General Project Information
This section provides topics relating to research administration that can occur throughout the life of a project such as the cost share procedures, the FACTS sheet, roles and responsibilities, and other important topics. Use the Table of Contents on the left side of this page to navigate through the topics for general project information.
All proposals and awards are routed through the Grants Module of RAMP. The RAMP website provides useful How-To Guides and Trainings.
Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR)
The FSU Vice President for Research (VPR) is recognized as the Authorized Official for all FSU sponsored activities. The VPR in turn officially delegates this responsibility to staff members of FSU Research Offices. This means that if a sponsor requests that an authorized official review, sign or certify any proposal information, this step will be completed by FSU Office of Research staff. A PI, Chair, Dean, or Center Director are not considered authorized officials for the university and may not act in this capacity.
Clinical Research Support Services
The Office for Clinical Research Advancement (OCRA) provides guidance, tools, resources and facilitation to help faculty, staff and students successfully navigate clinical and human subjects research at FSU and with its community healthcare partners. Whether you are a basic scientist wanting to collaborate with a community clinician, a researcher seeking guidance on a human subjects protocol or needing assistance on implementing a clinical trial, OCRA is here to help.
Office of Clinical Research Advancement Staff
Compliance
The mission of the Office of Research Compliance Programs (ORCP) is to ensure University compliance with federal, state, and local regulations regarding research. The ORCP is responsible for the development, oversight and monitoring of the research compliance program for Florida State University. FSU's research compliance program encompasses all areas that support or relate to FSU’s research and creative activities, including (but not limited to) the areas listed below:
Responsible Conduct of Research
Animal Research
Laboratory Animal Resources (LAR), a service entity of the Florida State University Office of Research, is responsible for care of all vertebrate animals used in teaching and research across the University. LAR exists to advance the teaching and research missions of the University by providing, faculty, staff, and students training and support in the use of laboratory animals and by maintaining exemplary standards of animal care through effective resource management.
FSU adheres to the highest standards of animal care and maintains an Assurance with the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare and is a United States Department of Agriculture registered research facility. The FSU Animal Care and Use Program has been continuously accredited by AAALAC International since 2002.
Click here for the FSU Animal Research website.
Human Subjects Research
The Mission of the Office for Human Subjects Protection (OHSP) & FSU Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to protect the rights and welfare of human subjects research participants by adherence to ethical principles and compliance with applicable laws governing the protection of human subjects.
Click here for the FSU Human Subjects website.
Conflict Administration Management System
FSU is pleased to announce the procurement of a conflict of interest system for reporting and approval of faculty and staff outside activity/outside employment, and to identify/manage conflicts of interest within research activities. The system has been rebranded for FSU as the Conflict Administration Management System (CAMS). Although CAMS will be used broadly across the University, there are significant research components related to the functionality and disclosure process, and it will integrate with the RAMP Grants and RAMP IRB modules. CAMS will provide the following features and benefits, including but not limited to:
- automating COI processes and workflow
- streamlining disclosure forms
- early flagging and resolution of potential conflicts
- eliminating redundant data input
- tracking of compliance and improvement of response rates
- fostering a culture of transparency
Training and Job Aids
For more information on completing the training please visit the CAMS website.
Cost Share
Cost sharing or matching is the portion of project costs not borne by the sponsor. "Project enhancement" refers to available resources that are not quantified in the proposal. This is not considered a cost sharing commitment.
FSU's policy is to only cost share when required by the sponsor or the competitive nature of the award. Cost share should be budgeted only to the extent necessary to meet the sponsor's requirements. If the PI has a reason to request an exception to the policy, his or her chair and dean must approve this request as well as SRA and FSURF.
All proposed cost sharing must be adequately documented. At the proposal stage, this documentation includes:
- Cost Share Commitment Form (university contributions)
- Third Party Commitment Form (non-university contributions)
- Cost share budget and justification
All proposed cost share must conform to the same requirements as the costs FSU requests from the sponsor. For federally funded projects and federal flow-through, this means all costs must conform to 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance) and the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS). For example, general purpose office supplies generally cannot be committed as cost share as they are normally treated as an indirect cost.
University Contributions:
- Unrecovered indirect costs (F&A): the difference between FSU's negotiated F&A rate and the rate funded by the sponsor. This is generally only available if the sponsor mandates the use of an F&A rate lower than FSU's negotiated rate. For federally funded projects and federal flow-throughs, the use of unrecovered overhead must be approved by the federal awarding agency
- Salaries and fringe benefits: paid from non-sponsored accounts and is documented through FACET
- Other direct costs: paid from non-sponsored accounts, i.e. Graduate Tuition Waivers
- F&A Costs on direct expenses: F&A may be calculated on salaries, fringe, and other direct costs charged to cost share lines in OMNI. For federally funded projects and federal flow-throughs, the addition of overhead must be approved by the federal awarding agency.
Please note: This is not an exhaustive list. If there are other costs you are considering committing as cost share, please contact SRA or FSURF for guidance.
Non-University Contributions (Third Party/In Kind):
- Value of contributions (real property, equipment, supplies, etc.)
- Value of goods and services directly benefiting a project
Third party contributors named in a proposal are required to submit a commitment form at the proposal stage. Periodically during the award period, documentation supporting the contribution to the project may be required. The In-Kind/Third Party Contribution Certification must be submitted prior to the final invoice or financial report to the sponsoring agency is sent.
Training and Job Aids
Campus Cost Sharing Procedures
RAMP - How to Complete A Proposal Cost Share Budget
Effort Certification
Effort certification is the process of certifying that salaries and wages charged to sponsored project accounts are reasonable in relation to the actual work performed. It assures a sponsor that 1) the sponsor only paid for the amount of effort that directly benefited the project and 2) the employee met his or her effort commitment to the project. Effort certification is also required for certifying personnel expenses that are being used to meet a match/cost share requirement.
FACET (Faculty Assignments, Commitments & Effort Certification Tracking) is Florida State University's official employee activity reporting system. It is used to track employee "effort" in order to document how various types of funds are used to support university personnel activities. Effort reporting is required for compliance with federal and state regulations governing sponsored research and other activities at the University.
Any employee who receives funds from a sponsored project, or is officially committed to perform work for a sponsored project, is required to certify his/her effort each semester
Follow this link for more information.
Training and Job Aids
For more information, consider completing the eSpear course Effort Commitments & Certifications - ESP08
Employee Advances
Employee advances can be used to provide research participant incentives.
Click here for Employee Cash Advance Procedures
Facts Sheet
The Facts Sheet contains all pertinent institutional related data and information for proposal preparation and budgeting.
Click here for the Facts Sheet
Fund Codes
Fund Code: Identifies the source of monies that are used in a transaction. They are a three digit numerical code, and often have different restrictions and reporting requirements.
OMNI
110/210: Comes from Education and General funds (E&G), current fiscal year appropriations. Commonly used for cost share.
140/211: Carry Forward from prior fiscal year’s E&G funds. Commonly used for cost share.
320: Auxiliaries that generate revenue for business-type activities that support the mission of the institution.
Grants and other research–related monies provided by government or private entities
520: The sponsor is a Federal Agency
521: Sponsored Program Federal - Formula Funds
523: This sponsor is a state of Florida agency that is flowing through federal money
524: This sponsor is a non-state of Florida agency that is flowing through federal money
530: State awards with NO Federal flow through
531: Sponsored Programs Unrestricted
540: Private or other institution awards with NO Federal flow through
544: These are non-sponsored funds associated with the FSU Research Foundation (i.e. indirect cost accounts, PI Support accounts, etc.)
545:These are externally sponsored funds associated with the FSU Research Foundation.
546: Magnet Research and Development Awards
547: Sponsored Programs FSU Foundation
550: SRAD Distributions, PI Support accounts, and other internal F&A allocations, such start up accounts, bridge funds, etc.
551: Council on Research and Creativity (CRC)
552: External Funding Control (Central Office Use Only)
555: SRAD Cost Share
556: Over Salary Cap
560: Control and Operating Projects (Central Office Use Only)
570: Overhead Control Account
599: FSU Foundation Accounts, commonly used for cost share
OMNI Query
Financials - FSU_SP_GM_GRANTS_FUNDS
FSU Research Foundation (FSURF)
(Fund codes used in FSURF account system, Financial Edge)
01: Contract or grant account
02: Royalty account
03: PI research support account
04: Indirect costs
05: FSURF accounts- i.e. Gaps, Eppes
10: Research Foundation Administrative
Indirect Cost Rate
The Indirect Cost Rate or Facilities and Administrative (F&A) rate is a mechanism used to reimburse FSU for the infrastructure costs associated with sponsored research and other sponsored projects. This federally negotiated rate determines fairly and conveniently within the boundaries of sound administrative principles, what proportion of indirect cost each program should bear. Note that indirect costs are incurred for common or joint objectives and cannot be readily identified with a particular grant, contract or other activity of the organization. An indirect cost rate is the ratio between the total indirect costs to a direct cost base.
Indirect costs allocable to sponsored programs should be reimbursed if an organization has a federally approved rate. Reimbursement, however, is subject to any administrative limitations established in the grants and/or contracts.
The indirect cost rate for Florida State University is negotiated with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and this is the rate used on sponsored project budgets. It is extremely important that the university receive full reimbursement for indirect costs whenever possible.
Click here for current F&A Rate Agreement.
Indirect Cost Recovery Policy 7A-12
NSF Major Facilities Management
A major responsibility of the National Science Foundation (NSF) is the support of scientific facilities as an essential part of the science and engineering enterprise. Facilities are defined as shared-use infrastructure, instrumentation and equipment that are accessible to a broad community of researchers and/or educators. These facilities are generally intended to serve the science community that is critical to supporting innovation across the nation. Facilities supported by NSF may be centralized or may consist of distributed-but-integrated installations. They may incorporate large-scale networking or computational infrastructure, multi-user instruments or networks of such instruments, or other infrastructure, instrumentation, and equipment having a major impact on a broad segment of a scientific or engineering discipline. Historically, NSF has supported such diverse projects as particle accelerators, telescopes, remote research stations, research vessels, aircraft, and geographically distributed but networked observatory systems.
Visit NSF's website for detailed information on the Major Facilities Guide, Financial Data Collection Tool, NSF/BFA Business Systems Review, Earned Value Management System and a Guide to Developing Cybersecurity Programs.
PI/Grants Transfer
In the event a PI leaves FSU and would like to take an award to the new institution, the PI’s chair and dean must approve of the award leaving with the PI. Remember, awards are made to FSU, not the individual PI. Each sponsor has different requirements. Check with your Grants Officer ( SRA contact list or FSURF contact list) to determine what your sponsor requires.
When new faculty members are hired to work at FSU and have research funding they want to bring with them, there a few items that will need to be addressed. The faculty member will need to have a letter from the University releasing the funds to FSU as well as permission from the agency that awarded the project. Each agency will have different requirements, the faculty will need start the transfer process with the universities as soon as possible.
For further guidance, reach out to SRA or FSURF staff.
Policies and Procedures
Sponsored Research Administration (SRA)
Link to Policies and Procedures
Florida State University Research Foundation (FSURF)
RAMP (Research Administration Management Portal)
FSU is in the process of implementing software to modernize the University’s research administration business processes and technologies, as well as improve research compliance and financial management. This multi-year, multi-phased project will provide FSU researchers and administrators with comprehensive tools to support the administration of research within one integrated system. The software includes electronic proposal development and routing as well as system-to-system proposal submission, where available by sponsor. It will also provide tools for the development and management of ACUC and IRB protocols and for the management of subcontracts, contract negotiations, and export controls. Five modules will be included as part of this project - ACUC, IRB, Grants, Agreements and Export Control.
Ramp FAQ's
Training and Job Aids
Module Help Centers
Agreements (Will require OMNI login)
IACUC (Will require OMNI login)
IRB (Will require OMNI login)
Grants (Will require OMNI login)
Export Controls (Will require OMNI login)
Grants Module Job Aids
Online Training Course Materials
Export Controls Module Job Aids
Online Training Course Materials
Research Terms and Conditions (RTCs)
Research Terms and Conditions were developed in an effort to reduce the administrative burden on Institutions of Higher Education by providing clarification to Federal requirements and/or waiving certain prior approval requirements.
Roles and Responsibilities for Research Administration
Matrix
Workflow Charts
Publicly Funded Grants - Proposal Preparation - Project Management - Closeout
Privately Funded Awards - Proposal Preparation - Project Management - Closeout
Publicly Funded Contracts - Proposal Preparation - Project Management - Closeout
Training Grants - Proposal Preparation - Project Management - Closeout
Travel
Sponsored project travel is an area routinely focused on by auditors. Therefore, charges must be adequately documented to ensure they are allocable and allowable. Adding information within the expense report as to how the travel benefits the award can expedite the approval process.
Travel Considerations:
- Travel must occur within the award period
- Travel must not conflict with the traveler’s personnel appointment. A conflict between payroll and travel indicates that one of the charges is not allocated correctly. Appointments to non-sponsored funds (E&G or SRAD/PI Support) are not considered in conflict with travel charges to a sponsored project. However, an employee should not be 100% appointed to one sponsored project and charging travel to another sponsored project.
- Sponsored project travel must abide by all University travel policies
Link to Controller's office for Travel
Tuition
Per FSU policy, all graduate students paid by the project must have tuition budgeted or covered by another source. The Facts Sheet will have the current and projected rates to use in the proposal budget. The rates do not include student fees.
The Graduate School website has important tuition waiver information and forms.
Tuition Waivers
Information and resources coming soon...
Unfunded Agreements
Researchers often collaborate on research or share research tools with other scientists or institutions without receiving funding. For many unfunded collaborations, a formal agreement is beneficial or necessary. Non-financial agreements set out expectations, terms, and requirements that protect the interests of the investigators and the participating organizations. These agreements need to be entered and routed for signatures through RAMP's Agreement Module.
Types of Agreements
Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA)
Data Use Agreements (DUA)
Material Transfer Agreements (MTA)
For more detailed information, click here for the Research Compliance website
Please Note: Please Note: All non-financial agreements are legal contracts between two parties; therefore, these agreements can only be signed by the Authorized Organizational Representative.
Training and Job Aids
RAMP Help Center
Uniform Guidance
Uniform Guidance, found in the federal code of federal regulations (CFR) is located at2 CFR 200 and contains the requirements for managing Federal awards from proposal through the award stage. It provides guidance for allowable costs, agency approval requirements, and maintaining compliance for projects.
Link to eCFR
Training and Job Aids
For more information, consider completing the eSpear course Uniform Guidance at 2 CFR 200- ESP02
Useful Queries
Queries are used in OMNI Financials (FI) and Human Resources (HR) to run reports used in project management. SRA maintains a list of useful queries to aid departments in project management.