After receiving an internal award, complete a PDRF with the following attachments:

• Award Letter and Cover Sheet
• Approved Budget
• Any required protocol approvals

Find detailed instructions on how to complete a PDRF for University Research awards here.

OSR will initiate the PTA set-up process. The setup process for University Research Awards follows the same path as all other sponsored projects through the SeRA system.

The Setup Process

1. After the PDRF for the University Research Award is received and processed by OSR, OSR will process the associated award transaction and an Award Approval Notification (AAN) is created and emailed to the project stakeholders.
2. A New PTA Setup transaction is automatically generated and assigned to a department administrator via the SeRA system for review and completion of the desired award configuration and entry of the budget allocation details.
3. The New PTA Setup transaction is then routed to OSR for review of the information provided by the department administrator.  If the information is complete and accurate, OSR will submit and baseline the budget in Oracle to complete the process.
4. The Notice of Award (NOA) will be sent out once the New PTA Setup transaction has been completed. The NOA will now include PTA details.

To Begin Spending

Upon notification that the PTA has been set up, the department is to contact the awarding organization to create an iJournal Funds Transfer to transfer University funds to cover the amount of the award.

Not sure if your internal award is considered University Research?  See Research Policy Handbook 13.2 Categories of Sponsored Projects for more information.

If cost sharing is committed, that is, proposed by Stanford and accepted by the sponsor, then it must be accounted for as cost sharing. As part of the New PTA Setup or PTA Setup Amendment transactions, the SeRA (Stanford Electronic Research Administration) system will automatically create unique cost sharing PTAs as needed. 

Cost sharing tasks are given the designation of the 700 task series with budget and expense tied to the sponsored project period and carried over the fiscal year end (corresponding to the primary sponsored agreement).  In many instances, when the cost sharing funding source is coming from different schools/departments, or if there are multiple investigators whose cost sharing commitment needs to be tracked separately, multiple tasks can be set up to accommodate this complexity.  Cost sharing PTAs will be listed on the SeRA Notice of Award along with the other PTAs set up in support of a particular sponsored project.

For the purpose of identifying federal vs. non-federal and mandatory vs. voluntary cost sharing, four Oracle Award Purpose codes are used: 

1. INR_CS_FED_MANDATORY_REPORT
2. INR_CS_FED_VOLUNTARY_NO_REPORT
3. INR_CS_NON_FED_MANDATORY
4. INR_CS_NON_FED_VOLUNTARY

Cost sharing PTAs are budgeted with the committed cost sharing appearing in the Expense Control column of the Monthly Expenditure Statement.

Overdraft Cost Sharing

If the department administrator becomes aware of cost overruns after the sponsored project end date, contact your OSR accountant to request a cost sharing PTA be set up for overdraft purposes.

If there are cost overruns at the end of an award and a cost sharing PTA has not yet been established for this purpose, the OSR accountant will contact the department administrator to discuss setting up a cost sharing PTA as part of the closeout process. OSR will notify the department when cost sharing PTAs are setup in Oracle. The Oracle Award Purpose code for overdrafts is INR OVERDRAFTS.

Note, An overdraft does not represent cost sharing but it must be charged to a cost sharing account in order for it to be properly reflected in the calculation of the F&A (Facilities & Administrative) cost rate.

Timing of Funding the Cost Share PTA

The best practice is to fund the cost sharing account at the inception of the PTA. At minimum, the cost sharing PTA(s) must be funded by the end of each fiscal year and at the end of each award period. Cost sharing PTAs cannot be in overdraft at the end of the University's fiscal year.  Department administrators must provide the funding source when providing the cost sharing PTA attributes.  The funding source can be from one or more of the following sources:

• Gift fund
• Endowment income fund
• Designated/special fund
• Operating budget (not allowed in SoM - School of Medicine)

It is possible to spend before the anticipated award start date if the sponsor authorizes it in writing. Check the terms and conditions of the specific award for restrictions on preaward spending. 

• Most federal sponsors allow preaward spending for grants 90 calendar days prior to the anticipated award start date.
• Other sponsors limit the dollar amount or do not allow pre-award spending. 
• It is rare for contracts to include language allowing pre-award spending. Special language must be negotiated. 

If the sponsor authorizes pre-award spending, you can open an early PTA. If the research involves human or animal subjects or stem cells, a protocol must be submitted before an early PTA can be opened. Although you can receive an early PTA, certification is required that protocols have been filed for review and that no expenses involving those activities will be incurred until the final protocol approval is granted.

The sponsor is not obligated to fund the pre-award costs if the project is not funded, and the sponsor's authorization of pre-award spending does not guarantee that the PI will receive the award. If the award does not materialize, the PI must cover for the costs from his or her unrestricted funds.

In addition, if the start date of the project is delayed beyond the 90 day period, the award will not cover the costs if they were incurred outside the 90 day period.  

Preaward Spending Risk Example 1: How the Guarantee Account Works

An award is expected in two months and a graduate student is working in this area now and needs to be funded. What should you do? If the sponsor authorized preaward spending, request an early PTA. This will require the PI to identify an unrestricted PTA to guarantee payment of the expenses, in case the sponsored project is not awarded.

Do not charge the student to another sponsored project, and then transfer costs when the benefiting award is accepted. 

The student’s effort should not be charged to a project which does not benefit from that effort.  Such a charge is both unallowable and unallocable, and cannot be approved, even if you intend to transfer the charges later.

Preaward Spending Risk Example 2: Delayed Project Start Date

Anticipated award start date of March 1 is ascertained through communication with the sponsor. 

The sponsor authorized pre-award spending in within 90 days prior to award start date, that would be January 1. You can open an early PTA, and begin spending.

The sponsor then delays the start date to April 1. Now the pre-award spending the PI incurred in the month of January is outside the 90 day limit. The PI is obligated to cover those costs with unrestricted funds.

An early PTA allows you to open up a PTA prior to receipt of an award or while an award is being negotiated. This allows you to begin charging expenses to the project at the PIs risk.

When you request an early PTA, the PI must identify a guarantee PTA with unrestricted funds to cover the costs in the event that the award does not materialize. 

Once the award is received, an early PTA becomes the project PTA. The project is already setup in SeRA. An early PTA can be requested in the SeRA system. If human, animal subjects or stem cells are involved, certification is required that protocols have been filed for review and that no expenses involving those activities will be incurred until the final protocol approval is granted. 

Scroll down to open the Sponsored PTA Manager - Dept. User Guide and the Sponsored PTA Manager - Early/Extend - Post Award User Guide here

What Not to Do

Do not charge early expenses to an unrestricted PTA when spending in advance of a fully executed award because it is very difficult to separate costs that benefit a sponsored project from other costs in an unrestricted PTA.

You would have to transfer the early expenses to the proper PTA once the award is executed, and provide careful documentation of how they benefit the project. Additionally, depending on how the expenses are incurred, the costs could be considered unallowable. The CAS (Cost Accounting Standards) language states: 

The costs of any work project not contractually authorized, whether or not related to performance of a proposed or existing contract, shall be accounted for, to the extent appropriate, in a manner which permits ready separation from the costs of authorized work projects.

Do not use another sponsored PTA to fund expenses that you intend to move later. The expenses would be considered both unallowable and unallocable.