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Roles and Responsibilities

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Roles and Responsibilities

PDF version of the Roles and Responsibilities matrix

Definitions:

  • PI – Principal Investigator
  • Dept – Department
  • Dean/VP – College / School Dean or VP
  • OSP-RA – Research Administration
  • OSP-IC – Industry Contracting
  • OSP-SPA – Sponsored Projects Accounting
  • OSP-CAC – Cost Analysis and Compliance
  • OSP-Ops – Operations
  • SPO – Sponsored Programs Office in SOM
  • RCP – Research Compliance Office
  • OCT – Office of Clinical Trials
  • IRB – Institutional Review Board in OHRE
  • IACUC – Institutional Animal Care and Use in OAC
PI Dept Dean/VP OSP-RA OSP-IC OSP-SPA OSP-CAC OSP-Ops SPO RCP OCT IRB IACUC Finance
Proposal Preparation
Initiate intent to submit solicited or unsolicited proposal ●                          
Communicate proposal deadlines, pre-award process and OSP policies to Principal Investigator (PI)   ●                        
Assist with questions regarding eligibility, allowable costs, and other administrative elements of sponsor guidelines   ● ● ●         ● ●        
Develop technical proposal ●                          
Develop budget, budget justification and other administrative documents per sponsor guidelines ● ●                        
Assist PI and research staff and departments with clinical trial budget and project development                     ●      
Identify subcontractors and obtain statement of work, budget, letter of intent, and other required documents ● ●                        
Identify need for cost sharing funds and obtain documentation for cost share support   ●                        
Evaluate requests for F&A waivers or reductions   ● ●                      
Approve F&A waivers and reductions       ●                    
Coordinate space arrangements identified in the proposal   ● ●                      
Develop a Small Business Plan – Data to be requested from Procurement ● ●   ●                   ●
Proposal Review and Approval
Determine proposed project fits within academic framework and resources     ●                      
Confirm that proposal meets sponsor requirements (formatting and page limits, etc.)   ●   ●         ●          
Review proposal2 before internally routing to OSP or SPO ● ● ●                      
Route electronic Internal Processing Form (eIPF) in RAMSeS with final application package at least five (5) business days prior to sponsor deadline   ●                        
Verify that cost sharing in proposal is listed and that all commitments have been secured   ● ● ●         ●          
Ensure regulatory compliance (i.e. IRB, IACUC, IBC, etc.) activities are understood and managed appropriately ●     ●         ●          
Provide institutional review and approval of proposal1       ●         ●          
Make revisions and corrections to proposal after institutional review ● ●   ●         ●          
Review and ensure accuracy of the eIPF       ●         ●          
1 School of Medicine (SOM) proposals are reviewed by Sponsored Programs Office (SPO) and include: NIH grants and cooperative agreements and limited number of foundations. (See list prepared by OSP/SPO)
2 Development of proposals sponsored by select foundations may be facilitated by the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR)
Proposal Submission and Just in Time Requests
Submits all federal, grants.gov, Cayuse proposals       ●         ●          
Submits proposal central applications ● ●                        
Discuss and determine submission if sponsor is non-federal, pass-through entity, or other non-for-profit organization ● ●   ●         ●          
Comply with requests from sponsor’s to provide additional information (PI other support, University assurances, etc.) ● ●   ●         ●          
Regulatory Requirements – Conflict of Interest
Know and comply with the University’s Conflict of Interest (COI) policy ●                          
Completes project specific COI disclosure and COI training prior to award setup (training valid for 4 years) ●                          
Discloses existence of conflict of interest ●                          
Develops and submits conflict of interest management plan ●                 ●        
Comply with special conditions placed on project in order to manage, eliminate or reduce conflict ●                          
Initiates organizational COI statement with Research Compliance Office ● ●   ●                    
Report any changes to financial relationships affecting project ●                          
Institutional oversight and facilitation of individual and organizational conflict of interest                   ●        
Regulatory Requirements – Human Subjects
Comply with federal regulations and University policies regarding safety and protection of human subjects ●                     ●    
Prepare and submit protocols for research involving human subjects ●                          
Review and approve research protocols                       ●    
Perform congruency check between protocol and grant                       ●    
Ensure that protocols are kept current throughout the life of the project as required ● ● ● ●               ●    
Regulatory Requirements – Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
Comply with University policies regarding human care and use of animals ●                       ●  
Prepare and submit protocols for research involving animals ●                          
Review and approve research protocols                         ●  
Perform congruency check between protocol and grant                         ●  
Ensure that protocols are kept current throughout the life of the project as required ● ●   ●                 ●  
Regulatory Requirements – Environmental Health and Safety
Comply with University and federal environmental health and safety policies applicable to research ●                          
Comply with safety protocols outlined for radioactive materials ● ●                        
Comply with safety protocols outlined for hazardous chemical materials ● ●                        
Comply with safety protocols outlined for biological materials ● ●                        
Obtain approval from Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)/EHS Office prior to conducting research using recombinant DNA or infectious disease ●                          
Ensure that incoming MTA’s involving recombinant DNA or infectious agents receive approval from the (IBC)/EHS Office ●                          
Processing Financial Guarantees
Request a financial guarantee, a.k.a. Letter of Guarantee (LOG), from the proposal module in RAMSeS   ●                        
Expedite and process financial guarantee       ●                    
Monitor financial guarantee and request an extension, if needed   ●                        
Contract/Award Negotiation and Acceptance
Receive sponsor notification of award, contract or grant; forward to OSP-RA or OSP-IC, as applicable ● ●           ●            
Review agreement and provide input re: negotiation to OSP-RA or OSP-IC ● ●                        
Seeks feedback from Office of University Counsel, Risk Management, and other administrative offices as needed       ● ●                  
Review and negotiate contract terms and conditions with sponsors       ● ●                  
Accept award terms and conditions and execute award on behalf of the University       ● ●                  
Review and negotiate (industry, federal and other party) confidentiality agreements and data use agreements         ●                  
Award Set-up
Confirm that approvals for regulatory compliance requirements have been met       ●                    
Provide approved compliance acknowledgement waiver to OSP, if applicable ●                          
Review award budget and modify if necessary, following terms and conditions of the award ● ●   ●                    
Identify technical and financial reporting due dates; identify interim and final invoicing requirements       ●                    
Prepare award setup package and submit to OSP Sponsored Projects Accounting for processing       ●                    
Perform QA on award setup in ConnectCarolina prior to activating contract       ●   ●                
Create award in RAMSeS and generates award in ConnectCarolina with RAMSeS web service           ●                
Complete award, project, budgets, contract, and bill plan setup in ConnectCarolina; performs QA review           ●                
Notify PI and department of award setup via automated RAMSeS email; provides chartfield and Project ID(s)           ●                
Activate the ConnectCarolina contract           ●                
Subcontracts and Subrecipient Monitoring
Obtain proposal documents from subrecipient during proposal preparation and for award set-up ● ●                        
Submit request to OSP Subaward Team for subcontract; provide statement of work, budget, letter of intent, etc. to Subaward Team (including when sponsor is private industry)       ●                    
Obtain Subrecipient Form from subrecipient; run Visual Compliance check; ensure COI requirements have been met       ●                    
Perform risk assessment of subaward before issuing a subaward agreement       ●     ●              
Prepare, negotiate, and execute subawards       ●                    
Submit Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) reports on the governments Federal Subaward Reporting System (FSRS)       ●                    
Oversee technical/progress reports to ensure progress is sufficient ● ●                        
Review and approve subaward invoices ● ●         ●              
Subrecipient monitoring – Review Subrecipient Form and Audits       ●     ●              
Subrecipient monitoring – Visual Compliance, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Department of State Review       ●                    
Subrecipient monitoring – Performs audits on sample of subrecipient invoices on a quarterly basis and at least one invoice annually for all for-profits             ●              
Subrecipient monitoring – Subaward burn rate and programmatic impact review (subaward > 50% of prime) ●     ●     ●              
Prepare Small Business Subcontracting Plan       ●                    
Provide Small Business Subcontracting Plan to Sponsor       ●                    
Prepare and Submit Small Business Subcontracting Plan Reports with data and assistance from procurement           ●                
Project Management
Prepare personnel transactions   ●                        
Initiate non-personnel transactions on project   ●                        
Review and approve personnel transactions (Effort Coordinator) and higher risk non-personnel transactions on project (Pre-Audit Technician)             ●              
Provide oversight and assist with registration of clinical trial information, and post results as appropriate, in clinicaltrials.gov                     ●      
Communicate with sponsors, CROs and other entities on behalf of the University, researchers and departments on issues related to clinical trials         ●           ●      
Ensure timeliness of subcontract invoices ● ●   ●                    
Initiate all prior approvals (i.e. no cost extensions (NCE), budget revisions, PI changes, etc.) for changes to project ● ●                        
Approve or forward all prior approval to sponsor (i.e. NCE, budget revisions, PI changes, etc.) for changes to project       ●                    
Perform sampling of allowable costs on high-risk areas during post-audit reviews             ●              
Perform review of expenditures for allowability and allocability ● ● ● ●   ● ●              
Monitor and track cost share commitments   ●                        
Verify cost share in accordance with award terms and conditions   ●       ●                
Submit PAATs and cost transfer journals on a timely basis   ●                        
Approve PAATs and cost transfer journals             ●              
Review financial information and reconcile projects on a monthly basis (monitor posted transactions and reconcile expenses) ● ●                        
Personnel and Effort Certification
Initiate hiring and appointment process; allocate to project ● ●                        
Maintain effort certification in eCRT             ●              
Prepare and distribute effort certification reports             ●              
Review effort statements prior to individual certification   ●                        
PI (and non-PI personnel) with effort on projects certify their own effort report ●                          
Review effort certification reports completed by departments             ●              
Complete necessary adjustments to award charges and/or payroll distribution   ●                        
Ensure accuracy of completed effort certification             ●              
Resolve problems or follow-up on certifications not submitted   ●         ●              
Invoicing and Billing
Run pre bill report after month end close for cost reimbursable projects           ●                
Manage billing of projects that are fixed price installments           ●                
Notify OSP when a fixed price deliverable as been completed and an invoice can be sent ● ●                        
Complete and submit invoice to sponsors (Projects beginning with 3, 5); track submission of invoice           ●                
Complete and submit invoice to sponsors (Projects beginning with 4); track submission of invoice   ●                        
Managing Program Income
Identify program income; notify OSP of any program income on sponsored project ● ●                        
Create a program income project ID at time of award setup       ●   ●                
Receive program income and send to OSP for deposit   ●                        
Deposit/post program income and increase budget           ●                
Identify use and reporting requirements of program income       ●   ●                
Monitor program income levels and make award adjustments as necessary   ●   ●   ●                
Cash Management and Accounts Receivables
Forward payments on projects to OSP ● ●                        
Receive and deposit payments from sponsors           ●                
Produce and record a letter of credit draw request (federal awards)           ●                
Annually calculate federal interest on projects and refund accrued interest to government                           ●
Annually calculate interest on non-federal projects and refund accrued interest to sponsor           ●               ●
Bank reconciliation for the lockbox and cash monitoring           ●                
Receive clinical trial payment and send to OSP for deposit   ●                        
Deposit/post clinical trial payment and increase budget           ●                
Monitor and pursue the collections of overdue payments from sponsors ● ●       ●                
Manage refund process           ●                
Preparation and Submission of Technical/Progress Reports
Ensure integrity of all research data ●                          
Identify the need for submission of progress reports ● ●                        
Prepare, approve and submit progress reports to sponsor (follow previous responsibilities listed for proposal preparation thru submission) ● ●   ●         ●          
Maintain and track the submission dates of the official copy of the progress report   ●                        
Final Reports and Project Closeout
Identify early close-out situations ● ●                        
Ensure all appropriate expenditures/cost transfers have been posted to Project IDs ● ●                        
Provide backup documentation on expenditures if required by terms and conditions of the awards   ●                        
Determine whether there are unresolved items needed before closeout and communicate to OSP ● ●                        
Audit expenditure and award activity to verify financial compliance with University and sponsor regulations             ●              
Ensure allowability, allocability, reasonableness and consistency of treatment of costs ● ●       ● ●              
Prepare final financial invoice/report           ●                
Resolve issues related to unreconciled Project IDs, award closeout, expense transactions, and cash   ●   ●   ●                
Verify and report cost share to sponsor           ●                
Ensure that all financial reports have been submitted to the sponsor           ●                
Submits final progress reports to sponsor ● ●   ●                    
Submit and monitor submission of Final Invention/Patent reports to sponsor ● ●           ●            
Submits fixed assets/property reports to sponsor   ●       ●                
Assume accountability for overdrafts, deficits, and unallowable costs that occur under project     ●                      
Maintain office project closeout documents for sponsored projects ● ●       ●                
Submit Small Business Report to sponsor ● ●       ●               ●
Single Audit and Agency Reviews
Comply with Uniform Guidance and sponsor conditions for compliance ● ●   ●   ● ●   ● ●        
Participate on sponsor audit or specific program audit ● ●   ●   ● ●              
Coordinate the Single Audit and agency reviews for the University             ●              
Serves as point of contact and provides support and/or source documentation as requested by auditors             ●              
Training and Communication
Work with offices within OSP to maintain and update OSP web site               ●            
Work with offices within OSP to onboard new OSP employees               ●            
Provide ongoing training on business process changes, new regulations, etc. to OSP               ●            
Lead the organization of OSP’s Annual Research Symposium               ●            
Work with offices within OSP to centralize all OSP communication to campus               ●            
Provide ongoing training to department administrators               ●            
OSP General Inboxes
Manage and triage SponsoredPrograms inbox (SponsoredPrograms@unc.edu)               ●            
Manage and triage OSPHelp Remedy tickets (OSPHelp@unc.edu)               ●            
Manage and triage OSPBilling inbox (OSPBilling@unc.edu)               ●            
Mange and triage Subaward inbox (OSPSubs@unc.edu)       ●                    
Manage and triage Industry Contracting inbox (OSPContracting@unc.edu)         ●                  
Mange and triage UNC SOM Sponsored Programs inbox (grants@unc.edu)                 ●          
Month, Quarter and Fiscal Year End Activities
Perform reconciliation – Billed AR Aging = GL AR balances           ●                
Perform UAR analysis           ●                
Accrual/Write-off calculation           ●                
Reconciliation of OSP revenues and expenditures           ●                
Accrual clean-up of fund balances                           ●
Calculate Direct Loan balance                           ●
Research Service Centers (RSC)
Conduct rate reviews for RSCs for compliance with federal guidelines and institutional policies/procedures.             ●              
Provide training and consultation related to rate setting methodology and financial compliance             ●              
Submit rate proposal at least every two (2) years to Cost Analysis & Compliance for rate review; update RSC operational plan   ●                        
Management of RSC financials including billings to customers and A/R collections.   ●                        
Monitor fund balance surplus/deficit to ensure adherence to institutional and federal guidelines   ●