Roles and Responsibilities

Submitting proposals, executing awards, carrying out research, and administrating sponsored projects involves many different units and supporting staff across the UMass Amherst campus. The matrix below indicates the appropriate party that has primary responsibility for a specific activity at various points in the life cycle of a proposal or sponsored award. If the responsibility involves a unit of Research and Engagement, you can use the Staff Directory here to find the appropriate contact for your needs.

Identification of Funding Opportunities

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Kuali Aggregator (Department, College, or Proposal Preparation Services)	ORD	OPAS	OPAM	Controller	Compliance	UMII	TTO	VCRE	Other
Search for Opportunities	X		X
Provide guidance on funding opportunities		X	X	X

Proposal Preparation

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Kuali Aggregator (Department, College, or Proposal Preparation Services)	ORD	OPAS Reviewer	Compliance	VCRE
Write technical narrative	X
Identify subcontractors and request budget and workscope materials	X	X
Develop budget	X	X
Identify need for cost sharing funds and obtain documentation for cost share support	X	X
Evaluate requests for F&A waivers or reductions						X
Coordinate space arrangements	X
Provide guidance on proposal preparation		X	X	X	X
Complete and ensure accuracy of the Proposal Routing Form (Kuali Record)	X	X
Upload proposal contents into sponsor electronic portal	X	X

Regulatory Requirements

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	College	Compliance	VCRE
Complete compliance forms: Institutional Review Board, Animal Care and Use, Institutional BioSafety, Dept. of Health and Safety, Financial Conflict of Interest Disclosures, Conflict of Interest forms etc.	X
Reviews and endorses compliance forms as needed		X	X	X
Institutional oversight and facilitation of compliance issues	X			X	X
Ensure that protocols and approvals for regulatory compliance requirements are kept current throughout the life of the project as required	X	X		X

Proposal Review and Approval

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	College	OPAS
Confirm that proposal meets sponsor requirements (text, margins, font, page limits, etc)	X	X	X	X
Review proposal before routing proposal to OPAS for review and submission	X	X	X
Verify that cost sharing in proposal is listed and that all commitments have been secured	X	X	X	X
Review proposed cost sharing for appropriateness	X	X	X	X
Programmatic review of proposal and electronically approve Proposal Routing Form in Kuali	X	X	X	X
Provide institutional review and approval of proposal				X

Proposal Submission

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	College	ORD	OPAS	OPAM	Controller	Compliance	UMII	TTO	VCRE	Other
Electronic Submission					X
Paper Submission- RARE					X

Pre-Award Spending

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	College	OPAM	Controller
Request pre-award or advance account	X	X
Establish pre-award or advance account				X	X
Monitor pre-award or advance account	X	X	X		X

Award/Agreement Acceptance

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	OPAM	Controller	Compliance	UMII	TTO	Other
Accept sponsor notification of grant or contract award except industry (unless prime funded by Federal or State)			X
Accept sponsor notification of grant or contract award for industry (unless prime funded by Federal or State)						X
Review and negotiate terms and conditions for Grants, Contracts, Cooperative Agreements for sponsored activities for all sponsors except industry (unless prime funded by Federal or State)			X
Review and negotiate terms and conditions for Grants, Contracts, Cooperative Agreements for sponsored activities for industry (unless prime funded by Federal or State)						X
Provide feedback on nonstandard terms and conditions when applicable	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	Legal
Accept award terms and conditions & execute award on behalf of UM except Industry (unless prime funded by Federal or State)			X
Accept award terms and conditions & execute award on behalf of UM for Industry (unless prime funded by Federal or State)						X
Material Transfer Agreements					X	X	X
Data Use Agreements	X				X			IT Security
Facilities Access Agreements	X				X
Confidentiality Agreements					X	X	X
Allocation of Rights Agreements						X

Award Set-up

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	OPAM	Controller
Confirm that protocols and approvals for regulatory compliance requirements are current at the time of initial account set-up	X	X	X
Review award budget	X	X	X
Establish account number			X	X

Conducting the Project Financial

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	College	OPAM	Controller
Prepare financial transactions		X
Initiate re-budgeting requests	X	X
Obtain sponsor approval of re-budgeting requests, where required				X
Initiate no cost extension requests	X	X
Submit no cost extension notifications or requests to sponsor as required				X
Ensure that cost sharing is documented	X	X			X
Initiate purchases via PCard or with Procurement as appropriate	X	X
Review and approve financial transactions	X	X			X
Use financial reports to monitor and oversee expenditures	X	X	X		X
Review and reconcile accounts on a monthly basis	X	X
Coordinate resolution of issues on oversight reports					X
Audit expenditures					X

Program Income

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	OPAM	Controller
Identify program income	X	X	X
Invoice program income		X
Receive and deposit program income		X		X
Identify use and reportability of program income		X		X
Monitor program income levels	X	X		X

Invoicing Financial Reporting

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	College	ORD	OPAM	Controller	Compliance	UMII	TTO	VCRE	Other
Prepare and submit the invoice or financial report						X

Accounts Receivable Management

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	College	ORD	OPAS	OPAM	Controller	Compliance	UMII	TTO	VCRE	Other
Receive and deposit payments from sponsors							X
Produce and record a letter of credit draw request (federal awards)							X
Monitor and pursue the collections of overdue payments from sponsors							X

Prior Approvals

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	OPAM
Initiate requests for prior approvals for changes to project (i.e.) changes in level of effort of key personnel, change in scope, no cost extensions, etc.)	X	X
Approve or forward to sponsor prior approvals for changes to project			X
Ensure regulatory compliance offices are notified of changes to project	X	X	X

Subcontracts and Subawards

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	OPAS	OPAM	Controller
Submit Subaward and Subaward Modification Requests to OPAM	X	X
Oversee programmatic aspects of subaward	X	X
Prepare, negotiate, and execute subawards				X
Review and approve subaward invoices	X				X
Subrecipient monitoring	X	X	X	X	X

Subcontracting Plan

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	OPAS	Compliance	Other
Determine if a Small Business Subcontracting Plan is Needed	X	X	X
Prepare Small Business Subcontracting Plan		X			Procurement
Provide Small Business Subcontracting Plan to Sponsor			X
Prepare and Submit Small Business Subcontracting Plan Reports	x			Procurement	Procurement

Technical Data and Reports

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	OPAM
Ensure integrity of all research data	X	X
Prepare and submit technical reports to sponsor	X		X (Only when Required by Sponsor)
Distribute notifications and initiate delinquent report process			X
Maintain the official copy of the technical report	X	X

Personnel and Effort Certification

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	College	OPAM	Controller	Compliance	Other
Initiate hiring and appointment process	X	X
Identify and initiate any screenings required (e-Verify, foreign visitor screening)	X	X		X		X	Human Resources for E-verify
Complete necessary adjustments to award charges or and/or payroll distribution		X			X
Obtain necessary supervisory reviews and approvals	X	X
Ensure accuracy of completed effort certification	X	X					A&F
Resolve problems or follow up on certifications not submitted	X	X	X				A&F

Project End and Close-out

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	OPAM	Controller	TTO
Identify early close-out situations	X	X	X	X
Ensure all appropriate expenditures have been posted to accounts		X		X
Prepare final financial invoice/report				X
Resolve issues related to unreconciled accounts		X		X
Ensure that all financial reports have been submitted to sponsor				X
Monitor submission of Final Technical Reports to sponsor	X	X	X
Monitor submission of Final Invention reports to sponsor	X	X	X		X
Monitor submission of Patent reports to sponsor	X	X	X		X
Inactivate award account(s) in financial accounting system				X
Maintain official project closeout documents for sponsored projects		X	X	X

Audits

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	College	ORD	OPAS	OPAM	Controller	Compliance	UMII	TTO	VCRE	Other
Coordinate the Single Audit for the University							X
Provide support and/or source documentation as requested by auditors	X	X				X	X

Ongoing Training

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	College	ORD	OPAS	OPAM	Controller	Compliance	UMII	TTO	VCRE	Other
Provide training to the research community regarding changes to policies and regulations		X	X		X	X	X	X				EH&S

Intellectual Property (IP)

Roles and Responsibilities	PI	Dept	College	Controller	Compliance	UMII	TTO
Request a waiver from the University’s IP Policy for a specific sponsored project	X	X	X
Review/recommend action on waiver of IP Policy on a specific sponsored project						X	X
Review, Negotiate, and Execute Outgoing MTA’s					X	X	X
Evaluate commercial viability of University IP							X
Disclose IP to TTO, complete Invention Disclosure Forms	X	X
Market, negotiate and enter into license agreements for University IP						X	X
Report Federally funded inventions to government (Bayh-Dole)	X	X					X
Receive Royalty Income and Process Distribution				X			X
Provide oversight of patent prosecution							X

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