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Office of Sponsored Programs

Award Management Tips for DRAs

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is the main resource at the University of Montana (UM) for supporting award management. Successful award administration requires teamwork among Principal Investigators (PIs), Departmental Research Administrators (DRAs), departmental staff, Business Services, Human Resources, and OSP. 

Grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, and other externally funded awards are permanently restricted funds and are subject to complex requirements. UM must comply with university policies and procedures, sponsor terms and conditions, and applicable federal cost principles. 

Getting Started 

  • Use the OSP Departmental Pre/Post Award Assignments list to: 
    • Identify your department’s research organization (ORG) number for Cayuse submissions. 
    • Determine your departmentally assigned pre-award Proposal Development Analyst, post-award Grant and Contract Officer (GCO), , and Awards Analyst (Awards Team). 
  • Your Proposal Development Analyst and GCO can assist with all aspects of proposal and award management, including access to sponsor-specific electronic systems. 
  • The OSP website and listservs provide guidance, best practices, and timely updates. 
  • While PI Training is mandatory for PIs, DRAs are encouraged to attend. 
    • Award Notice 
    • Budget Status Report (BuStR) 
    • Index Codes 
    • Responsibilities 
    • Subawards 
    • Purchasing & Payment for Goods and Services 
    • Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) Contracts 
    • Monitoring Expenditures 
    • Banner, UMDW, and Tableau 
    • Cost Transfers 
    • Cost Sharing & Time and Effort 
    • Budget Revisions, Time Extensions, and Additional Funding 
    • Reports 
    • Closeout 

Award Notice

Award notices vary by sponsor and may take the form of a check, letter, MOU, grant, cooperative agreement, contract, purchase order, or prize. Awards may support research, instruction, or other sponsored activities. 

Award notices typically include: 

  • Award number 
  • Award amount 
  • Project period and/or budget period 
  • Approved budget 
  • Cost-sharing requirements 
  • Carryover requirement 
  • Billing/Reporting requirement  
  • Other terms and conditions (e.g., rebudgeting authority, prior approvals) 
  • Program Officer (for technical or programmatic questions) and Grants Officer (for financial or administrative changes) 

Review the award notice carefully and work with OSP and the PI to correct any errors. 

Budget Status Report (BuStR)

The BuStR is sent by OSP and reflects award information entered into Banner, including: 

  • Index code and grant number 
  • Assigned post-award GCO 
  • Sponsoring agency 
  • Program/Fund titles and award reference number 
  • PI(s) and department/school 
  • Performance period and OSP comments 
  • Award Budget and Cost Match Budget 

If the BuStR is inaccurate, notify your post-award GCO promptly. PIs should ensure that appropriate departmental staff receive copies of both the BuStR and the award notice. 

Index Codes

  • Sponsored program index codes begin with “M” followed by five numbers and letters. 
  • Some awards may require multiple index codes due to: 
    • Multi-year awards without automatic carry-forward 
    • Subawards  
    • Administrative vs. program or participant support budgets 
    • Separate billing/reporting by budget period 
    • Cost share or program income requirements 
  • OSP groups index codes by sponsor and distinguishes between federal and non-federal funding. 
  • Budgets are generally entered at the 6__99 account code level.
  • Food costs are generally unallowable unless clearly justified and approved in the proposal. 

Responsibilities

  • The PI is ultimately responsible for ensuring costs are allowable, allocable, reasonable, and within the approved budget. Consult with OSP when the allowability of an expense is unclear. 
  • PIs are responsible for technical/progress reports. Coordinate with OSP if technical reports include financial information. 
  • OSP is responsible for submitting financial reports and invoices to the sponsor
  • Award modification requests must go through OSP first, before submission to the sponsor. 

Subawards

  • Subrecipients must be identified in the proposal. 
  • Subawards are negotiated and issued by OSP and are legally binding. 
  • Subawards include a scope of work, budget, and budget justification. 
  • Written sponsor approval is required to add a subaward not approved in the original proposal. 
  • Subaward invoices are reviewed by OSP, approved by the PI, and then paid. 
  • PIs must certify that work was completed before payment. 
  • Subawards may be extended if the prime award is extended, at the PI’s request. 

Purchasing & Payment for Goods and Services 

  • Departments must process expenses in accordance with UM policies, except for the followings that are processed by OSP: 
    • Subaward payments  
    • Participant support and human subject payments 
    • IUJ payments to Montana state agencies 
  • Hiring must follow Human Resource Services policies; additional requirements apply for non-resident aliens. 
  • Contracted services and purchasing must follow Procure-to-Pay guidelines. 
    • Never pay out of pocket for services, since this must be documented as income. 
  • Unreceipted expenses are unallowable. 
  • Travel must follow UM Travel Guidelines & Procedures and OSP Travel Guidelines. Use state per diem rates unless the award specifies otherwise. 
  • Entertainment costs are unallowable on grants. Business meetings with catering may be permitted if approved by the sponsor; alcohol is never permitted. 
    • Department must submit an Entertainment Request for OSP approval, and use the meeting account code 62817 
  • Purchases made within the final 90 days of an award may be closely scrutinized for allowability. 
  • Contact OSP before making questionable or unusual purchases. 

Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) Contracts 

  • Salary and tuition must be charged proportionally to the grants benefiting from the student’s work. 
  • Tuition is typically unallowable on a grant unless specifically approved by the sponsor.  
  • If tuition is unallowable, it must be charged to a non-grant account. 

Monitoring Expenditures

Departments should review expenditures monthly (preferred) or at least quarterly. 

  • All expenses must be supported by documentation; an unreceipted expense is unallowable and should not be charged to an award. 
  • Expenses incurred within the final 90 days are closely scrutinized. 

Allowable costs must be: 

  • Reasonable 
  • Allocable 
  • Consistently treated 
  • In conformance with all applicable regulations and award terms 

Departments are responsible for detailed monitoring; OSP performs a high-level review. Supplies, travel, and equipment must be purchased, delivered, and used before the project end date. Payroll expenses may be incurred through the final day of the period of performance. 

Systems and Tools

Banner 

  • Use FRIGITD, JGIBDST, FRIORGH, FRIPSTG, and FRAGRNT for award monitoring and details. 
  • Do not save when prompted unless instructed. 

UMDW 

  • Reports default to the fiscal year. 
  • Data can be exported to Excel for pivot table analysis. 

Tableau 

  • Provides Banner-related award management reports. 
  • IT grants access upon ticket submission. Mandatory FERPA and Cybersecurity Trainings must be completed before access is given. 

Cost Transfers 

  • Follow Cost Transfer Guidelines carefully. 
  • Justifications must be complete and audit-ready. 
  • Data entry errors by HRS or OSP can be corrected via email to HRS or OSP.  
  • Transfers between grants due to insufficient funds are not allowable. 

Cost Sharing & Time and Effort 

  • All cost share must be documented and reported at least quarterly. 
  • Sponsor approval may be required for changes. 
  • Time and Effort reports must be certified accurately; errors are serious audit issues. 
  • Payroll cost transfers involving award indexes must be processed by OSP. 

Budget Revisions, Time Extensions, and Additional Funding 

  • Contact your post-award GCO as soon as issues arise. 
  • Some rebudgeting may be institutionally approved under federal expanded authority. 
  • Time extensions should be requested early and only when work is incomplete. 

Reports 

  • Timely submission of technical reports is critical. 
  • Late or missing reports can delay payment and affect future funding. 
  • Financial reports are prepared by OSP from Banner, UM’s official financial system  
  • Invention and property reports are prepared by OSP in coordination with departments and PIs. 

Closeout 

  • OSP issues a Grant End Memo approximately 60 days before the end date. 
    • Departments must submit cost transfers and adjustments within the stated timeframe. 
    • The Grant End Memo is a reminder to move recurring charges and is also a reminder to submit a time extension if the work will not be completed by the end date. 
  • PI is responsible for submitting final technical, progress, invention, and property reports by the sponsor deadlines. 
  • OSP issues a Record Retention Memo specifying document retention requirements. 
  • Undocumented or unallowable expenses identified in audits must be repaid by the department and can jeopardize UM’s funding.