Effective November 15, the University will require that F&A sharing arrangements for externally funded collaborative projects be documented via the RAMSeS F&A Sharing Portal. This new tool will be available in RAMSeS with the implementation of this new guidance.
Operating Model Change
F&A Sharing documentation will no longer be submitted at the proposal stage and will only be required at the time of award. This does not represent a change in the F&A Sharing process but rather a change in how sharing arrangements are documented and implemented.
New Process Overview
Upon receipt of a collaborative award, the administering unit of a project will be notified via email of the need to log in to the RAMSeS F&A Sharing portal to document the sharing arrangements for all parties. Upon completing documentation of the F&A sharing arrangements for all contributing units, all units that are deemed to be substantively contributing to the execution of a funded project will be required to approve such arrangements through the RAMSeS F&A Sharing portal electronically. Only if all contributing parties approve the F&A sharing plan will the F&A recovered from that project be distributed to the units.
Full details of this change were provided in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research’s memo, Change to Operating Model for Facilities & Administrative (F&A) Funds Sharing for Collaborative Projects.
New RAMSeS F&A Sharing Portal
The new tool to approve F&A sharing agreements on collaborative projects will be available from the RAMSeS home page on November 15.
- Access the tool by selecting the F&A Sharing Agreements link
- Access training and guidance by going to Help and selecting the F&A Sharing User Guide.
Impacts to the RAMSeS IPF
effective November 15
Removal of the F&A Sharing section in the IPF
This section is no longer a requirement to complete at the time of proposal and thus will be removed from visibility from all IPFs (including prior submissions).
Accessing historical F&A Sharing plans from an IPF
To view the historical F&A Sharing details from an IPF that was approved prior to November 15, 2022, go to RAMSeS attachments and view the PDF with the File Type – “IPF Approved”. This document serves to record the F&A Sharing certified by all parties at the time the proposal/IPF was approved by the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) or Sponsored Programs Office (SPO).
For proposal questions pertaining to specific IPFs, please contact your department’s OSP Sponsored Projects Specialist or SPO Grants Analyst. For general sponsored programs inquiries, please contact SponsoredPrograms@unc.edu.
Please direct any questions about the implementation of the F&A Sharing Portal to Andy Johns, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Research.