RESEARCH SUPPORT OFFICE Space Science and Engineering Center

Grant and Contract Accounts at the UW-Madison are monitored by the Principal Investigator, the departmental or lab administrator, the Dean’s office (often both pre-award and post-award), and Research and Sponsored Programs (RSP). The PRIMARY responsibility for various functions can be found in the Roles and Responsibilities document.

A no cost extension (NCE) extends the project period beyond the original project end date. As the phrase “no cost” suggests, there is no additional funding.

Please reach out to the Award Office to request a NCE for a project.

There are circumstances in which it may be necessary to transfer expenditures to a sponsored project subsequent to the initial recording of the charge. Those transactions require monitoring for compliance with UW policy, Federal regulations, sponsor specific guidelines, and the cost principles that underlie fiscal activities on sponsored projects.

Generally, the University’s policy is to minimalize institutional and third party cost sharing on sponsored projects. Cost sharing may be allowed when it is mandated by the sponsoring agency or when it is necessary to accurately reflect the resources that must be expended to accomplish the project objectives. If your  award requires cost share, this will be tracked by the SSEC Award Office and RSP to ensure the cost share requirements are met.

Effort must be reported and certified for all individuals who receive salary support from a sponsored project or who expend committed effort on a sponsored project regardless of receiving salary support from the sponsor. SSEC personnel certify effort monthly with the submission of their signed time-sheet. SSEC Award Office monitors effort to ensure all effort requirements are met on funded projects.

Faculty and staff often find that their research and other projects can be enhanced by partnering with other institutions on extramurally funded projects. When the partnering institution provides a significant portion of the programmatic effort and exercises independent responsibility for programmatic decisions, this partnership usually takes the form of a sub-award.

Out-going subawards are issued by RSP once the award is set up at the UW.

Outgoing Sub-awards

Recent changes in Federal regulations make computing devices allowable as direct costs on Federal awards if they meet certain conditions. Most personal computers and laptops are defined as supply items when they have an acquisition cost under $5,000.

Guidance for Purchase of Personal Computers and Electronic Devices on Sponsored Projects

Capital Equipment purchases on grants or contracts requires additional approvals and must adhere to UW and sponsor policy requirement.

For additional details please see:  Capital Equipment

Electronic Financial Tools

• WISER – WISER is the interface for the Shared Financial System (SFS) reporting tools. UW-Madison uses this system for grants management and financial reporting.
• SSEC Financial Reports

Technical Progress Reports or Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) are due on a regular schedule set by the sponsor. This can be annually, semi-annually, quarterly, or Custom. Financial reports are completed by your UW assigned RSP Accountant.

For Example: NASA requires Annual Reports due sixty days prior to the funding anniversary date; except in the final year of funding, which is due one hundred and twenty days after the project end date. NSF maintains their reporting schedule in Research.gov; NOAA utilizes eRA Commons for their submissions, which are required semi-annually every January and July 30th; and so on. Other sponsors use their own schedules and requirements in their reporting requirements.

Always be sure to verify within the Award Document your reporting deliverables schedule!
Your Research Admin Team will help with finalizing the report submission process.