New
York University School
Policy on Effort Reporting for Sponsored Research Projects
Contents:
I. Background,
Purpose and Scope
II.
Policy
Statement
III.
Definitions
IV.
Effort
Reporting Policy Guidance
V.
Roles
and Responsibilities
VI.
Procedures
I. Background,
Purpose and Scope
New York
University School of Medicine (NYUSOM) receives funding for research and other
sponsored projects through grants and contracts provided by the federal
government. As a condition of
accepting such federal funding, NYUSOM must comply with all applicable federal
regulations including the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-21, Principles
for Determining Costs Applicable to Grants, Contracts, and Other Agreements
with Educational Institutions. This
Circular establishes the principles for determining the costs that may be
charged to federally sponsored research projects by a research institution.
OMB
Circular A-21, Section J. 10 - Compensation for Personal Service,
describes the principles that determine the allowable compensation costs that
can be charged to federally sponsored projects.
Also, this section mandates implementation of an effort reporting system
to distribute compensation across all of the relevant activities of research
staff, and to apportion allowable compensation to and between sponsored
projects. It further describes the
acceptable methods for effort reporting, including how to distribute,
apportion, confirm and document the allocation of compensation to federally
sponsored projects.
The
goals of this policy, policy guidance and procedures are to:
·
Comply
with the requirements of OMB Circular A-21 regarding allowable personal service
costs paid by federally sponsored programs
·
Provide
clear guidance to research faculty and staff to properly determine, verify and
document personal service costs allocated to federally sponsored programs.
·
Describe
how to properly use the NYUSOM Time & Effort Management Tool to
track, report and certify effort.
This
policy applies to all faculty and staff for whom the NYUSOM derives all or a
portion of their compensation from
sponsored programs, federal and non-federal.
II. Policy Statement
NYUSOM
complies with federal effort reporting requirements and has implemented a
system to accumulate and document costs charged to sponsored agreements.
The
Principal Investigator (PI) must ensure that all costs charged to their
sponsored projects are appropriate based on the established policies of NYUSOM
and conform to the requirements of the sponsor.
Furthermore, for personal service costs, the PI must ensure that their
own reported effort and the effort reported by other personnel directly charged
to their projects is accurate and reflects the work actually performed on the
projects during each reporting period.
NYUSOM
requires that all faculty and professional staff paid from sponsored research
funds and/or who apply effort to sponsored research projects, report and
certify, on a semi-annual basis, that the amount of effort charged by them to
each project during the six-month reporting period reflects the effort actually
performed on the project.
The effort
charged for other research personnel (not faculty or professional staff)
working directly on a sponsored project may be certified by the PI or by a
person (e.g. departmental administrator or key project staff member) designated
by the PI, that has first-hand knowledge of such staff member’s daily
activities related to the sponsored project.
Delegation does not reduce the PI’s responsibility to ensure that the
effort charged to their projects is accurate and reflects no more than the work
actually performed.
The
Department Chairperson is responsible for effort reporting and effort
certification compliance for sponsored projects performed by personnel in their
department.
III.
Definitions
Effort – work or portion of time spent,
expressed as a percentage of total time, on all activities performed on behalf
of the NYUSOM within the scope of an individual’s appointment or employment
with the School, and paid through NYUSOM payroll. .
Effort
Reporting – effort
reporting encompasses a number of processes including committing effort,
tracking effort applied to the various activities performed, adjusting effort
based upon actual time spent, and certifying that the effort is accurate and
reflects the work actually performed on the projects during the reporting
period.
Institutional Base Salary (IBS) – as defined by federal regulations, an individual's Institutional Base Salary, for time and effort reporting purposes, is the annual compensation that the NYUSOM pays for a researcher's appointment and/or employment, whether that individual's time is spent on research, teaching, patient care, or other activities. The annual compensation relevant in determining IBS is the amount that is guaranteed and fixed in advance by the appointment letter or employment agreement and paid through the NYUSOM payroll system. IBS excludes compensation that is not guaranteed and fixed in advance. Compensation paid directly by other organizations through non-NYUSOM payroll systems is not considered NYUSOM IBS; effort related to these activities is not included as NYUSOM effort for sponsored program reporting purposes. IBS is calculated by the NYUSOM for all individuals involved in sponsored programs.
Cost
Sharing – the terms
“cost sharing”, “matching”, and “in-kind” refer to that portion of the total
project cost not borne by the sponsor.
As necessary, cost sharing amounts are calculated by the NYUSOM based on
award terms, IBS and reported effort for each person applying effort to
sponsored research projects.
Sponsored
Program – an
externally funded project, governed by the specific terms and conditions of the
grantor. Sponsored Programs are
separately budgeted and accounted for, and may include grants, contracts,
cooperative agreements, and any other such externally funded projects.
Notice
of Grant Award (NOGA)
– a document from the awarding agency that describes the award terms and
conditions. The NOGA provides important
guidance for managing the project and must be closely reviewed by the principal
investigator, the department administrator, and personnel in Sponsored Program
Administration.
NIH
Salary Cap – a
salary limitation established by NIH in its Annual Appropriations Act. NIH will not reimburse grantees for salaries
at a rate in excess of the level specified in the appropriation language.
IV.
Effort Reporting Policy Guidance
Calculating Effort
The basis
used to propose or commit effort should be the same as the basis used to
calculate report and certify effort.
Total
effort consists of all work-related activities performed on behalf of the
NYUSOM. There is no set number of hours
that constitute total effort; rather total effort equals 100% of the activities
performed for the NYUSOM. The activities
performed and the total amount of time to accomplish them will likely be
different for each faculty member and may vary during the year.
For
faculty, the components of total effort are determined by their NYUSOM
appointment agreement. Teaching, research (including clinical trials), clinical
services within the Faculty Group Practice and administrative activities are
all services that may be performed on behalf of the NYUSOM. In addition, services paid for through the
NYUSOM payroll system and provided to the NYU Hospital’s Center for clinical,
administrative, supervisory and teaching services, and to the Bellevue Hospital
Center and the Veteran’s Administration New York Campus (VA) based on NYUSOM affiliation
agreements, are components of NYUSOM total effort.
The effort
associated with appointments to other entities affiliated with the NYUSOM (e.g.
For faculty
participating in activities not directly related to work on active sponsored
projects, (i.e. grant proposal preparation, pursuing funding approval or effort
on NYSOM administrative or other non-research responsibilities) effort
reporting on sponsored projects should rarely total more than 90% and should
never total 100%.
The sum of
the committed effort on active projects plus the anticipated committed effort
on proposed projects may exceed 100% for a given period. However, to the extent that proposed projects
are ultimately awarded, the effort to one or more newly awarded or existing
projects must be reduced to ensure that total effort does not exceed 100% for
the period. The sponsor of an affected
project may require notification if the effort reduction is significant.
Unless
permission is received from the funding agency, it is expected that the
proposed effort committed in a grant application will be provided to the
project even when the amount approved in the NOGA is less than the amount
requested.
With
certain exceptions (including equipment & instrumentation grants, doctoral
dissertation grants, student augmentation grants, faculty mentors on
institutional training grants) faculty are expected to apply some level of
effort to projects on which they are listed as the PI or as key personnel.
It is
recognized that a precise apportionment of effort across the activities
performed on behalf of an academic medical center is not always feasible. Research, teaching, clinical services and
administration are often inextricably intermingled. Therefore, reliance is placed on estimates in
which a degree of tolerance is expected.
Researchers Providing Patient Care
through the NYUSOM Faculty Group Practice
In
addition to research activities, certain faculty members provide patient care
services through the NYUSOM Faculty Group Practice (FGP). The FPG agreement identifies the components
of compensation paid to each clinician in the plan in the following categories:
1. Committed - determined in advance by
agreement with the FGP
2. Variable - based on actual practice revenue
net of practice expense during the period
3. Incentive – paid only upon achieving an
established goal or outcome
All activities
paid by the NYUSOM are included for effort reporting,.including all FGP related
activities. Therefore, all compensation
is included in the NYUSOM Time & Effort Management Tool to reflect total effort.
However,
only Committed compensation is included in the calculation of IBS. Because Variable and Incentive compensation
are not guaranteed and are not fixed in advance, they are not included as
components of IBS. The exclusion of
these compensation categories from IBS does not mean that the effort corresponding
to this compensation is excluded from the reported effort.
The Costing
Group of Sponsored Programs Financial Services in coordination with FGP
Administration calculates IBS for each reporting period and will provide the
amount calculated to each researcher/FGP physician applying effort to a
sponsored program. The effort associated
with this compensation should be closely reviewed by the researcher/FGP
physician each reporting period.
It is often
difficult to distinguish research activities, including clinical trial
activities, from the effort involved in providing patient care. Sponsors should only be charged for effort
that is related to the research that they sponsor. Sponsors should not be charged for patient
care activities that are paid for by patients, insurers or government
healthcare programs.
Cost Sharing
Based on
IBS, the reported effort charged to sponsored projects and the NIH Salary Cap,
Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) personnel identify those projects
subject to cost sharing. The amounts
identified for cost sharing are reviewed with the responsible PI, department
leadership and, as necessary, with senior school administration and processed
according to the NYUSOM Institutional Cost Sharing Policy.
Effort
applied to a research project that is not compensated by the sponsor should
also be reported. This is considered
cost sharing and is governed by the NYUSOM Cost Sharing Policy.
Documenting Effort
The PI is
responsible for implementing a system to substantiate the effort expended by
each person charged to the research projects for which they have responsibility Such system may include the use of activity
logs or other suitable means necessary to document the actual effort expended
on each project.
Reporting Effort
Effort is
confirmed, reported and certified based on an after-the-fact reporting
system. For faculty and professional
staff, effort reports are prepared for two six-month periods (Period 1 -
September through February; Period 2 - March through August) each NYUSOM fiscal
school year. For other research
personnel and administrative staff members working directly on research
activities, effort reporting is performed quarterly.
Actual
effort is reported using the NYUSOM Time & Effort Management Tool.
Temporary
changes of less than five percent of assigned effort during a period are
generally considered immaterial. Because
such small temporary shifts are considered not significant, it is not necessary
to report them on personnel documents.
However, changes from assigned effort that are expected to regularly
continue should be reported to finance so that the payroll distribution is
corrected for future periods.
Effort
reports must be completed and certified no more than 75 days following the end
of each reporting period.
Procedures
for accessing and using the effort reporting system are described in Section
VI.
Certifying Effort
PIs are
required to certify their own effort reports and ensure that the effort
reported by other personnel directly charged to their projects is accurate and
reflects the work actually performed during the reporting period. In addition the PI must support through
personal knowledge or through other verification that the effort reported by
others on their projects is fair and reasonable.
Faculty and
professional staff paid from sponsored research funds and/or who apply effort
to sponsored research projects, must report and certify their own effort.
Certification
of effort for non-professional staff must be made by the PI or another person
designated in writing by the PI, who has first hand knowledge of their
activities, and based upon appropriate documentation.
Changes in Status and / or Effort
It is the
PI’s responsibility to comply with federal and other sponsoring agency prior
notification requirements related to changes in status and/or effort for all
key personnel on their projects. Federal
agencies require prior notification of significant changes in personnel status
and/or effort on the projects that they sponsor.
Federal
agencies define changes in status as withdrawal from a project, absence from
the project for any continuous period of three (3) months or more, or
twenty-five percent (25%) or greater reduction in the time devoted to the project
(over the budget year) from the level approved at the time of award. Other sponsoring agencies may have their own
status and/or effort change notification requirements.
Unless
otherwise communicated to the sponsor, the effort commitment percentage during
a no-cost extension period is assumed to be consistent with the commitment for
the immediately preceding budget period.
The sponsor must be notified at the time of a no-cost extension request
if the effort to be expended is 25% or less than the level approved at the time
of the award.
Retroactive Adjustments
Accurate
salary distribution begins on sponsored projects and/or cost sharing accounts
from the point that a project is awarded.
In the event that an award is anticipated but the award documents have
not been received, salary and other amounts of incurred expenses must be
charged to departmental funds until the award is confirmed. A different sponsored project should never be
charged for work that is underway while awaiting approval for a new award.
To identify
potential errors and make adjustments on a timely basis, PIs and their
department administrators should regularly analyze new and ongoing sponsored
project budgets along with salary and other expense distribution reports. In addition, in preparation for each
semi-annual effort reporting certification period, an additional, comprehensive
project review should take place for each project to identify potential
adjustments. Once effort has been certified
on a sponsored project, retroactive adjustments are not only more difficult to
accomplish, but also may raise questions as to the reliability of the
certification process.
Despite
attempts to prevent errors, it is recognized that occasionally errors to
previously reported amounts may be identified.
The timely reporting of retroactive adjustments to correct such errors
is the responsibility of the principal investigator.
Training
Prior to
the end of their first reporting period at NYUSOM, new faculty and staff
reporting or certifying effort on sponsored programs are required to complete
the effort reporting training program provided by Sponsored Programs Financial
Services,(SPFS). In addition, training
updates will be provided periodically for all other staff working on or administering
sponsored projects.
V. Roles & Responsibilities
Principal
Investigator – The PI ensures that all costs charged to their
sponsored projects are appropriate based on the established policies of NYUSOM
and conform to the requirements of the sponsor.
Furthermore, for personal service costs, the PI must ensure that their
reported effort and the effort reported by other personnel directly charged to
their projects is accurate and reflects the work actually performed on the
projects during the reporting period.
Department
Administrator - The Department Administrator facilitates the effort reporting process by
coordinating the activities of department leadership, PIs, investigators and
the Sponsored Projects Financial Services Group.
Sponsored
Programs Administration (SPA) - SPA
documents and confirms committed cost sharing based on the NOGA during award
set-up and ensures that all cost sharing amounts are appropriately identified
in compliance with the NYUSOM cost sharing policy.
Department
Chairperson - The Department Chairperson ensures that the principal investigators in
their department comply with this Policy by accurately reporting and certifying
effort on a timely basis.
Costing Group of Sponsored Programs
Financial Services
– Develops and implements effort reporting policies and procedures; trains
faculty and staff on the use of the effort reporting system; monitors
compliance with effort reporting based on qualitative and quantitative measures
and provides guidance and feedback to PIs and department leadership. The Costing Group identifies and resolves
matters of potential non-compliance with this Policy and escalates matters
within NYUSOM leadership as appropriate.
Vice Dean of Administration – The Vice Dean of Administration
is responsible for the oversight and administration of the effort reporting
policy. This includes working closely
with the Department Chairs and other department leadership, PIs and the NYUSOM
SPA and Financial Services groups to ensure that this policy is effectively
implemented. In addition, in the event
of non-compliance with this policy, the Vice Dean of Administration reviews and
approves adjustments in cases of delinquent effort reports and for enforcing
other discipline as deemed appropriate.
VI. Procedures
Applications are submitted:
As a
sponsored program application is developed, the principal investigator
estimates the effort he/she plans to apply to the project; effort for those
considered key personnel on the grant must also be included. It is assumed that if the grant is awarded,
this commitment of effort will be met.
A Notice
of Grant Award is received:
When the
Notice of Grant Award (NOGA) is received, variances between the requested and
awarded amount needs to be adjusted; SPA will work with the PI to finalize
this. If the differences are material,
the awarding agency needs to be contacted for possible remediation. If okay, and within the levels required to do
the work, then a)the budget is fixed, b)the award is established in the official
SOM records, and c)the effort to the grant should begin. This includes the processing of all required
paperwork through Human resources, such as Confidential Personnel Profiles, to
assign salary allocations to the proper accounts.
Documentation
of Effort
The PI is
responsible for implementing a system to substantiate the effort expended by
each person charged to the research projects for which they have
responsibility Such system may include
the use of activity logs or other suitable means necessary to document the
actual effort expended on each project.
Accessing
the Time and Effort tool:
Time and
effort reporting becomes necessary at the prescribed times; semi-annually for
professional staff, and quarterly for non-professional staff. Professional staff, including PI’s, are
required to certify their own effort reports. Certification of effort for
non-professional staff must be made by the PI or another person designated in
writing by the PI, who has first hand knowledge of their activities, and based
upon appropriate documentation. Access to the time and effort tool is acquired
through http://tools.med.nyu.edu/TimeAndEffort/.
Administrative
review:
After
approximately thirty days from the close of a reporting period, finance
reconciles payroll records and populates the time and effort tool with payroll
data. This is the application which will
be accessed by the Administrator to review, and by the PI to later certify the
time and effort reports. Once the
payroll data is available via the web-based Time and effort tool, http://tools.med.nyu.edu/TimeAndEffort/,
department administrators are given one month to review, ensuring accuracy and
understanding of what will be presented to the faculty members for
certification. The administrator has the
opportunity to modify and/or comment on any aspect of the report; either by
adjusting the effort % to actual or by commenting in the available comment boxes. To assist in this review process, a “Time and
Effort Admin Tool” report is provided to each administrator, for their
department’s payroll activity. This
report illustrates the base salary recorded for the period, along with payroll
adjustments. By utilizing this report,
there is added clarity to the current year reportable activity.
PI
review and certification:
Approximately
sixty days after the end of the reporting period, faculty members are granted
access to the reporting tool at the above referenced address. Once granted access, Faculty members have
fifteen days to complete the survey. Any effort report that has not been
certified and submitted by a faculty member required to do so by the end of
this 15-day period is “late.” Any effort report that has not been certified and
submitted by a faculty member required to do so by the 31st day
after access has been granted is “delinquent.”
As faculty
review the data, they need to consider what effort they actually applied during
that time frame versus what the report is showing in the “Payroll Allocation %”
column. Any necessary changes should be
reported in the “Actual Effort %” column.
Additional comments may be added to either the comment fields next to
each line, or in the general comment area below.
Reviewing
committed effort:
As effort
activity is reviewed for certification, it is important that consideration be
given to what was committed to the grant in the proposal, and subsequent
award. Major deviations from the
original commitment, greater than twenty-five percent needs to be addressed,
and may require agency notification.
E-mail communication to finance and Sponsored Programs Administration
should take place any time material deviations are expected from effort
commitments.
Reporting
timeline:
The total
effort reporting exercise should take no more than the seventy-five days. This encompasses the finance review and
reconciliation, the administrative review, and finally, the certification by
the investigator. The NYUSOM is committed
to this timeline as part of its time and effort policy, and needs meet this
timeline. Going beyond this timeline
puts NYUSOM in a non-compliant condition with federal guidelines and exposes us
to unfavorable audit comments, and/or fines and penalties.
VII. Compliance:
Faculty and
employees who have not complied with this policy are subject to disciplinary
procedures:
1.
No
new application will be submitted through SPA on behalf of a faculty member
during the period that the faculty member’s effort report (or that of any
member of a research project for which the faculty member is the PI) is
delinquent;
2.
If a faculty member’s effort report (or that of
any member of a research project for which the faculty member is the PI)
remains delinguent for 30 days or more, an internal audit of all of the
research activities of the PI will be initiated and appropriate action taken.
3.
A
faculty member who is determined to be non-compliant with this policy will be
subject to discipline in accordance with the policies and procedures set forth
in the Faculty Handbook as applicable to faculty of the
4.
NYUSOM
will report to the sponsoring agency any finding of non-compliance, as required
by applicable law, regulations and contractual provisions.
VIII. Applicable Regulations
Office of
Management and Budget, Circular A-21
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a021/a21_2004.html
NIH Grant
Policy Statement
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2003/index.htm
NYUSOM
Policy – Institutional Cost Sharing
http://www.med.nyu.edu/spa/policies/nyusom/costsharing.html
IX.
Attachments
A – VA Memorandum
B – NIH
Salary Cap Illustration
|
|
Sponsored Programs Administration (212) 263-8822 phone (212) 263-8201 fax Greenberg Hall SC1-81
homepage: www.med.nyu.edu/spa |
This form describes the total
professional responsibilities mutually arranged by the New York University
School of Medicine and the New York VA Medical Center. The combination of teaching, research,
consulting, administration and clinical activities as of (date) at both the University
and VA medical center comprise 100 percent of the total professional
responsibilities as follows:
NAME
OF INVESTIGATOR: J. D. Doe
UNIVERSITY
Title of Appointment Type
of Responsibility Portion
of each type to total responsibilities
Hours % of total
Professor, Medicine Research
-- NIH Grant I........................ 5................................. 8.33%
Research
-- NIH Grant II....................... 5................................. 8.33%
Clinical.................................................. 5................................. 8.33%
Teaching................................................ 5................................. 8.33%
VA
Title of Appointment Type
of Responsibility Portion
of each type to total responsibilities
Hours % of Total
Chief of Medicine Research--NIH
Grant II......................... 5................................. 8.33%
Research
excluding NIH:
Teaching,
Clinical, Administration
Total............................................. 35............................... 58.33%
TOTAL
VA responsibilities 40 66.67%
TOTAL
combined responsibilities 60 100.00%
Investigator’s
Signature
University
Department Chair Signature VA
Service Chief Signature
University
Institutional Signature VA
Institutional Signature (designee)
This memorandum responds to NIH Application guidelines
as stated in the NIH Guide, Volume 10, No. 27, August 11,
1989.
NIH Salary Cap – (Attachment
“B”)
Anyone being compensated at a rate greater than the
published NIH cap, can only charge an NIH account up to the level
of the cap. At the time of this
policy, $183,500.
Illustration:
Dr. Jones’s salary is $200,000, and he
applies 10% effort to an NIH grant.
If the
salary cap at the time is $183,500, then the
most he can charge the grant is 10% of
$183,500, or
$18,350, and not 10% of the $200,000 which is $20,000. The
difference of $1,650 is cost sharing, and
must be charged to a non-federal
account. (preferably a discretionary
account, or other institutional source)
Effort required will be 10% with Institutional Base Salary (IBS) of
$200,000
(Note: In this
example, the effort report, based on salary will indicate only 9%,
$18,350/$200,000. If you had correctly
applied the 10%, indicate in the space provided.)
Salary funded from grant will be up to the Cap: 10% of $183,500 =
$18,350
The Cap limitation creates cost sharing: difference between
10% of $200,000 and 10% of
$183,500, or $1,650
Salary paid from the grant plus cost sharing = 10% of IBS:
$18,350 plus $1,650 = $20k)
(Note: Departments should ensure that adequate non-sponsored
funding is available to cover any cost sharing when a faculty’s institutional
base salary is greater than the salary cap)