March 13, 2014

On-Time Proposals: What You Can Expect from SPO

Sponsored Projects Office Director Pamela Miller sent the following email to the SPO sponews-l mailing list on March 12, 2014:


To the Campus Community:

Thank you for your efforts to ensure that UC Berkeley’s proposals for research funding are submitted on time and in compliance with sponsor requirements. Successful research administration is really a team activity and the Sponsored Projects Office is committed to providing the best support we possibly can to UC Berkeley’s research community.

We know that faculty members and their departmental or Shared Services research administrators are working very hard to meet the campus’s Five Day Proposal Submission policy. At SPO, we want you to know that we are doing our part to efficiently manage on-time proposals and are instituting new measures to provide necessary and timely feedback to the faculty. SPO therefore will provide a response within two working days to all proposals submitted to SPO at least five working days before the funding agency deadline.

To be more specific, if the proposal is complete, SPO will, at minimum, provide a “triage” review within two working days covering the major elements of the proposal required by the sponsor and will inform the principal investigator and/or research administrator of the results. Please note: This will not be the final review of the proposal. After the initial triage review, the SPO CGO will continue to review the proposal and provide a final complete review within the next few days.

If the proposal is incomplete, SPO will identify the missing components required by the sponsor and return the proposal to the PI and/or research administrator within two working days.

If a proposal cannot be submitted on time, even with a draft technical section, the PI should request an exception to the VCR’s late proposal policy. To manage SPO’s workload and to provide equitable treatment to the on-time proposals, late proposals approved by the VCR will be processed after on-time proposals due that same day have been submitted.

We know that submitting applications for funding can be a complex, and at times, stressful activity. At SPO we are working hard with our partners in Shared Services and in the departments to ensure that that the process goes as smoothly as possible and that Berkeley is always positioned to achieve a successful result. Thank you for your assistance.

Pamela F. Miller, Ph.D.
Director, Sponsored Projects Office
University of California at Berkeley
2150 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94704-5940
Phone: 510-642-2925
Email: plfmiller@berkeley.edu

NIH Postdoctoral Stipend/Salary Increase

Vice Chancellor for Research Graham Fleming issued the following CALmessages notice regarding NIH postdoctoral salary/stipends on March 12, 2014:


Date: March 12, 2014
Sender: Graham Fleming, Vice Chancellor for Research (Control Units)
To: Faculty
Subject: NIH Postdoctoral Stipend/Salary Increase

On February 10, 2014 the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a Notice (NOT-OD-14-046) establishing stipend levels for FY2014 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Awards (NRSA). The NIH notice can be found at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-14-046.html.

Article 4, “Compensation,” Section A-3 of the UC-UAW Contract for Postdoctoral Scholars states, “increases to the University salary/stipend minima rates shall be made in accord with the NIH Notice pertaining to the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Stipend levels.” The effective date of the new salary scale is the first day of the payroll period following the NIH Notice, which is March 1, 2014.

Therefore, all Postdoctoral Scholars that are newly appointed, or whose reappointment/anniversary date is on or after March 1, 2014, must be at the appropriate annual stipend/salary minimum, based on years of postdoctoral experience as follows:

0 yrs. $42,000
1 yrs. $43,680
2 yrs. $45,432
3 yrs. $47,244
4 yrs. $49,128
5 yrs. $51,096

The implementation of the new scale does not automatically affect the salaries of Postdoctoral Scholars, with the exception of Kirschstein Fellows. For the Kirschstein Fellows who were granted FY2014 awards but issued these awards using the FY2012 stipend levels, their stipends will be adjusted to the FY2014 levels by the NIH. For all others, the new scale affects those who are newly appointed or whose reappointment/anniversary date occurs March 1, 2014 or later.

In addition, UC-UAW Contract, Article 4, “Compensation,” Section D states, “All Postdoctoral Scholars shall be placed on at least the appropriate NIH-NRSA rates based on the Postdoctoral Scholar's experience on June 1, 2014.” If it’s determined that a Postdoctoral Scholar is below the appropriate experience level, CSS Team 9 will notify the VCR Office and contact PIs to request authorization to move the postdoc to the appropriate experience level effective June 1, 2014.

If you have any questions regarding these postdoctoral scholar salary changes, please contact your HR Generalist in CSS Team 9, or email vcroap@berkeley.edu.

February 20, 2014 Research Advocate: NIH Publishes Fiscal Policy for Grant Awards for FY 2014

March 05, 2014

Contracts and Grants Accounting Offers Q&A Session on PeopleSoft C&G

PeopleSoft Contracts and Grants (C&G) is a new financial system being implemented soon at Berkeley to serve the specialized accounting requirements of sponsored awards. Contracts and Grants Accounting is hosting an informational Q&A session on March 13, 2014 on how the system and complementary business processes will support and improve grants management and compliance. This session is open to all.
Contracts and Grants System (C&G) Informational Q&A
Thursday, March 13, 2014
2:00 - 3:30 pm
Haas Pavilion Club Room