For Faculty and Staff

Grant and Fiscal Management

Grant and fiscal management provided by CTI consists of the following services only:

  • Proposal budget review
  • Pre-award set up
  • Quarterly and annual fiscal reports to sponsors
  • Purchasing
  • Payroll
  • Monthly project tracking reports
  • Assistance with problems with central UConn offices
  • PI support (but not decision making) on fiscal management and budgeting options
Research Proposals – Internal Proposal Review Form
Research Proposals – Budget Preparation

Internal Proposal Review Form:

If you wish your grant to be administered by CTI, the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) requires that the Internal Proposal Review Form has CTI listed in the “Project Information” section. The form must be signed by the CTI director along with all other applicable signatures.

All SoE faculty and staff submitting proposals for external funding are required to obtain signature from the SoE Deanery prior to submission to OSP.

Budget Preparation:

OSP requires that proposal paperwork (including budget and budget justification) be submitted for review 7 days before the grant deadline.

CTI Financial Assistants, Lori Judd and Carolyn Ward, review budget and budget justification for all projects administered through CTI. You must submit your budget to the appropriate financial assistant before submitting it to OSP. They require one full business day to review the budget.

It is the responsibility of the P.I. to go to OSP Budget Preparation and use the appropriate pay rates and fringe rates. Errors will be flagged by the financial assistant. The P.I. must make appropriate corrections to the budget and resubmit a copy to the financial assistant for CTI’s records.

P.I.s must specify the percent (%) of effort which corresponds to the budgeted amount for each person’s salary.

Obtaining a No Cost Extension

The project PI should go to the forms section of the Office of Sponsored Programs website for access to forms and other useful information.

Once in the UCONN forms section of the OSP website, scroll down to “Post Award”. Select the on-line no-cost extension form, fill in the required information and submit using your Net ID. Be sure to use your UCONN email address (not your “engr” email address) otherwise the on-line form will not be processed. Please include the financial assistant’s UCONN email address as well so that all parties will receive a confirmation email. If you do not receive a confirmation email, the no-cost extension has not been received by OSP.

Once OSP receives this form, the grant manager will contact the sponsor to rquest the extension. The PI should follow-up with either the grant manager or financial assistant to determine if the extension has been approved.

Project Rebudgeting

When funds in a project budget (i.e. salaries, contractuals, supplies, equipment, travel, etc.) need to be moved from one category to another, a rebudget must be submitted to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). Changes to the original budget WITHIN a category are at the discretion of the principal investigator. For example, salary may be shifted between individuals or supply funds might be spent on supplies in proportion not anticipated. Internal rebudgets do not require OSP approval. However, SALARY changes should always be communicated to the CTI director. Salary changes affect overall workload and salary planning which is conducted on a quarterly basis.

When the PI or Financial Assistant determine that funds in a project need to be reallocated, the following steps must be taken by the PI:

1) Go to the OSP website and fill in the on-line rebudget request form.

Note: Two very important items that must be made clear to OSP include why the funds are available in the project budget, and how the rebudget will benefit the project.

2) Print a copy for your records.

3) OSP will determine, based on the contract, if the sponsor must be contacted.

Human Subjects Research

University policy on research involving human subjects may be found at http://www.irb.uconn.edu

Personal Service Agreement

For university policies and procedures regarding Personal Service Agreements, please go to http://PSA.uconn.edu

Funding Graduate Students

Any faculty member or P.I. wishing CTI to prepare payroll forms and offer letters for a graduate students for the regular academic year, a single semester, or for summer must complete a Graduate Student Funding Request form (link to pdf version below) for each student.

Deadlines for submitting the form(s) to Lori Judd for processing will be regularly announced via email. Processing requires considerable lead-time to insure students are paid on time.

Complete all applicable fields on the form. Note that for the academic year or semester funding the total amount of the stipend must be indicated as well as a % charged against each account. For summer funding, indicate only the total dollar amount(s) allocated.

Also see the Office of Sponsored Programs budget preparation information (i.e. summer stipends) at research.uconn.edu/

P.I.s are responsible for making sure they have available funds to support student salaries and the fringe rates that are applied on top of salary.

Graduate Student Funding Request Form

Travel Procedures

Before you travel, it is important to familiarize yourself with the University policies and procedures for travel approval and reimbursement. If these policies are not followed you run the risk of not being reimbursed for travel expenses.

Travel Approval: Foreign and out-of-state travel (including travel at no cost to the University) requires a travel approval PRIOR to departure. This TA form will be routed to the traveler’s Department Head, Dean, or Director. The form requires the traveler to provide an estimate of anticipated travel expenses to the best of their ability. Once the travel is approved, the traveler will be reimbursed for actual expenses in accordance with the rules found at the travel website. If the actual expenses exceed the TA estimate by $500, the traveler will have to submit a revised TA. All travel on projects sponsored by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) Research require prior approval – this may be accomplished by requesting approval through the ConnDOT Research Engineer assigned to your project. (IMPORTANT: All foreign travel must comply with the federal Fly America Act. See the travel website for details.)

Travel Reimbursements: Within 15 days after the trip, the traveler must submit a reimbursement request, including the Travel Reimbursement Request Form, original receipts, boarding passes and conference ID. It is helpful to provide boarding passes and/or conference ID. Conference agenda should also be included to help determine which meals can be reimbursed. Travelers cannot be reimbursed for meals that were provided by a conference if the meal was included as part of the registration fee. For ConnDOT Research projects, please provide a copy of the ConnDOT approval to travel on that project with your other reimbursement documentation.

Travel Advance: Travelers seeking a travel advance (allowed on out of state travel greater than $300), must request it on the Travel Approval form, and sign and submit the Travel Advance Agreement form (found at the Travel Services website ). The agreement form should be faxed to the Office of Travel Services at least 5 days prior to departure. The advance will then be deducted from the reimbursement request.

Research Foundation, AAUP or UCPEA: Travelers who plan to fund their travel through these sources must secure this support before they complete the travel approval form. Documentation of the support must be submitted with the travel reimbursement.

Parking at Bradley International Airport: Parking permits for the State employee parking lot at Bradley can be requested on the Travel Approval form. After the TA is approved a parking permit will be mailed to the department. ONLY if the State lot is at capacity the traveler can park at an economy lot and will be reimbursed. The original parking permit and the receipt from the parking lot will be required when submitting your reimbursement. Otherwise parking expenses will not be reimbursed. (NOTE: Student travelers cannot park at the State lot and can be reimbursed for economy parking.) The following map shows the various State parking lots at Bradley International Airport.

Purchase Requests

Email your request to the appropriate financial assistant, along with a printed price quote for the item(s) you are requesting. Please remember to include the KFS number to be charged .

For purchase requests greater than $10,000 – other policies apply.

Financial Assistant’s email addresses:

ljudd@engr.uconn.edu
ward@engr.uconn.edu

Research Office Supplies and Routine Operating Expenses

Research projects which are subject to reduced indirects rates (state projects, i.e. NETC):

  • Routine office supplies, faxes, mailing and telephone charges are charged as direct costs on the projects and are provided through CTI. Be sure to include these items explicitly when budgeting projects in the proposal stage.

Research projects which are subject to full indirect rates (federal grants, i.e. NEUTC):

  • Routine office supplies, faxes, mailing and telephone charges are NOT provided through CTI. Supplies and operating expenses are provided by the PI’s department and are subject to the department’s policies.

Research projects requiring extraordinary supplies and operating expenses:

  • In some cases a research project will require extraordinary supplies or office costs (i.e. survey research requiring extensive phone charges, copying or postage). These costs should be explicitly budgeted in the proposal and can be charged, even if the full indirect rate is used.
CTI Staff Vacation/Leave Time Policy

Leave of 2 days or more:

CTI staff must secure prior approval to take vacation or extended leave time of two or more consecutive working days. Submit the request form (link below) to your immediate supervisor at least 2 weeks prior to requested time off. You will be supplied with the original, signed request form indicating approval or denial of your request. The form is not required for taking vacation time of one day or less. The form is also not required in the event of an unexpected illness. Check with your supervisor regarding possible “black out” dates and/or issues affected by your absence.

After approval for leave or vacation has been granted by your supervisor, indicate the days when you will not be in the office on the sheets posted in the central office at the White House. For employees not located at the White House, this information should be forwarded to the White House secretary for posting on the sheets.

Leave of 1.75 days or less:

Except in cases of personal emergency or illness, requests for vacation or leave time with a duration of 1.75 days or less are requested by email (including date and amount of leave to be used) by the end of the day prior to the leave being taken. If your immediate supervisor is not available to respond in a timely manner, the request should be made to your supervisor’s supervisor or the director of the center.

Whenever possible, these short leaves should be noted on CTI Outlook Staff Calendar.

Leave Time Request Form

Faculty Summer Salary

CTI staff will prepare the Special Payroll documents for faculty summer salary on grants that are managed by CTI. Please use the Faculty Summer Employment Request Form and submit the form to Lori Judd via email ljudd@engr.uconn.edu or fax to (860) 486-2399.

CTI Van – Rules and Regulations for Use

Effective July 1, 2011, a KFS number will be needed in order to use the CTI van. The federal mileage rate in effect at the time of travel will be used and charged directly to grants via transfer voucher. The van should be reserved through the Outlook calendar system and the KFS number should be entered when the reservation is made.

For graduate and undergraduate students, a copy of user’s valid driver’s license must be on file with CTI prior to using the van and the faculty or staff member authorizing the student’s use of the van must use the Outlook CTI Van calendar to reserve it.

All drivers must read this document before using the vehicle for the first time. Copies of this document are located in the van and on the mileage log clipboard.

The vehicle may not be used for personal use or non-university travel.

Due to state insurance regulations, non-university passengers (i.e. friends, family) are not allowed in the vehicle.

The vehicle is only to be used for CTI-affiliated projects.

The gas tank must be filled at the UConn Motor Pool whenever the tank registers 3/4 or less full.Check the oil level when filling the gas tank. A campus map showing the location of the Motor Pool station and instructions for using the gas pump are located in the glove compartment of the vehicle.

The gas pump key is a square plastic key attached to the keychain.

In the event of an emergency breakdown , please call the UConn Motor Pool Service & Repair at (860) 486-3029 immediately.

Report any and all vehicle problems or broken items to the CTI office upon returning the vehicle. If you do not report problems or damages, CTI will assume you are personally responsible.

No smoking is allowed in the vehicle. Remove all garbage, personal belongings and research equipment when returning the vehicle. Spills should be cleaned and dirt, sand or soil should be vacuumed up (there is a vacuum at the Motor Pool). The vehicle must be returned in the same condition as when it was taken.

All drivers (faculty, students and staff) are subject to all rules. Breaking the rules may forfeit future use of the vehicle.

RULES FOR USING THE VAN’s LIGHT BAR:

Lights should never be used to stop traffic.

Lights should never be used during normal driving on a street, road or highway.

Lights should be used ONLY when stopped/working on the shoulder of the road -or- when in a work zone area/construction site.

All drivers (faculty, students and staff) are subject to all rules. Breaking the rules may forfeit future use of the vehicle.

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