Effort Reporting Overview and Compliance Requirements
Effort reporting is crucial for demonstrating compliance with federal regulations and institutional standards regarding time commitments and salary charges on sponsored projects. It involves tracking the percentage of time spent on different activities and certifying these efforts. Failure to comply can result in fines, penalties, and even debarment from federally-funded research. Florida State University's official effort reporting system, FACET, plays a vital role in ensuring compliance with these requirements.
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First Year Assistant Professor Grants Workshop EFFORT REPORTING May 7, 2015 Kaytee Fletcher, SRA
Todays Topics Effort Reporting Overview Effort Commitments Top 10 Things a PI Needs to Know about Effort Reporting FACET Support
What is Effort? Amount of time spent on a particular activity, whether directly charged to a project or cost-shared. Expressed as a percentage of the total amount (100%) of time spent on compensated work-related activities Instruction Research/Creative Activity Service/Administration Sabbatical/Leave
Who is required to certify their effort? Any Instructor of Record on a course Any employee paid on a sponsored project Any employee working on a sponsored project Any employee with a commitment on a sponsored project 5
Why Effort Reporting Matters Satisfy Federal requirements (OMB Circular A-21, J. 10) Support salaries charged (direct & cost-shared) and effort expended on sponsored projects Demonstrate compliance with effort commitments made to agencies Demonstrate compliance with Florida s 12-hour law through reporting to Board of Governors Florida Statutes, s. 1012.945 Required number of classroom teaching hours for university faculty members
Why Effort Reporting Matters Consequences Institutional Sanctions: fines and penalties; debarment from participating in federally-funded research Individual Sanctions: civil and/or criminal sanctions (fines and imprisonment); debarment from participating in federally-funded research
How is effort tracked? F aculty A ssignments C ommitments and E ffort Certification T racking 8
What is FACET? FACET is Florida State University s official effort reporting system. It is required for compliance with federal and state regulations governing sponsored research and other activities at the University. It replaced the Personnel Activity Report System (PARS) during the Fall 2008 semester. 9
Inputs from Campus Systems Sponsored Project Data Payroll Data FACET Campus Solutions Course Data Employee Data
What is an effort commitment? FSU defines a commitment as: Quantified effort for named personnel whether direct charged or cost shared, as specified in the proposal or award.
Key Personnel Definition: FSU will follow the sponsoring agency s definition of Key Personnel if one exists. If no agency definition exists, FSU will define Key Personnel as the PI and all Co-PIs identified as such in the proposal and/or award. PI s are encouraged to limit the number of key personnel identified in the proposal. PI s are cautioned not to voluntarily include effort commitments that are not paid for by sponsor.
Commitments in Proposals Effort commitments may be found in: Budget Forms Budget Justification Current and Pending Support Available Resources Section
Commitment Entry Proposal and award are reviewed to determine: Whether a commitment exists for Key Personnel and whether it is to be direct charged or cost shared Whether a commitment proposed as cost sharing exists for non-Key Personnel Percent of commitment (converting from dollars, or other values as needed) What period(s) the commitment covers
Commitment Entry Commitments are entered under one of two categories: Direct Charged Salaries Committed Cost Sharing Depending on how the commitment was stated in the proposal, it may be entered for any of the following: Life of Project Academic Year (Fall, Spring) Summers Only
Commitment Adjustments Overall commitment may be adjusted due to: Increase/reduction in funding Increase/reduction in period of performance Changes to scope of work Reduction at PI s discretion as allowed by terms of the award [FACET would not be adjusted for a voluntary increase in overall commitment] As long as the Overall commitment is met, commitments allocated to individual periods may be moved to future periods depending on when the employee plans to do the actual work and availability of time
References FSU Effort Commitment Policy http://www.research.fsu.edu/media/1463/policy-7a-9.docx Effort Commitments during No-Cost Extension Periods - http://www.research.fsu.edu/media/1485/effort_nocost.pdf Effort Commitment Data Entry in FACET http://www.research.fsu.edu/contractsgrants/documents/effentry.pdf FSU Cost Sharing Policy http://www.research.fsu.edu/contractsgrants/costsharing.html FSU Campus Cost Sharing Procedures http://www.research.fsu.edu/contractsgrants/documents/csprocedures.pdf 18
TOP 10 THINGS A PI NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT EFFORT REPORTING 19
Number 1 Effort is your work on a project, whether the sponsor pays your salary or not. 20
Number 2 When you write yourself into a grant proposal, you are committing your effort to the sponsor. 21
Number 3 If you reduce your committed effort, paid or unpaid, on a federal grant by 25%, you must have agency approval If you reduce your paid effort, you may choose to document cost-sharing so that the total effort does not decrease 22
Number 4 Many activities cannot be charged to a federally funded sponsored project Writing a proposal (Departmental Research) Serving on an IRB, IACUC or other research committee (Sponsored Projects Administration??) Serving on a departmental or university service committee (Service Public/Administrative) 23
Number 5 If you work on a sponsored project, you must certify your effort. 24
Number 6 Certifying effort is not the same as certifying payroll. 25
Number 7 Certification must reasonably reflect all the effort for allthe activities that are covered by your University compensation. 26
Number 8 Effort is not based on a 40-hour work week. It is not based on hours at all. 27
Number 9 Effort must be certified by someone with suitable means of verifying that the work was performed. Employee preferred Knowledgeable Person 28
Number 10 In identifying audit findings, auditors look for indications that certification was based on factors other than actual, justifiable effort. 29
Support Institutional Research (IR) is the initial point of contact for FACET Representatives for general questions facet@fsu.edu FACET Representatives should be the initial point of contact for faculty and staff 30
FACET Support Contacts Sponsored Research Administration Phone Email 645-1947 kfletcher@fsu.edu Kaytee Fletcher Phone Email Institutional Research IR-FACET Contact N/A facet@fsu.edu 644-4203 mearhart@admin.fsu.edu Matthew Earhart 645-0285 mverzaal@fsu.edu Mev Verzaal 32
