W “We value all academic scholarship and creativity, in its many different forms across all of the disciplines. Since almost every index of a university’s national standing includes significant attention to its sponsored research portfolio, we need to focus on funded research as a specific strategic area for development.” - WVU President James C. Clements
est Virginia University values the time, skill and vision of its faculty researchers. The University also recognizes the competitive nature of the pursuit of external funding opportunities and the time requirements involved in that work. The Grant Budget Assistance (GBA) unit within the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) has been established to provide principal investigators (PIs) with assistance in developing budgets during the proposal creation phase for grants, contracts, cooperative agreements and other funding mechanisms.
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A GBA STAFF MEMBER WILL:
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SERVICES • The budget is one of the most essential components of the proposal and is usually the last section to be completed because the desired accomplishments must be determined first to establish an accurate cost for how they will be achieved. The budget development process is often difficult because of various policies, rates, and other factors. GBA will help PIs develop proposal budgets that satisfy WVU policy, the sponsor’s guidelines, and cost accounting standards. THE GBA WILL FOCUS ON THE FOLLOWING SCENARIOS:
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When the PI is working on a large proposal that will have a significant affect on the institution;
When the PI is working on a large proposal that involves multiple collaborations with WVU faculty members in another department or college and/or collaborations with external institutions or organizations; When the PI is a new WVU faculty member with minimal experience in creating a budget for a proposal.
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Provide salary verification for each individual who will be employed on the project, excluding graduate and undergraduate students; Review draft budgets to determine if correct fringe benefit rates are used in the proposal budget; Determine if a collaborative effort with an external organization/person should be classified as a subcontract or a service agreement in the proposal budget; Review current policies for the correct rates for travel, materials, supplies, and other related costs; Review the available project narrative information, as well as sponsor’s guidelines, to determine which F&A rate should be applied to the proposal budget. Provide a variety of budget templates that automatically calculates most components; Develop additional budget templates and tools to assist with various budget calculations such as percentage of effort to months of effort conversions, months of effort to percentage of effort conversions, the amount of direct and F&A costs allowed when the sponsor limits the F&A rate on a project and the amount of direct and F&A costs allowed when the sponsor limits F&A costs to a certain percentage of the total project costs.
THE PI SHOULD PROVIDE •
Names and months/percentages of effort of all anticipated personnel who will work on the proposed project;
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Base salaries and months/percentages of effort, for the students (undergraduate, graduate, doctoral) who will be a part of the proposed project;
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If there are subcontracts, a statement of work, a budget, a budget narrative, any additional representations and certifications required by the sponsor and/or OSP Pre-Award unit, and official authorization from the subcontractor’s institution allowing the faculty member to participate in the project;
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Specific vendor quote(s) or other detailed information for each equipment purchase within the proposal budget;
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An estimate of travel, materials, supplies, and other direct costs required for the proposed project;
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Draft budget narrative as a Word document that includes all available details of the itemized costs.
STAGES OF GRANT BUDGET ASSISTANCE REQUEST
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PI approaches their department chair.
The department chair briefly reviews the request and forwards a short form to the appropriate dean via e-mail attachment. No signatures are required for this request, just the email approvals of the department chair and dean are necessary. The dean e-mails the grant budget assistance request to Alan B. Martin, assistant vice president of research and director of sponsored programs, or Dr. Mridul Gautam, associate vice president for research and economic development. A GBA staff member contacts the PI as soon as soon as possible.
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Budget Checklist http://osp.research.wvu.edu/r/download/58942
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Budget Routing Sheet http://osp.research.wvu.edu/r/download/58970
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Budget Template http://osp.research.wvu.edu/r/download/58940
Next, the PI and the GBA staff member work together to review and revise the budget, as needed;
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Budget Template Cost Share http://osp.research.wvu.edu/r/download/58941
In the last phase, the GBA staff member and the PI work together to finalize the budget.
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Effort Conversion Tables http://osp.research.wvu.edu/r/download/58966
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Effort Conversion Calculator http://osp.research.wvu.edu/r/download/58943
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Limited Recovery F&A Cost Calculator http://osp.research.wvu.edu/r/download/58968
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Budget Template Instructions http://osp.research.wvu.edu/r/download/58971
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Budget Narrative/Justification Template http://osp.research.wvu.edu/r/download/58939
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? •
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In the first week, the GBA staff member will focus on assembling the budget components by meeting with the PI, carefully reviewing the sponsor’s guidelines, working with the PI in developing her/his draft project budget, and verifying salary costs;
In all cases, no GBA staff member will make revisions or changes to the budget without first discussing the suggested changes with the PI.
HELPFUL FORMS AND CHECKLISTS To help with the process and organize the information that the PI must provide, the GBA unit has assembled a family of forms and checklists that are online for easy access. All the forms listed below can be accessed at http://osp.research.wvu.edu/forms. •
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Budget Assistance Timeline http://osp.research.wvu.edu/r/download/58972 Request Flow Chart http://osp.research.wvu.edu/r/download/58967
If a PI just has a general budget assistance question at any time, they may submit the question via e-mail to: Grant_Budget_Assistance@mail.wvu.edu.
PIS RECEIVE THE FOLLOWING BENEFITS BY USING THE GBA SERVICES:
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An itemized, budget document ready for departmental/college review that can be submitted along with the proposal to OSP Pre-Award for review and approval; Minimized budget errors reducing revisions during the proposal development phases and the Pre-Award review process; A better understanding of how proposal budgets are created, and an ability to apply that knowledge to future research efforts.
FOR MORE INFORMATION REGARDING GRANT BUDGET ASSISTANCE CONTACT: ANNE HATFIELD
Manager, Grant Budget Assistance Unit WVU Research Corporation 886 Chestnut Ridge Road Morgantown, WV Phone: (304) 293-3998 Fax: (304) 293-7435