Ohio Admin. Code 3359-11-24 - Effort commitment and certification
(A)
The university of
Akron (the university) recognizes the importance of providing good stewardship
in managing extramural funds. The university's stewardship responsibilities
include complying with federal requirements to certify faculty and staff effort
on sponsored projects.
(B)
Support for the faculty's research goals is critical to
the success of the university. The purpose of this document is to foster
excellence in research by promoting the successful management of effort and
commitments throughout the sponsored project life cycle. Activities during
which effort issues are important include:
(1)
Establishing
faculty and staff appointments and professional duties, including research,
teaching, administration and clinical responsibilities.
(2)
Proposing effort
in an application for a sponsored project.
(3)
Establishing
effort commitments at the time an award is made.
(4)
Charging salary
support, establishing and documenting cost sharing, and expending effort during
the life of a project.
(5)
Monitoring progress toward the fulfillment of effort
commitments to specific projects.
(6)
Managing an
individual's total commitments across all projects.
(7)
Certifying that
salary support charges are reasonable in relation to the work performed, and
that commitments to sponsors have been met.
(C)
All researchers
who engage in sponsored projects will comply with university rules, policies
and procedures, sponsoring agency regulations and applicable law regarding the
proposing, charging, and reporting of effort on those projects. The university
assigns responsibility to the office of the associate vice president/controller
for maintaining sponsored project accounting records; generating, distributing
and recording effort reports; and administering procedures in furtherance of
this policy.
(D)
Effort must be certified for all individuals who
receive salary support from a sponsored project or who expend committed effort
on a sponsored project without receiving salary support from the sponsor.
Faculty and academic staff are required to certify their effort each semester.
The time of the research staff reported and charged on sponsored projects will
be certified by the principal investigators each semester. Effort must be
certified in a timely manner. Effort is defined as:
(1)
The proportion of time devoted to sponsored projects,
teaching, clinical practice, and other activities, expressed as a percentage of
total university activity, or one-hundred per cent effort. The denominator of
the effort percentage must always be total university effort, irrespective of
the total number of hours worked during the effort reporting
period.
(E)
The effort devoted to a sponsored project should be
consistent with the plan that was proposed to the sponsoring agency and agreed
to at the time of the award. All principal investigators, faculty and academic
staff who are involved in proposing, executing, directing, or managing
sponsored projects are responsible for:
(1)
Understanding the
fundamentals of effort and commitment management and effort
certification.
(2)
Proposing, expending, and managing effort in accordance
with all sponsoring agency regulations, university rules, policies and
procedures and applicable law.
(3)
Completing the
required training and educational programs associated with effort
reporting.
(F)
This policy is created in order to:
(1)
Comply with
provisions of the federal office of management and budget's circular A-21 (cost
principles for educational institutions) regarding effort certification and
other relevant sponsor requirements.
(2)
Provide clear
direction to faculty and staff for determining effort when preparing proposals
and subsequently verifying effort.
(3)
Promote the best
possible alignment between faculty and staff activity and funding sources and,
in so doing, enhance work at the university of Akron.
(4)
Establish
expectations for tracking and confirming the certification of effort by
university personnel.
Replaces: 3359-11-24
Notes
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 3359.01
Rule Amplifies: 3359.01
Prior Effective Dates: 12/31/09
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