditures and check account balances on the AIS web site. For the time being, you'll still need to refer to the old FAS numbers to assign P-card transactions to the proper grant account. Eventually the P-card system will be converted to AIS, and FAS numbers will be phased out entirely.
Electronic forms used for financial transactions are now fillable PDFs obtainable from the AIS web site or SIUC's central eForms repository. Completed forms cannot be submitted online, however. They must be printed out, signed by the grant's fiscal officer, and sent to Grant & Contract Accounting, mailcode 6812. G&CA checks your account for available funds and forwards the forms to Purchasing or Accounts Payable for processing.
Most forms needed for hiring personnel are also obtained from the eForms repository. Documents outlining the hiring process for different types of personnel (A/P staff, civil service, GAs, etc.) are downloadable from the AIS web site and also linked from the Hiring Staff section of the Sponsored Project Guide (see below).
Helpful Sections of ORDA's Online Sponsored Project Guide
- Award Negotiation and Acceptance (section 6) explains what's involved after you receive notification of a grant award.
- Grant Management (section 7) discusses grant administration responsibilities, account set-up, the AIS system, budget lines, subcontracts, budget reallocation, time extensions, reporting requirements, and other administrative issues.
- Hiring Staff (section 8) gives you basic information and gives you the links you need to go about hiring researchers, postdocs, GAs, student workers, and consultants on your grant or contract. It includes researcher/scientist classifications and links to personnel policies (leave, benefits, etc.).
- Other Account Expenditures (section 9) explains how to pay for travel expenses and how to buy equipment, commodities, and contractual services allowable on your grant. (For a quick summary of this information, see Grant Survival! How to Spend Your Money Without Losing Your Mind.)
- Research Policies and Compliances (section 10) covers publication and patent rights, indirect costs, conflict of interest, research misconduct, federal research compliances (human subjects, animal care, stem cells, and hazardous materials), and more. Also see Responsible Conduct of Research.
Other SIUC Grant Management Resources
- Rate Information for Budgets
- Human Resources Web Site
- Purchasing Office How-To Pages and Forms
- Purchasing Guide by Category (PDF)
- Purchasing's P-Card Web Site
- P-Card Policies and Procedures Manual (PDF)
- Prime Vendors: Dell | Fisher Scientific | OfficeMax | Orbitz for Business
- Travel Regulations, Reimbursement Rates, and a "Know Before You Go" Manual may be found at the SIUC Travel Portal
- SIUC Fleet Vehicle Rental - Policies and Procedures
Federal Research Regulations and Sponsor Policies
- OMB Circular A-21: Cost Principles for Educational Institutions
- OMB Circular A-110: Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Agreements With Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations
- Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
- Army Research Laboratory (ARL) - Grant Terms and Conditions
- Education Department (DoED) - General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR)
- Energy Dept. (DOE) - Grant Rules, Regulations, and Guidance
- NASA - Grant and Cooperative Agreement Handbook
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) - Grants Policy and Guidance
- National Science Foundation (NSF) - Grant Proposal Guide and Award Administration Guide (note: earlier versions of these two guides are archived on the NSF site and apply to proposals submitted before January 5, 2008)
- Office of Naval Research (ONR) - Grant Terms and Conditions
Other Resources
- Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty (2006; Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Burroughs Wellcome Fund). A wide-ranging guide to professional development. Includes sections on project management, data management, and getting funded.
- On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research (1995; National Academy Press)