Pre-Award Administration
Proposal Preparation and Submission
Provides pre-award support for Principal Investigators (PIs) within the FSHN Department using knowledge of grant and contract management rules and regulations, technical expertise, and analytical skills. Pre-award activities include, but are not limited to:
Assists department faculty/PIs in assessing potential funding opportunities.
Assists department faculty/PIs in the development, preparation, and submission of timely and competitive proposals to federal, state, and private funding agencies.
Reviews requests for proposals (i.e., RFP, RFA, FOA, PA) and identifies the specific funding agency’s requirements while ensuring the policies are within or consistent with those of the sponsor, federal, state, UF and IFAS guidelines.
Ensures all proposal submissions meet published deadlines and are entered and routed in a timely manner for further review to meet internal timelines.
Assists in the development of complex budgets and budget justification which includes reviewing the budget for inconsistencies and ensuring accuracy.
Reviews budgets for consistency with sponsor, monitors compliance with agency and University regulations regarding submission; verifies all financial information to include application of the appropriate overhead rate for the project.
Advises the PI on administrative requirements in preparing proposal submissions and on budget adjustments and revisions necessary to meet the sponsor requirements.
Coordinates and reviews certain proposal elements (e.g., biographical sketches, letters of support, facilities & resources) for consistency, accuracy, completeness, and guideline compliance.
Obtains and reviews sponsor guidelines. Reviews proposals for consistency with sponsor guidelines on budget, format, font size, page limits.
Confers with PI and appropriate support staff at collaborating institutions to secure necessary sub-award documents for proposals.
Obtains signatures as needed.
Monitors proposal status and confers with investigators and campus administrators to ensure changes or corrections are made as needed.
Advises PI on requirements and deadlines associated with research compliance protocols.
Facilitates processing of post-submission updates, agreements, and award release.
Post Award Administration
Award Management, Reporting
Responsible for post-award activities for Principal Investigators (PIs) within the FSHN Department using knowledge of grant and contract management rules and regulations, technical expertise, and analytical skills. Post award review requires routine, careful, and detailed fiscal analysis to forecast each award’s financial trajectory. Financial analysis and projections should be reviewed with PIs on a consistent basis (a minimum of once per semester) to ensure accuracy and budget adherence. Post award activities include, but are not limited to:
Review award documents for acceptance and processing.
Using (and interpreting award documents), reviews grant and contract award terms and conditions to determine budget, restrictions, and other pertinent information and communicates that information to PIs and key departmental personnel.
Completes award setup and budget reconciliation in UFIRST and sets up projection and tracking tools necessary for award management. Submit requests for temporary release of funds, or protocol exemptions when needed.
Provides comprehensive award management and monitoring of post award activities including payroll distributions, commitments, cost share, CAS, effort, budget transfers, budget modifications, incremental and supplemental budget requests, subaward monitoring, no cost extensions, and cost transfers.
Works with administrative/fiscal staff to assist as needed in payroll distributions, Faculty Assignment Reports (FARs), effort reporting, Faculty Salary Savings Plans (FSSPs).
Assists in reconciling expenditures to ensure costs are allowable, allocated, reasonable and consistent with funding agency regulations.
As required, reviews/monitors grant spending and works with the appropriate parties to manage and/or resolve any issues or concerns.
Assists PI in their subrecipient monitoring responsibilities, including reviewing subrecipient invoices to ensure invoices are within the parameters of the subaward budget and questioning expenditures if necessary, ensuring subrecipient invoices are approved by the PI and returned to C&G in a timely manner, and requesting clarification from the subrecipient regarding any unusual or excessive charges invoiced by the subrecipient.
Advises PIs and departmental administrators on university, state and federal guidelines governing expenditures and other award activities.
Works closely with C&G to close-out projects, including transferring of residual accounts.
Prepares reports for all extramural funding in the Department to be provided to Chair, RA III, and/or Accountant or Research Director as needed.
Research Compliance
The employee must develop an understanding of the OMB Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (2 CFR 200) to effectively manage sponsored awards.
Additionally required to be familiar with other aspects of sponsored research administration, including cost accounting standards (CAS), Institutional Review Board (IRB) for human subjects in research, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for animal subjects in research, financial conflict of interest (FCOI), export control, and other specific UF policies.
Agreement Support and Management
The employee will assist PIs with the submission and monitoring of documents related to all activities that route through the UFIRST agreements module.
Assists PIs with submission and monitoring of documents related to all activities that route to DSP through the UFIRST Agreements Module.
Acts as liaison for departmental faculty and staff and the Division of Sponsored Research (DSP) for pre-awards and post-award guidance, education, actions, and processes, and for Contracts & Grants (C&G), and IFAS. Assist Chair with special projects as needed.