On January 24, 2006, the Sponsored Program Administration office will be participating in a videoconference sponsored by the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) entitled, “Post-award Issues for the Pre-award and Departmental Administrator”. The videoconference will take place at the David Adamany Undergraduate Library from 11:30 through 3:30, with a break scheduled for lunch.

As NCURA states:

There is a fine line between pre- and post- award administration. In some universities, these functions are handled within one office. In others, these functions are handled by separate personnel in separate offices. Regardless of whether yourinstitution has a combined or separate office structure, all pre- and post- award personnel must possess a thorough understanding of proposal preparation through award closeout. With this overall knowledge, research at yourinstitution will be more effectively and efficiently managed. This is a proactive approach to ensure pre -and post- award personnel work together in the award management process.

To provide a few examples — Pre-award personnel participate in the proposal budget preparation process. If that pre-award employee understands the complexities involved in allowable versus unallowable costs and internal versus external re-budgeting, they can ensure the proposal budget is a thorough and accurate reflection of the expenses needed to conduct the scope of work. In doing so, they also minimize the need for cost disallowances and/or external requests to the agency. If the post award employee understands that National Institutes of Health (NIH) renewal applications should identify carry forward funds in excess of 25%, they can relay the carry forward amount to the pre-award personnel to ensure this information is accurately reflected within the renewal application.

This program will help demystify complex post-award issues by examining the synergistic relationship of pre-award and post-award offices and functions.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will gain a greater awareness of the impact that both pre-award and post-award functions have on each other.

Participants will understand the impact that decisions made in the proposal and award negotiation stage have on the PI, and the institution’s ability to conform with the terms and conditions of the award.

Departmental Administrators (the advocate for the PI) will have a better understanding of what the pre-award administrator needs are and the pre-award administrator will have a better understanding of what the post-award administrator needs are regardless of the size of the institution or the number of FTE devoted to research administration.

In order that SPA may have enough resources for attendees, if you are interested in joining the videoconference, please contact Amanda Reese (ad1137@wayne.edu or 577-2294) in order to register.