Project Life Cycle

Aids with the preparation and submission of proposals; review of award details prior to acceptance; and assists with some non-financial post-award prior approvals.

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• Proposal Development
  • Your assigned sponsored programs officer (SPO) assists with searches for potential grant funding, providing sponsor guidelines, and gives general assistance and guidance with preparing a grant application. 
• Proposal Review & Submission
  • Electronic Research Administration (eRA) describes the philosophy of conducting Research Administration in an integrated and paperless environment. The University of North Carolina at Wilmington utilizes InfoEd (OSPREY) to manage all extramurally funded proposals and contracts along with unfunded research agreements. 
  • Required Routing 
    • For any proposal submission seeking extramural funding, SPARC requires a complete routing package (all pages completed in OSPREY, in addition to an uploaded scope of work and budget justification) before the proposal or agreement can be submitted to the sponsor or prime site. For questions related to required routing, please contact your assigned SPO.
  • Budget Preparation
    • Developing budgets for sponsored projects requires understanding the dynamics of the project, the activities to be performed, and how to determine and allocate the correct costs and fees for research activities. Visit our researcher's toolbox and speak further with your SPO for additional guidance and resources.
• Post-Submission (Prior to Award)
  • Depending on potential funding source, you may be required to provide the sponsor with updated information prior to award issuance. Just-in-time (JIT) processing affords the sponsor an opportunity to review budgets, other support, and compliance related actions prior to issuing an award. Working alongside your SPO ensures rapid response times to sponsor related requests an intake of awards.
• Award Review (Prior to Acceptance of Award)
  • SPARC assists in bringing proposal and contract negotiations to award status. Award notifications and corresponding documents should always be sent to AOR@uncw.edu.
  • Once SPARC receives notice of an award in the AOR@uncw.edu box, your assigned SPO will update the projects status in OSPREY and will begin reviewing the documents for compliance and ensure dates, personnel, and budget amounts in the award document match the submitted proposal documents. Should any changes be required (award amount increases, decreases, etc.) your SPO will reach out to you directly to work together on updating. Not all changes require OSPREY being re-routed for approval, but some do. Please ensure you work with your SPO to remain compliant.
  • Once the budget, personnel, and dates are confirmed, your assigned SPO will update your OSPREY project status to "award under review," and move it to the assistant director, Dana Brinkley Bell, for terms & conditions review.
  • The assistant director will review the terms & conditions of the award and will engage in negotiation, if necessary. Please allow for 10-14 business days for such review. Should it appear that negotiation or review may take longer than this typical timeline, the assistant director will let you know. Furthermore, you (as principal investigator) should be included as a cc on all email communications regarding your award negotiation. For any questions, please email sparcnegotiations@uncw.edu.

SPARC assists in bringing proposal and contract negotiations to award status. Award notifications and corresponding documents should always immediately be sent to AOR@uncw.edu. Please list this email address on your grant submission applications.

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• Award Review (Prior to Acceptance of Award)
  
  • Once SPARC receives notice of an award in the AOR@uncw.edu box, your assigned SPO will update the projects status in OSPREY and will begin reviewing the documents for compliance and ensure dates, personnel, and budget amounts in the award document match the submitted proposal documents. Should any changes be required (award amount increases, decreases, etc.) your SPO will reach out to you directly to work together on updating. Not all changes require OSPREY being re-routed for approval, but some do. Please ensure you work with your SPO to remain compliant.
• Avoid Delays
  • Be sure you have routed a proposal through OSPREY.
  • If you receive the award notice from the sponsor, please do not send it to your assigned SPO, but rather to the AOR@uncw.edu email box for further processing. This step is integral in the award review process and is the step that initiates the award review and negotiation process.
  • Awards that are not routed and approved through OSPREY prior to sponsor award issuance will experience delays in processing and award setup. If appropriate approvals are not obtained prior to the receipt of an award, the institution is not contractually bound to accept an award on behalf of the PI. In all instances, when routing is not completed prior to issuance and receipt of an award, review and acceptance consideration will not be given priority over others in the OSPREY queue.

Once the budget, personnel, and dates are confirmed by your assigned SPO, they will update your OSPREY project status to "award under review" and move it to the assistant director, Dana Brinkley Bell, for terms and conditions review. Please email sparcnegotiations@uncw.edu for any questions related to award negotiation.

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• Once an award is received, any terms and conditions associated with the award are reviewed by the assistant director.
• Please allow 10-14 business days for such review. Should it appear that negotiation or review may take longer than this typical timeline, the assistant director will reach out to you.
• As the principal investigator, you should be included on all email communications regarding your award negotiation.
• If your grant or contract is not unilateral and requires signature from an authorized organizational official (AOR), please know that SPARC is the only office on campus with authority to sign such agreements in that capacity. 
• For any questions, please email sparcnegotiations@uncw.edu.

Once the award is fully executed (signed by all parties, if necessary) the assistant director will update the OSPREY status of the project from "award under review" to "award setup." At this point, your assigned grants & contracts officer (GCO) will begin the award setup process in GEARS and Banner and a fund for your project will be created. 

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• Should the negotiation process take longer than anticipated and you need to begin spending on your project, please discuss having a RISK fund initiated with your GCO and your department leadership. This fund does not speed up the fund setup process, rather, it allows for a fund to be set up prior to a fully executed award, at the risk of your department. Please see UNCW's RISK fund policy for further information and for completion of the RISK form to be signed by your department and submitted to SPARC.
• The award setup process must route through various departments on campus (the research integrity office, controller's office, etc.). Please allow 10-14 business days for this process to be completed. Your GCO will manage the progress of the GEARS route and will be in touch with any updates. Please feel free to reach out to your assigned GCO for any questions.
• Once the GEARS file is fully routed, a fund number is established and your project status in OSPREY will be updated to "active." You will receive an automated email message from OSPREY with award details - fund number, your assigned GCO, etc. Please pay attention to emails from OSPREY, as they contain pertinent information for your grant management.

Your assigned grants and contracts officer (GCO) is responsible for stewarding sponsored funding in accordance with regulatory requirements for projects funded by all extramural sources.

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• Award Management
  • Personnel planning, hiring, PeopleAdmin, EPAFs, etc. related to grant awards are human resource-type actions and are the responsibility of the administrative unit. Your assigned grants and contracts officer should be made aware of these actions by the administrative unit and will ensure the appropriateness, reasonableness, and allowability of personnel actions in alignment with university and sponsor requirements.
  • Fund management
    • Reconciliations are the responsibility of the administrative unit. 
    • Journal entries are to be prepared by the administrative unit in accordance with university standards. SPARC will review and approve submitted journal entries to move expenses/revenue to a grant or within a grant to ensure compliance with sponsor requirements.
    • Labor redistributions are the responsibility of the administrative unit. They are to be prepared in accordance with university standards with the correct expense accounting by the administrative unit and routed to SPARC, who will review and approve them in accordance with university and sponsor requirements.
    • Spending reports are the responsibility of the administrative unit. SPARC will facilitate all sponsor required budget reviews with the PI. 
    • Sponsored programs grants/contracts/cooperative agreements are set up with 5-funds. The principal investigator shall initiate all project rebudgeting requests. If the administrative unit of the grant has departmental grant administrators, the principal investigator shall work directly with their departmental grant administrators on their budget revisions. The departmental grant administrators will then work with SPARC, who may reach out for sponsor prior approval, if necessary. SPARC will also ensure that your budget revisions align with sponsor and university requirements. If your administrative unit does not have departmental grant administrators, please work directly with your assigned grants and contracts officer on all budget revision requests.
  • Cost Share
    • Should be noted in your OSPREY file at the time of proposal submission. The principal investigator should initiate all cost share requests with their appropriate resource, either departmental grant administrator, if applicable, or grants and contracts officer. The grant administrator will work directly with the assigned grants and contracts officer to execute the appropriate budget revision process and assure the action aligns with sponsor requirements. SPARC will reach out to the sponsor for prior approval, if necessary.
  • Non-Financial Cost Share
    • SPARC shall create and maintain resources related to the documentation and standards of non-financial cost-share. We will notify principal investigators and departmental staff of non-financial cost share obligations written into an award based on what is proposed. SPARC shall also assure appropriateness, reasonableness, and allowability of non-financial cost share are in compliance with sponsor requirements. They shall upload documentation of such cost-share into OSPREY and Image Now along with transmit documents to the sponsor related to non-financial cost share, as required, or at project completion. SPARC shall also identify, calculate, document, and report waived F&A contributions to non-financial cost-share commitments and will verify that non-financial cost-share obligations are met at the closeout of the grant.
    • The principal investigator shall develop a plan at the beginning of the program to ensure non-financial cost share obligations ar emet and identify non-financial cost share contributions through the execution of the project. They shall also prepare or collect documentation of non-financial cost share contribution from their departmental and college leadership. Lastly, they shall notify their assigned grants and contracts officer, along with any departmental grant administrators, of fulfilled non-financial cost share contributions through the submission of documentation. 
    • The administrative unit shall assure appropriateness, reasonableness, and allowability of non-financial cost-share are in comliance with university, college, and departmental requirements.
  • Expenditures
    • The principal investigator shall develop a spending plan for the project that aligns with the established project budget. Additionally, they shall maintain and update the overall spending plan for the project in alignment with the established project budget along with request a spending activity in alignment with overall spending plan for the project. Should your college have grant administrators, please work with them directly on your spending plan to ensure departmental compliance.
    • Your assigned grants and contracts officer in SPARC will review your expenditure request, whether with you or your departmental grant administrator, for compliance with university and sponsor compliance.
    • Travel/reimbursements related to grant activity are to be initiated by the principal investigator. Please work with your departmental staff on such reimbursements and expenses. Your departmental staff will work with your SPARC-assigned grants and contracts officer to ensure the requests are compliant with university and sponsor requirements. The administrative unit shall review the requests, process actions for travel and expense reimbursements, liquidate encumbrances associated with travel and expense reimbursement actions, and ensure labor redistributions are submitted in compliance with university standards.
    • Purchasing requests are initiated by the principal investigator. The administrative unit along with SPARC will review the requests for compliance. The principal investigator shall receive an item purchased and notify the department of its receipt. The administrative unit shall receive the item in Ushop and process it for payment along with liquidate all encumbrances associated with purchases.
    • P-card purchases are initiated by the principal investigator. The administrative unit shall work the reconciliation for pcard transactions along with the budget authority approval for pcard transactions. Your assigned grants and contracts officer will review and approve the pcard transaction.
  • Facilities & Administrative (F&A), or Indirect Costs
    • Charges F&A to the grant fund in proportion to expenditures for each budget period will be handled by SPARC. We will also consider the effect on F&A for certain budget revision actions as well as notify and distribute the incentive share portion of F&A.

• Sponsor Billing
  • SPARC will ensure Banner billing parameters are set up according to sponsor requirements. 
  • Principal investigator shall notify SPARC of project completion milestone to initiate billing, if needed. They shall also review and verify charges included on invoices sent out by the billing department.
  • SPARC will determine the amount to invoice sponsors, as needed, and will work with the billing unit to issue invoices. SPARC is not responsible for invoicing sponsors (invoicing, letter of credit draw-downs, wire transfers, etc.) but we will work with billing to ensure invoices are submitted in a timely fashion and help reconcile invoices to payments with the billing office.
• Effort Reporting
  
  • The principal investigator, along with the relevant administrative unit, shall comply with effort reporting requirements and verify the accuracy of effort reports for all project personnel along with approving the reports themselves and submitting them to SPARC by the requisite deadline. UNCW utilizes annual effort reporting via the Banner system. SPARC shall issue effort reports via the Banner system and will certify time and effort back to the sponsor. 
• Award Reporting (Technical & Financial)
  • Principal investigators are responsible for keeping track of technical and financial reports that are due back to the sponsor. The principal investigator shall prepare technical reports (interim, annual, final) and submit such reports to the sponsor with SPARC cc'd (if no AOR/certification signatures are required). Should an AOR signature be required, please email the completed report and any relevant information to sparcnegotiations@uncw.edu and allow 2 business days for review and signature. Should the AOR be notified with less than 2 business days before the report is due, SPARC cannot guarantee a signature will be provided in a timely manner. Once AOR has signed the report, SPARC will submit the report to the sponsor and cc the principal investigator, if allowable, or return to the PI for submission to sponsor. Should the principal investigator submit to the sponsor, please remember to cc AOR@uncw.edu.
  • Principal investigators are encouraged to work with departmental grant administrators, if applicable, along with their assigned grants and contracts officer and the billing office to compile and submit financial reports.
• Award Closeout
  • The last step in a grant or contract’s life cycle is project closeout. Closeout is the process of documenting and assuring the fulfillment of the terms and conditions of the award or contract and making final report of all study by-products.
  • The closeout process involves submission of all technical, financial, and other reports as required to the sponsoring agency on time. A thorough knowledge of the terms and conditions of each award is necessary for a full understanding of the closeout process. 
  • Your grants and contracts officer will send a 180-day, 90-day, 60-day, and 30-day notice as a reminder of award closeout procedures. They will also send communication (email, report, notice) that the grant is closing and that an extension is not being requested and closeout actions need to be initiated.
  • The principal investigator is responsible for contacting their assigned grants and contracts officer if a no cost extension is to be requested. Similarly, they shall dvelop a plan for all permanent status employees funded by the grant for the conclusion of the project. They shall also develop a plan to ensure all recurring expenditures are redirected/canceled, all travel reimbursements and payments are completed prior to the close out date, and all deliverables and commitments are finalized prior to the project close out date. 
  • The administrative unit shall initiate timely notice to employees who will be discontinued at the conclusion of the project. They shall also verify at 90-day notice that employee termination notification has occurred. They shall also modify all active jobs with an assignment end date after the project end date to be terminated by the project end date or moved to another funding source. Also, the administrative unit shall verify that all orders and purchases are received and invoiced by he project closeout date, verify that all recurring expenditures are either terminated or moved to another funding source, and verify that all travel reimbursements and payments are completed prior to the project closeout date. Lastly, they shall provide an overall report of expenditures posted to Banner for final review by the principal investigator prior the the project closeout date.
  • The principal investigator shall verify all known financial commitments are expended in Banner.
  • The administrative unit shall complete a final fund reconciliation to ensure all transactions post by the project closeout date and that all necessary fund corrections are initiated along with verifying that vacation payout posts to the appropriate funding source with appropriate communcation to payroll for processing transaction. 
  • SPARC grants and contracts officer will initiate the closeout checklist to ensure that all stakeholders are completing their required closeout actions. 
  • The principal investigator shall verify that all deliverables have been met prior to the project closeout date and shall maintain appropriate documentation associated with the deliverables including required data storage, sharing, and retention standards.