Federal Agencies Implementing New Standard Research Terms and Conditions

On January 25, 2008, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) published a Federal Register Final Notice giving federal agencies a new standard core set of administrative terms and conditions on research and research-related awards that are subject to OMB Circular A-­110, ‘‘Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Agreements With Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations’’ (2 CFR part 215).

The new core set of research terms and conditions is largely based on the terms and conditions that have been used for a number of years by the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP). Agencies are also encouraged to use the documents that the FDP maintains for national policy requirements and requirements that flow down to subrecipients. The goal is to create greater consistency in the administration of federal research awards.

Effective July 1, 2008, federal research agencies and awarding offices participating in the FDP must use the core set of administrative requirements, to the maximum practicable extent, in their research and research-related grant awards to organizations that are subject to 2 CFR part 215. Agencies and awarding offices may supplement the core set with agency-specific, program-specific, or award-specific administrative requirements, but should limit supplemental requirements to those that are consistent with 2 CFR part 215 or required by a statute that supersedes that part, and necessary for programmatic purposes or good stewardship of federal funds.

Other agencies and awarding offices that are not participating in the FDP are encouraged to replace administrative requirements in awards to organizations that are subject to 2 CFR part 215 with the core set of standard requirements and similarly limit their supplementation of those standard requirements.

Each member agency is required to post its plan for implementing the administrative requirements either at the NSTC Research Business Models Subcommittee site or at its own web site by July 1, 2008.

The National Science Foundation has established a Research Terms and Conditions web page that consolidates and organizes the new administrative requirements and related documents. The page currently includes:

• Federal Register Notice - Final Notice of Standard Terms and Conditions for Research Grants
• Research Terms and Conditions Agency Implementation Statements
• Research Terms and Conditions
• Research Terms and Conditions Appendix B Subaward Requirements
• Research Terms and Conditions Appendix C National Policy Requirements
• Prior Approval Matrix
• Agency Specific Research Terms and Conditions
• DOD/AFOSR - July 2008
• DOD/AMRMC - July 2008
• DOD/ARO - July 2008
• DOD/ONR - July 2008
• DOE - July 2008
• EPA - July 2008
• HHS/NIH - July 2008
• NASA - July 2008
• NSF - July 2008
• USDA/CSREES - July 2008

New UC Program to Fund Campus/Lab Collaboration

The University of California is offering a new research opportunity funded by a portion of the management fees that may be awarded to the University for the management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory based on an annual performance evaluation process included in each of the two management contracts. The Regents of the University have directed that this net fee income, anticipated to be approximately $20 million per year, be allocated to research that is related to the missions of the laboratories and emphasizes collaborations between University faculty, staff, and students and the research staff of the laboratories. Proposals may be for awards of $20,000 to $2 million per year for one to three years.

Update (6/19/2008): The deadline for letters of intent is now June 27, 2008 (originally June 20, 2008). Final proposals are due August 4, 2008. See http://www.ucop.edu/UC-Lab-Research for the Request for Proposals, Frequently Asked Questions, and additional information.

NIH Planning Move to Adobe Forms

The National Institutes of Health continues to plan the transition of Grants.gov application packages to Adobe forms, and has published an update in an April eRA Commons News announcement.

NIH has over 700 funding opportunity announcements (FOAs), and putting the grant application packages for all these announcements into the Adobe format is a big project. To test the system, NIH expects to issue a pilot FOA in August 2008 for an October receipt date. If the pilot is successful, then the full transition will begin in December 2008.

When the transition is complete, NIH will use the Adobe forms for all Grants.gov forms, including the training grants (T), career awards (K), and fellowships (F) application packages expected in 2009. More information about the transition is available at the NIH Electronic Submission Timeline page, updated May 12, 2008.

In the meantime, NIH has extended the expiration dates for several NRSA training, fellowship, and career development FOAs until January 8, 2010, and will continute to accept paper applications for the listed FOAs until these mechanisms have been converted to electronic submission.

Update (5/23/2008): NIH has summarized the NIH/AHRQ transition to Adobe application forms in a May 23 NIH Guide notice.

Update (7/2/2008): NIH has identified three FOAs to pilot the transition from PureEdge to Adobe-based grant application forms, with deadlines in mid to late October: Immune Defense Mechanisms at the Mucosa RFA-AI-08-020 (R21), and Harnessing Inflammation for Reconstruction of Oral and Craniofacial Tissues RFA-DE-09-001 (R01) and RFA-DE-09-002 (R21).

NEH/DOE Providing Support for Humanities Research on Supercomputers

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Office of Science in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are working together to provide humanities scholars with access to DOE supercomputers.

Humanities High-Performance Computing grants provide computer time on DOE machines at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as well as training and support to enable scholars to take full advantage of those resources. The goal of the program is to provide opportunities for humanities scholars whose research requires high-performance computing to collaborate with computer scientists and others at centers already familiar with the challenges of intensive data mining, visualization, and other demanding applications.

Proposal guidelines are available at http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/hhpc.html. The deadline is July 15, 2008.

NIH Creates New Central Processing Center for Closeout

The National Institutes of Health has announced a new business process and the creation of a centralized processing center for receiving closeout documents submitted for all NIH grants and cooperative agreements.

This centralized office receives and processes reports submitted by regular U.S. mail, courier, and overnight services, as well as by e-mail and fax. The office also processes information submitted electronically through the Closeout feature in the eRA Commons.

Effective immediately, all non-financial NIH closeout documents (such as the final progress report and HHS 568 Final Invention Statement and Certification) not submitted through the eRA Commons will be required to be submitted to the following address:

NIH Centralized Processing Center
6705 Rockledge Drive
RM 2207, MSC 7987
Bethesda, MD 20892 (for regular or U.S. Postal Service Express mail)
Bethesda, MD 20817 (for other courier/express deliveries only)
E-mail: DeasCentralized@od.nih.gov
Fax: (301) 480-2304

This does not include submission of the SF269 Financial Status Report which will continue to require electronic, online submission through the eRA Commons.

HHMI Offers New Grant Program for Early Career Faculty

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced a major new grant program for early career faculty in wide variety of fields, including all areas of basic biological and biomedical research, and areas of chemistry, physics, computer science, and engineering that are directly related to biology or medicine.

In the 2009 Early Career Scientist Competition, HHMI is offering over $300 million total to support as many as 70 investigators. Awardees will receive six-year, non-renewable appointments including full salary and research support while remaining affiliated with their home institution. A second competition is planned for 2011.

Applicants must have between two and six years of experience since first being appointed as an assistant professor or equivalent. The applicant's first faculty position as assistant professor must have begun no earlier than June 1, 2002, and no later than September 1, 2006.

Individuals who are selected as early career scientists may hold only one other early career award from a federal agency (for example, the NIH Director's New Innovator Award or the NSF CAREER Award) or comparable award from a foundation. Applicants may hold one or more grants from NIH, NSF, or other sponsors. Researchers without such grants are also eligible.

Prospective applicants must indicate intention to apply by April 30, 2008, at 2 p.m. ET, through the electronic application system on the HHMI web site.

Campus Training Resources: Workshop DVD Library

The Research Administration and Compliance Office has DVDs of the following NCURA workshops and other training material available for campus departments to borrow. To borrow a DVD, contact Alaisha Hellman (3-2836, amhellman@berkeley.edu). RAC is ordering the 2008 NCURA TV DVDs; they will be listed here when available.

NCURA TV Satellite Broadcast Recordings

• Conflict of Interest: How to Spot and Manage It (June 2007)
• Effort Reporting (March 2007)
• Sponsored Program Essentials (January 2007)
• Post-award Issues for the Pre-award and Departmental Administrator (January 2006)
• Best Practices in Research Compliance: Update on Policies and Regulations and Implementation at Institutions (September 2005)
• Principles of Federal Research and Development Contracting (June 2005)

Other DVDs

• What Are We Signing Anyway (NCURA Course, December 2005)
• Export Control Session (UC IP Managers/C&G Officers Meeting, November 2005)

Limited Submissions Announcements Moving to CALmessages

The Vice Chancellor for Research Office will be using the improved features of the recently upgraded CALmessages system to provide the campus with a better method for announcing limited submission funding programs. Using CALmessages, the VCRO will now send limited submission announcements to faculty within targeted departments and/or units based on the focus of the agency funding program or, when the program is more general, to faculty campus-wide. For example, a program funding public health research would be directed only to faculty within the School of Public Health.

Research administrators and other staff who also wish to be notified of upcoming limited submission deadlines must sign up for the Limited Submission CALmessages list at https://calmessages.berkeley.edu/subscribe (CalNet authorization required). Faculty members do not need to sign up for this list; they will receive messages automatically. Staff who sign up for the list will receive all messages, not just those specific to their department.

Limited submission programs with campus deadlines will continue to be listed at http://www.spo.berkeley.edu/Fund/limited.html. Messages will also be archived in CALmessages. For more information on CALmessages, see https://calmessages.berkeley.edu/. Questions about limited submission announcements on CALmessages may be addressed to either Shelley Sprandel (spore@berkeley.edu, 2-8122) or Jackie Jones (jackie_jones@berkeley.edu, 3-1795).

FY 2008 DoD Indirect Cost Policy

The fiscal year 2008 Department of Defense (DoD) appropriation includes a one-year limit, or cap, of 35 percent on indirect costs (i.e., facilities and administrative or F&A) of DoD-sponsored basic research. This bill capped the amount of indirect costs the prime contractor can receive under certain DoD contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements to 35 percent of Total Cost (TC). The limitation applies to an award at the prime level only and does not flow down to subcontractors.

UC Berkeley investigators and staff preparing DoD proposal budgets should continue to use the negotiated campus Facilities and Administrative (Indirect Cost) Rates of 53.5 percent for on-campus sponsored research and 26 percent for off-campus sponsored research.

Upon award, the DoD awarding agency will be responsible for any adjustments to the budget proposal. In those situations where the budget proposal included F&A costs that exceeded the cap, the agency may adjust the award. However, a university that has a negotiated F&A rate of 53.8 percent or less should not incur a loss of indirect cost recovery.

The Council on Governmental Relations provides an explanation of the math involved in determining if an institution is affected by the 35-percent limit:

Institutions that have a negotiated F&A rate of 53.8 percent, or less, will be financially unaffected (i.e., F&A can not exceed 35 cents for every $1 expended; therefore a ratio of 35 cents of F&A to 65 cents of direct costs is the conversion ratio to the “standard” F&A rate based on modified total direct costs. In situations where all direct costs on an award are F&A eligible, 53.8 percent is effectively the F&A rate cap).

Example one:

• On a $100,000 award, $35,000 in indirect costs is the maximum allowed ($100,000 x 35%)
• If $35,000 is the indirect cost, $65,000 is the direct cost ($100,000 - $35,000 = $65,000)
• So, $35,000/ $65,000 = 53.846%
• Thus, 35% Total Cost = 53.846% of Direct Costs

Example two:

• $100,000 MTDC x 53% IDC = $53,000
• $153,000 Total Costs
• $153,000 x 35% = $53,550
• $53,000 < $53,550 so full indirect cost rate can be applied

University of California Office of the President Research Administration Office guidance is available at http://www.ucop.edu/raohome/cgmemos/08-03.pdf.

DoD guidance on the limit is available at http://www.dod.mil/ddre/doc/LABS_Memo_indirect_cost_limitation.pdf.

NIH Announces Fiscal Policy for FY2008

The National Institutes of Health on Monday, January 28, announced its FY2008 fiscal policy. The policy reflects the $29.2 billion NIH appropriation for FY2008; a 1% increase over the FY2007 funding level. Highlights of the NIH fiscal policy include:

1) Non-Competing Awards. These will be funded, on average, at approximately a 98% level of the previously established commitments. Note, previously established commitments were based on a 3% inflation allowance. Since the NIH appropriation resulted in only a 1% increase, the previously established commitments had to be adjusted, accordingly.

2) Competing Awards. The average cost of competing awards will be allowed to increase by 1% over FY2007. It is estimated this will allow the ICs to support the NIH investigator pool with approximately 9,700 new and competing RPGs, and will allow the number of new investigators to be comparable to the average of the most recent five years.

3) Career Awards, SBIR/STTRs. These programs will generally be funded at the committed levels.

4) Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA). Funds for stipends, tuition and training-related expenses are held at the FY2007 levels.

Each IC will be required to manage its portfolio in compliance with the 1% NIH appropriation increase. However, the FY2008 fiscal policy does allow each IC more flexibility than was provided in FY2006 and FY2007 (both years also experienced sub-inflation appropriation increases). For example, individual Non-Competing Awards may be funded at a higher level, or a lower level, as long as the IC (in total) remains in compliance with its funding target (i.e., 1% increase).

Specific funding strategies for each IC will be available on February 6, 2008. In addition, institutions can contact an NIH Grants Management Specialist on questions related to specific awards.

Berkeley Coeus 4 Upgrade Complete: New Passwords for Coeus Web Accounts

The Research Administration and Compliance Information Systems team (RAC-IS) has successfully finished the upgrade to Berkeley Coeus version 4. All core components of the system (proposals, awards, subcontracts) and all associated infrastructure elements (state of the art development environment, future upgrade capability, Coeus-to-BFS feed, reporting mechanisms) have been upgraded and RAC-IS is now pleased to announce the rollout of the new Coeus Web.

The updated web service runs on new technology and infrastructure. All reports available on the old system are available on the new system. The campus Master Org Tree hierarchy has been implemented to identify organization units associated with proposals and awards. Benefits of the new system include enhanced capabilities for documenting proposal reviews, tracking agreement negotiations, managing subcontracts and subcontractors, and compliance information, among others.

New Coeus Web Passwords

Existing campus users of Coeus Web will need new passwords in order to access the new system.

UPDATE: To sign up to activate your account and receive a new Coeus Web password, to request a new account, or for more information on Berkeley Coeus Web and Coeus version 4, please contact Neil Maxwell (nmaxwell@berkeley.edu, 2-0123).

Please note that accounts established for departments are shared accounts; accounts for faculty are established for the individual faculty member.

More About the Berkeley Coeus 4 Upgrade

The Berkeley Coeus system is the institutional system of record for tracking all Berkeley campus research proposals and awards processed by the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) and the Industry Alliances Office (IAO). Data captured in Coeus is passed automatically to the Berkeley Financial System (BFS) to establish and modify fund accounts for project spending, and is also used to provide required reports to the UC Office of the President.

The upgrade is a complete technical migration. The client application is now written in Java; upgrades from MIT will be incorporated as they are released, while at the same time preserving Berkeley customizations; the entire system runs on Campus Data Center Web Farm and database infrastructure; and all legacy data has been migrated to the new system.

The upgrade project lays the groundwork for future enhancements in a number of areas, including reporting and campus access to SPO data, conflict of interest disclosure tracking, routing and approval of proposals through the campus, and system-to-system submission of fully electronic proposals. When implemented, the new human and animal subjects protocol systems will be integrated with Coeus.

NIH Public Access Policy Now Required

The National Institutes of Health has issued Revised Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research (NOT-OD-08-033). The revised policy implements Division G, Title II, Section 218 of PL 110-161 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008), which states:

The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, That the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law.

As of April 7, 2008, all articles arising from NIH funds must be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. As of May 25, 2008, NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports must include the PubMed Central reference number when citing an article that falls under the policy and is authored or co-authored by the investigator, or arose from the investigator’s NIH award. This policy includes applications submitted to NIH for the May 25, 2008 due date and subsequent due dates.

See http://PublicAccess.NIH.gov/ for more information.

Statement of Economic Interests (700-U) Form Revised

The State of California has issued a revised 700-U Statement of Economic Interest for Principal Investigators for immediate use. The revised form is available on the COI Committee web site and is the only version that will now be accepted. If you have any questions please contact Jyl Baldwin (jbaldwin@berkeley.edu, 2-8117).

State of California law requires disclosure of financial interest in the sponsor of a research project; the donor of a research gift; and, under certain circumstances, the provider of materials under a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) when that sponsor, donor, or provider is a non-governmental source. For research projects, the Statement of Economic Interests for Principal Investigators (Form 700-U) should accompany the proposal and Proposal Review Form to the Sponsored Projects Office or to the Industry Alliances Office. For MTAs, the Form 700-U should accompany the Material Transfer Agreement Review Form to the Industry Alliances Office.

NIH Consolidates Late Submission Information; Issues New Plan for Applications from Study Section Members

The National Institutes of Health has reissued the NIH Policy on Late Submission of Grant Applications. The reissued notice consolidates information from previous late submission notices and serves as a companion to NIH Guide Notice OD-08-026, a new plan for continuous submission of certain types of applications from appointed members of NIH Study Sections.

NIH is implementing an alternate plan for submission and review of research grant applications from appointed members of chartered NIH Study Sections in order to recognize their service and to minimize disincentives to Study Section service. The timing of Study Section meetings and most standard due dates for grant applications overlap, so reviewers are under pressure to review applications and prepare their own applications simultaneously. Beginning February 5, 2008, the alternate submission and review procedures, described in the NIH Guide Notice, will be available. This alternate process is limited to 1) appointed members of chartered standing Study Sections and 2) applications that would normally be received on standard submission dates but not special receipt dates.

NIH Issues New PHS 398, 2950, and Other Forms

The National Institutes of Health has issued revised PHS 398, PHS 2590, PHS 2271, PHS 3734, and HHS 568 forms, available on the NIH Forms & Applications page. The newly revised forms are dated 11/2007.

NIH has made some notable changes to the revised PHS 398 form and instructions, including implementation of terminology used in the Grants.gov SF424 (R&R). The new PHS 398 may be used to submit grant applications beginning with the January 25, 2008 deadline and is required for applications received for May 25, 2008 and subsequent due dates. NIH is also requiring that appendix material submitted with paper PHS 398 applications on or after May 25 be submitted on CD only.

The new PHS 2590 form and instructions must be used for all progress reports received on or after March 1, 2008. The NIH Guide notice lists the notable changes.

The new PHS 2271 Statement of Appointment must be used for all trainee appointments made on or after May 1, 2008. The PHS 3734 Official Statement Relinquishing Interest and Rights in a PHS Research Grant form may be used immediately. The HHS 568 Final Invention Statement and Certification form may also be used immediately.

NIH Guide Notices

• Revised PHS 398 (DHHS Public Health Service Grant Application)Now Available (NOT-OD-08-028)
• Appendices to Paper PHS 398 (DHHS Public Health Service Grant Application) to be Submitted on CD (NOT-OD-08-031)
• Revised PHS 2590 (DHHS Public Health Service Noncompeting Continuation Progress Report) Now Available (NOT-OD-08-030)
• Revised PHS 2271, PHS 3734, and HHS 568 Forms Now Available (NOT-OD-08-029)

Congress Approves Disappointing FY 2008 Budget

Congress has approved the final 2008 budget appropriations in an omnibus bill that, combined with the Defense Department appropriations bill enacted earlier, provides only approximately one percent more funding for basic and applied research than federal agencies were budgeted in 2007, according to American Association for the Advancement of Science analysis.

On December 19, Congress approved the omnibus bill that includes the remaining 11 of the 12 appropriations to fund federal agencies for fiscal year 2008. The bill now goes to President Bush for signature. The federal fiscal year began on October 1.

In November, a separate appropriations bill for Defense Department spending was approved. That bill included a controversial provision to cap overhead on DOD-funded basic research grants and contracts at 35 percent.

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For more information and detailed analysis see:

American Association for the Advancement of Science R&D Budget and Policy Program: Congress Wraps Up Another Disappointing Year for Federal R&D Funding

ScienceNOW Daily News article: A Budget Too Small

Association of American Universities: FY 2008 Budget & Appropriations Information

OMB Requests Final Comments on New Federal Financial Report

The federal Office of Management and Budget is consolidating and replacing four existing financial reporting forms (SF–269, SF–269A, SF–272, and SF–272A) with a single new Federal Financial Report (FFR), to give recipients of grants and cooperative agreements a standard format for reporting the financial status of their awards.

OMB published a final request for comments in the December 7 Federal Register on the new Federal Financial Report, including a copy of the proposed form (beginning on the 14th page of the PDF). Comments are due to OMB by January 7, 2008.

The announcement states that the “FFR standardizes reporting information by providing a pool of data elements from which agencies can choose to use for reporting purposes.” Federal agencies will not be not required to collect all of the information included in the FFR. Instead, agencies will identify, before or at the time the award is made, the data elements that recipients must complete, the reporting frequency, the periods covered by each report, report due dates, and where reports are to be submitted.

NIH Changing Grant Application Error Correction Window from Five to Two Days

The National Institutes of Health has announced that the “error correction window” will be reduced from five business days to two business days for all electronically submitted grant applications with submission deadlines on or after January 8, 2008. The “error correction window” is the the time allowed after the submission deadline to address NIH system-identified errors and warnings. The two business days provided to view the assembled application image in eRA Commons will remain unchanged.

This change will mean that electronic applications will be considered “on-time” if all of the following criteria are met:

• All required registrations must be complete prior to the initial submission.
• Initial successful submission to Grants.gov must have a timestamp on/before 5:00 p.m. local time of the applicant organization on the receipt date.
• Applicants must correct errors and/or warnings within the two business days following the receipt date.
• All application corrections must be in response to a system-identified error/warning; application submissions with additional changes may be refused.
• If final submission is sent after the receipt date, a cover letter attachment must be included identifying the system-identified errors and warnings that have been corrected.

Grants.gov PureEdge not Compatible with Mac Leopard or Windows Vista

Grants.gov is continuing work on replacing PureEdge Viewer application packages with Adobe Forms. However, most Grants.gov application packages are still in PureEdge format. The National Institutes of Health, for example, will use PureEdge forms at least through March 2008.

Investigators and staff considering upgrading to new Mac or Windows operating systems need to be aware of compatibility issues with PureEdge forms.

• Macintosh - PureEdge Special Edition Mac Viewer does not work with Mac OS X Leopard. To submit Grants.gov PureEdge forms on a Macintosh computer, either stay at OS X 10.4.6, use a virtualization product, install emulator software, or use a Windows terminal service. See Grants.gov “Apply” at Berkeley for more information on PureEdge on the Mac.
  


• Windows - PureEdge does not work with Microsoft Windows Vista, according to Grants.gov. To submit Grants.gov PureEdge forms, use Windows XP or follow Grants.gov guidance on Microsoft Vista and Office 2007 Compatibility.

For information and news on the transition to Adobe Forms, see the Grants.gov Program Status and Help pages, and Grants.gov “Apply” at Berkeley. Grants.gov now supports the latest version of Adobe Reader (8.1.1) and continues to support Adobe Reader version 7.0.9.

Berkeley Coeus Upgrade Coming Soon

The Research Administration and Compliance Information Systems team (RAC-IS) is making final preparations to switch to the new, upgraded Berkeley Coeus version 4 in late November. The Berkeley Coeus system is the institutional system of record for tracking all Berkeley campus research proposals and awards processed by the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) and the Industry Alliances Office (IAO). Data captured in Coeus is passed automatically to the Berkeley Financial System (BFS) to establish and modify fund accounts for project spending.

RAC-IS is working to make the transition to Coeus 4 as transparent and smooth as possible for the campus. However, during the move to the new system, Coeus may be unavailable for one to two days. The interruption in service will affect the Coeus to BFS feed for award set up as well as access to Coeus Web. Campus staff and faculty with possible issues related to award setup during this period may contact Kevin Phung (kphung@berkeley.edu). RAC-IS will provide more details on the move to Coeus 4 during the next several weeks.

The upgrade is a complete technical migration. The client application is now written in Java; upgrades from MIT will be incorporated as they are released, while at the same time preserving Berkeley customizations; the entire system will run on Campus Data Center Web Farm and database infrastructure; and all legacy data will be migrated to the new system. Benefits out of the box include enhanced capabilities for documenting proposal reviews, tracking agreement negotiations, managing subcontracts and subcontractors, and compliance information, among others.

The upgrade project lays the groundwork for future enhancements in a number of areas, including reporting and campus access to SPO data, conflict of interest disclosure tracking, routing and approval of proposals through the campus, and system-to-system submission of fully electronic proposals to the federal Grants.gov system. When implemented, the new human and animal subjects protocol systems will be integrated with Coeus.