Subawards: Roles and Responsibilities

Roles

  • Principal Investigator
  • Department Grant Administrators (DGAs)
  • Sponsored Projects Analysts (SPS)
  • Research Contracts (SPS)
  • Subrecipient

Principal Investigators (PIs) Primary Responsibilities

Pre-Award Stage:

  • Establishing and maintaining communication with subrecipients during proposal preparation and submission, and after the subaward is issued.

Post-Award Stage:

  • Oversight of subrecipient's compliance with subaward terms and conditions.
  • Ensuring technical performance goals are achieved and aligned with subrecipient's statement of work.
  • Ensuring technical deliverables identified in subrecipient statement of work are complete and received in a timely manner.
  • Reviewing subrecipient invoices as .an indication of PI's acknowledgment that subrecipient's technical progress is aligned with invoiced charges
  • Discussing poor performance or non-performance, or other problems relating to the subrecipient's performance under the subaward with subrecipients and with DGAs/SPAs as they arise.
  • Approving requests for annual increments of funding for multi-year subawards.

Departmental Grant Administrators (DGAs) Primary Responsibilities

Pre-Award Stage:

  • Assisting PIs with the subrecipient proposals to be included in the UO proposal to sponsor (statement of work, budget, letter of commitment signed by the subrecipient's Authorized Organization Official, etc.).

Post-Award Stage:

  • Submitting a request to issue a subaward agreement in the SPS Portal after the prime award is fully executed.
  • Receiving and reviewing subrecipient invoices to ensure:
    • Compliance with subaward terms and conditions.
    • Costs are aligned with subrecipient's proposal (budget and statement of work).
    • Costs are allowable, allocable, and reasonable.
    • F&A is calculated correctly.
    • All costs were incurred within the period of performance of the subaward.
    • Subrecipient expenses are aligned with subrecipient technical progress.
    • Cost sharing commitments (if applicable) are met by the subrecipient.
    • The correct subaward number is identified on any invoices.
    • Invoices have a certification statement that the costs for reimbursement and any corresponding cost sharing are the actual costs as recorded by subrecipient and expended for the work performed in accordance with the terms of the subaward agreement.
    • Invoices are signed by an Authorized Institutional Official.
    • Invoices are correctly marked "Final" if it is the final invoice.
    • Invoices have been reviewed by the PI.
  • Requesting a subrecipient clarify invoiced charges if any unusual, unreasonable, unallowable, or unallocable charges are invoiced. If explanations are insufficient, detailed justifications should be requested from subrecipient to verify the appropriateness and reasonableness of the charges in question.
  • Discussing subrecipient poor compliance or non-compliance with subaward terms and conditions with SPS.
  • Assisting PIs in carrying out their subrecipient monitoring responsibilities.
  • Maintaining documentation of subrecipient monitoring efforts.
  • Submitting requests to SPS to modify existing subaward (additional time, money, etc.).
  • Assisting PIs with requests for annual increments of funding on multi-year subawards.

Sponsored Projects Administrators (SPAs) Primary Responsibilities

Pre-Award Stage:

  • Reviewing subrecipient proposals, budgets, and other required documentation prior to proposal submission.

Post-Award Stage:

  • Assessing the level of subrecipient risk prior to forwarding a subaward to SPS Research Contracts.
  • Ensuring complete documentation is in place before forwarding a subaward to SPS Research Contracts.
  • Identifying subrecipients who have been suspended or debarred from receiving federal funding, identified as terrorist entities, or associated with terrorist entities.
  • Reviewing Annual Single Audit reports or other audited financial reports of proposed subrecipients and providing recommendations for medium and high-risk subrecipients.
  • Reviewing subrecipient risk assessments for medium and high-risk subrecipients and recommending post-award subrecipient monitoring actions.
  • Ongoing subrecipient monitoring.

SPS Research Contracts Primary Responsibilities

  • Identifying additional terms and conditions for the subaward agreement for medium and high-risk subrecipients.
  • Negotiating terms and conditions and issuing resulting subaward agreement to subrecipients.
  • Notifying PIs and units when additional post-award subrecipient monitoring by PI and unit is required for medium and high-risk subrecipients.
  • Receiving fully executed subawards from subrecipients
  • Distributing fully executed subawards to PIs and units

Subrecipient Responsibilities

Pre-Award Stage:

  • Submitting a letter of commitment signed by an authorized institutional official, a statement of work, budget, negotiated F&A/benefit rate agreements, letters of institutional approval if human participants or vertebrate animals are involved in the proposed work.
  • Reviewing, negotiating, and executing the subaward agreement.

Post-Award Stage:

  • Complying with terms and conditions of subaward.
  • Submitting invoices according to timetable and form defined in subaward.
  • Submitting Technical Progress Reports and other deliverables as defined in the subaward.
  • Requesting changes to subaward agreement as needed.