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| Account | Account is the unique combination of a fund, activity and sub activity as set up and charged in the general ledger. |
| Account Group | Numeric identifier that groups similar accounts (fund/activity/sub activity) together into a single group for financial reporting purposes. A new account group is created for each budget year when year logic is used. The sub activities (i.e., main, part of, and subcontract) are reported in aggregate by account group. |
| Acquisition Cost | Acquisition cost is the cost to purchase an asset and make it available for use. Acquisition cost includes the purchase price of the item and costs necessary to obtain and prepare the asset (e.g., shipping costs, sales, taxes, fees, or any expense necessary for placing the item in location and bringing it to a condition necessary for normal or expected use). Acquisition cost does not include repairs, service contracts, or supplemental warranties. |
| Administrative Salary | Compensation paid for non-technical services that support departmental, institute, or center activities or objectives, including services such as clerical support, financial management, procurement of materials and services, business services, budget and planning, and personnel management. Administrative salary is typically not permissible on a federal award unless unlike circumstances exist that comply with the Administrative and Clerical Salaries Charged to Federal Awards Policy. |
| Affiliate Organization | Separately owned and operated institution that maintains a formal affiliation arrangement with the CSUSB. |
| Allocability | One of the basic conditions that must be met in deciding whether a particular expenditure is appropriate to a particular federal account. In order to define if a charge is allocable, the purchase of this good or service must relate specifically to the project being charged. |
| Allocation | Allocation means the process of assigning a cost, or a group of costs, to one or more cost objective(s), in reasonable proportion to the benefit provided or other equitable relationship. The process may entail assigning a cost(s) directly to a final cost objective or through one or more intermediate cost objectives (2 CFR §200.4). |
| Allowability | One of the basic conditions that must be met in deciding whether a particular expenditure is appropriate to a particular federal account. In order to define if a charge is allowable, federal regulations must allow the use of federal funds for the purchase of such an item or service. The determination of whether or not costs can be changed to a sponsored project as a direct or Facilities and Administrative (F&A) cost. |
| Audit Finding | An action that appears not to comply with regulations and is deemed sufficiently significant to warrant mention in an auditor's report. Audit finding means deficiencies are reported in the schedule of findings and questioned costs with detail and clarity for the auditee to prepare a corrective plan and take action to conclude a management decision (2 CFR §200.5, §200.516). |
| Award | Umbrella term used to include sponsored grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. A federal award is any form of financial assistance received from a federal awarding agency directly or indirectly from a pass-through entity. |
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| Bayh-Dole Act | United States legislation which gives U.S. universities, small businesses and non-profits intellectual property control of their inventions and other intellectual property resulting from research. |
| Bond Covenant | An agreement between the issuer and holder of a bond, requiring or forbidding certain actions of the issuer. Positive covenants require actions while negative covenants forbid them. The exact terms of a bond covenant must be written in the bond indenture (Consulting or Related Service Agreements). |
| Budget | Budget means the financial plan for the project or program that the awarding agency or pass-through entity approves during the award process or in subsequent amendments to the award (2 CFR §200.8). |
| Budget Period | Interval(s) into which a grant project period is divided for funding and reporting purposes, usually 12 months. |
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| Capital Assets |
Capital assets means tangible or intangible assets used in operations having a useful life of more than one year and a value of more than $xxxx which are capitalized. Capital assets include (2 CFR §200.12):
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| Carryforward |
Carryforward is the ability granted by a sponsor – either permitted automatically or requiring approval – to the grantee to move funds previously unspent in a past budget period into the new budget period while also obligating the fully anticipated amount for the new budget period. Note: Despite having different impacts on the budget, carryforward and carryover are both referred to as “carryforward” Also, in addition to funds being applied from previous budget periods into subsequent budget periods, it can also apply across non-sequential budget periods and even cross segments. |
| Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number | The CFDA number means the number assigned to a Federal Program in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Programs (“CFDA”). Each federal assistance program has a unique identifying CFDA number comprised of a two-digit prefix that identifies the federal agency followed by a period (dot) and a three-digit number that identifies the specific program, e.g., 84.011). Some programs are subdivided into smaller, free standing programs by affixing a letter (A, B, C, etc.) to the end of the standard CFDA Number. The CFDA Number is required to be included on all subawards (2 CFR §200.10). |
| Certification Period | For effort reporting, the certification period is the 30 day time interval for PIs, proxies or designees to certify annual effort or that of the individuals who work on their projects. Certification is the assertion that salaries charged to a sponsored project reasonably reflect the effort expended and work performed. |
| Chart of Accounts (CoA) | A COA is designed to: Comply with external financial reporting requirements (Chancellor's Office, GAAP, State, Federal Government, etc.) Improve access to financial information in support of faculty and staff. Provide flexibility for future growth. Make available information needed for benchmarking and decision making (IPEDS, Budget, Surveys, etc.). |
| Circular A-110 | An OMB publication entitled “Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Other Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals and Other Non-Profit Organizations” that describes the required minimum management systems and institution must have in order to administer federal grants. OMB Circular A-110 was incorporated into the OMB Uniform Administrative Requirements, which became effective December 26th, 2014. |
| Circular A-133 | An OMB publication governing audits of “States, Local Governments and Non-Profit Organizations. OMB Circular A-133 was incorporated into the OMB Uniform Audit Requirements, which became effective December 26th, 2014. |
| Circular A-21 | An OMB publication governing the cost principles for universities. It establishes principles for determining the cost applicable to Federal grants, contracts, and other sponsored agreements with educational institutions. OMB Circular A-21 was incorporated into the OMB Uniform Cost Principles, which became effective December 26th, 2014. |
| Class of Federal Awards | Class of Federal awards means a group of Federal awards either awarded under a specific program or group of programs or to a specific type of non-Federal entity or group of non-Federal entities to which specific provisions or exceptions may apply (2 CFR §200.15). |
| Closeout | The act of completing all internal procedures and sponsor requirements to terminate or complete a research project. Most awards have strict deadlines for completion of closeout activities. Failure to complete within the deadline can result in non-payment of the final amount due or may affect the ability to obtain another award from the sponsor (2 CFR §200.16, §200.343). |
| Cognizant Agency for Audit | Cognizant agency for audit means the Federal agency designated to carry out the audit supervision responsibilities described in 2 CFR §200.513. The cognizant agency for audit is not necessarily the same as the cognizant agency for indirect costs (2 CFR §200.18). |
| Cognizant Agency for Indirect Costs | Cognizant agency for indirect costs means the Federal agency responsible for reviewing, negotiating, and approving cost allocation plans or indirect cost proposals developed under this part on behalf of all Federal agencies (2 CFR §200.19). |
| Committed Effort |
Amount or percentage of time a university employee or an individual has communicated to the sponsor that he/she will work on a specific sponsored project over a specified period of time. It is not necessarily the actual effort expended each month, but a projected amount to be achieved over a period of time (for example, a semester or a year). Commitments are made in the award proposal and may be documented by the sponsor in award documents. Changes to reduce committed effort may require sponsor approval. |
| Compliance Supplement | Compliance Supplement means an annually updated authoritative source for auditors that serves to identify existing important compliance requirements that the Federal Government expects to be considered as part of an audit. Auditors use it to understand the Federal program's objectives, procedures, and compliance requirements as well as audit objectives and suggested procedures for determining compliance with the relevant program. The Compliance Supplement is a guide created by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and used in auditing federal assistance and federal grant programs, as well as their respective recipients. In the Uniform Guidance, the Compliance supplement is Appendix XI to Part 200—Compliance Supplement (previously known as the Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement) (2 CFR §200.21). |
| Computing Devices | Computing devices means machines used to acquire, store, analyze, process, and publish data and other information electronically, including accessories (or "peripherals") for printing, transmitting and receiving, or storing electronic information. Computing devices less than $5,000 are generally considered supplies and can therefore be directly charged to a federal award as long as they are essential and allocable to the performance of a federal award (2 CFR §200.20). |
| Conflict of Interest (COI) |
A situation in which an employee has the opportunity to influence a university or sponsor decision that could lead to a financial or other personal advantage or that involves other conflicting official obligation that could directly and significantly affect the design, conduct, or reporting of research. CSUSB must disclose in writing any potential conflict of interest in procurement to the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity. |
| Copyright | A legal protection for an original piece of work, such as art, film, software, or writing. At CSUSB, the University holds any patents that come about as a result of sponsored research, but the individual faculty member often holds the copyrights. Sponsored research agreements may specify other, or additional, provisions. |
| Consistency | Consistency is one of several basic considerations that determine whether an expense is appropriate to charge to a specific federal award. A cost is considered to be treated consistently when the expense is treated as either a direct or F&A (indirect) cost under like circumstances. In order to determine if a charge is consistent, the charge incurred for the same purpose or in similar circumstances must be treated in the same manner. |
| Consultant | An individual or business whose expertise is required to perform work on a sponsored award. Services are temporary, special, or highly technical. A consultant may not serve as senior personnel (e.g., Co-Investigator, Principal Investigator). |
| Consulting | A professional activity related to a person's field or discipline, where a fee-for-service or equivalent relationship with a third party exists (Consulting or Related Service Agreements). |
| Continuation (aka Non-competing Continuation) | A request or proposal type submitted to request funds for subsequent budget periods after the first budget period, when a discretionary multiyear project is approved for a project period of more than 1 year. |
| Continuation Grant | Additional funding awarded for budget periods following the initial budget period of a multi-year discretionary grant or cooperative agreement. |
| Contract | Contract means a legal instrument by which a recipient, subrecipient, or non-Federal entity purchases property or services needed to carry out the project or program under a sponsored award (2 CFR §200.22). |
| Contractor | Contractor means an entity that receives a contract (2 CFR §200.23). Term used in 2CFR200 to refer to a vendor. |
| Cooperative Agreement | An award mechanism used when there is substantial programmatic involvement between the awarding agency and the non-federal entity carrying out the award activity. |
| Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) | CSUSB faculty or staff member who shares equally with another faculty or staff member the responsibility for directing the technical and administrative work of a sponsored project. Each person can be named in the proposal and on project documentation as a co-PI, provided this role is accepted by the sponsor (note that not all sponsors, for example, the NIH, allow co-PIs to be named on projects). |
| Corrective Action | Corrective action means action taken by the auditee that corrects identified deficiencies, produces recommended improvements, or demonstrates that audit findings are either invalid or do not warrant auditee action (2 CFR §200.26). |
| Cost Accounting Standards Board (CASB) | An independent board in in the Office of Management and Budget that has the exclusive authority to prescribe, amend, and rescind cost accounting standards (CAS) and interpretation designed to achieve uniformity and consistency in cost accounting governing the measurement, assignment, and allocation of costs to contracts within the federal government. |
| Cost Sharing (or Matching) |
Cost sharing or matching means the portion of project costs not paid by Federal funds or contributions (unless otherwise authorized by Federal statute). Cost sharing is any project cost that is not reimbursed by the sponsor to support the scope of work defined by the sponsored (federal or non-federal) award. There are different types of cost sharing:
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| Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number | DUNS number means the nine-digit number established and assigned by Dun and Bradstreet, Inc. (D& B) to uniquely identify entities. A non-Federal entity is required to have a DUNS number in order to apply for, receive, and report on a Federal award (2 CFR §200.32). |
| Debarment and Suspension | A certification assuring the Federal agency that the research personnel and the institution are not presently declared ineligible for receiving federal support, have not been convicted of fraud or a criminal offense in the performance of a federal award, are not in violation of federal or state statutes, are not presently indicted for criminal or civil charges and have not within a three-year period preceding the application had one or more federal, state or local transactions terminated for cause or default. |
| Direct Costs | Expenses incurred during the course of a research project that can be attributed directly to the project. Some examples include salaries of researchers, equipment, and scientific supplies. |
| Disallowed Costs | Disallowed costs means those charges to a Federal award that the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity determines to be unallowable, in accordance with the applicable Federal statutes, regulations, or the terms and conditions of the Federal award. |
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| Effort Reporting |
The mechanism used to provide assurance to federal or other external sponsors that salaries charged or cost shared to sponsored awards are reasonable in relation to the work performed. Effort reports are also referred to as “certifications” or “statements.” |
| Equipment |
Equipment means tangible personal property (including information technology systems) having a useful life of more than one year and a per-unit acquisition cost which equals or exceeds $5,000. Equipment is a type of capital asset.
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| Expanded Authorities | The permission that many federal agencies give research universities to approve certain types of changes to grants without obtaining the sponsor’s authorization. These changes include pre-award spending, no-cost extensions, and rebudgeting of restricted expense classes such as equipment. . |
| Export Controls |
Federal laws and regulations that restrict the unlicensed flow of certain materials, devices, and technical information related to such devices outside the United States or to foreign persons in the United States. These laws include, but are not limited to: ITAR: International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) are administered by Dept of State (Controls Defense related items) EAR: Export Administration Regulations (EAR) are administered by Dept of Commerce (Controls most other items) OFAC: Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC) are a part of the U.S. Department of Treasury that administers and enforces economic embargoes and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign countries, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, and those engaged in activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. |
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| Fabrication/Fabricated Equipment | Equipment constructed or developed by combining parts and/or materials into one identifiable unit. The aggregate cost of all parts in the completed unit must meet the $5,000 capital equipment threshold and must have a useful life of one year or more. |
| Facilities and Administrative (F&A) | Costs that are incurred for common or joint objectives and, therefore, cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular sponsored project, instructional activity, or any other institutional activity. F&A costs are sometimes called "indirect" costs or “overhead.” |
| Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) | The FAR is a system of uniform policies and procedures governing the acquisition or contracting actions of all federal executive agencies. All federal contracts are subject to the FAR. |
| Federal Audit Clearinghouse (FAC) | FAC means the clearinghouse designated by OMB as the repository of record where non-Federal entities are required to transmit the reporting packages (such as audit results) required by the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR §200.36). |
| Federal Award Date | Federal award date means the date when the Federal award is signed by the authorized official of the Federal awarding agency (2 CFR §200.39). |
| Federal Awarding Agency | Federal awarding agency means the Federal agency that provides a Federal award directly to a non-Federal entity (2 CFR §200.37). |
| Federal Financial Assistance | Federal financial assistance means assistance that non-Federal entities receive or administer in the form of grants, cooperative agreements, non-cash contributions or donations of property, direct appropriations, food commodities, and other financial assistance (2 CFR §200.40). |
| Federal Share | Federal share means the portion of the total project costs (Federal award costs) that are paid by Federal funds (2 CFR §200.43). |
| Fellowship | An award made directly to an individual in support of specific educational pursuits either proposed by the Fellow or by a Principal Investigator’s fellowship program. The individual cannot be an employee of the granting organization. |
| Finding | An action that appears not to comply with regulations and is deemed sufficiently significant to warrant mention in an auditor's report. |
| Fixed Amount (Fixed Price) Awards |
Fixed amount awards means a type of grant agreement or cooperative agreement under which the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity provides a specific level of support without regard to actual costs incurred under the Federal award. Fixed amount awards are appropriate when the work that is to be performed can be priced with a reasonable degree of certainty. A fixed amount award cannot be used in programs which require mandatory cost sharing or matching. A fixed amount sub award is a form of a sub agreement that may be issued with prior written approval from the federal awarding agency on fixed amounts up to the Simplified Acquisition Threshold. Fixed amount sub awards have a distinct statement of work and are priced for the work and deliverables due under that sub award. |
| Flowdown | When subawards are created, the specific terms of the prime award that must be incorporated into these documents are called flowdowns —that is, the terms “flow down” from the prime award to the subaward. |
| Foreign National | A person residing in the U.S. who is not a lawful permanent resident. This term also includes any foreign corporation, business association, partnership, trust, society or any other group not incorporated or organized to do business in the United States, and any international organization, foreign government or diplomatic entity. |
| Fringe Benefits |
Employee benefits paid by the employer (for example, life insurance, medical coverage, tuition assistance, and pension benefits). The department in which the person works (or the sponsor, if the salary is paid by sponsored funds) pays the costs of these benefits; the amount is usually a percentage of the salary. |
| Fully Executed | A contract or grant document is fully executed when it has been signed by all the parties from which signature is required to form a legally binding agreement. Typically, OSP will not establish an account until all parties have reached formal agreement. |
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| Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) | The common set of accounting principles, standards, and procedures issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). GAAP sets out to standardize the classifications, assumptions and procedures used in accounting. |
| Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) | GAGAS means generally accepted government auditing standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States, which are applicable to financial audits (2 CFR §200.50). |
| Gift |
An unrestricted donation to the University, or a donation whose uses may be restricted to an academic area or to a defined group of academic, departmental or other University activities (a “restricted gift”). Gifts typically carry no reciprocal obligations between donor and recipient, and are often unrelated (or only indirectly related) to the business interests or mission of the donor. |
| Grant Agreement | Grant agreement means a legal instrument of financial assistance between a Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity and a non-Federal entity (2 CFR §200.51). |
| Government Furnished Property (GFP) | GFP is equipment purchased by the government and subsequently delivered to or made available to the University. |
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| Improper Payment | Improper payment means any payment that should not have been made or that was made in an incorrect amount (including overpayments and underpayments) under statutory, contractual, administrative, or other legally applicable requirements. Improper payments includes any payment to an ineligible party, ineligible good or service, any duplicate payment, any payment that does not account for credit for applicable discounts, and any payment where insufficient or lack of documentation prevents a reviewer from discerning whether a payment was proper (2 CFR §200.53). |
| Indirect Costs (Facilities and Administrative (F& A) Costs) | Costs that are incurred for common or joint objectives and, therefore, cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular sponsored project, instructional activity, or any other institutional activity. F& A costs are sometimes called "indirect" costs or “overhead.” |
| Indirect Cost Rate Proposal | Indirect cost rate proposal means the documentation prepared by a non-Federal entity to substantiate its request for the establishment of an indirect cost rate as described in Appendix III to Part 200 of the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR §200.57). |
| In-kind Cost Sharing | Non-cash contributions of time, talent, or resources from CSUSB or donated by third parties for which CSUSB is responsible. Third-party in-kind contributions may be in the form of real property, equipment, supplies and other expendable property, or goods and services directly benefiting and specifically designated for the project or program. |
| Institutional Base Salary | Annual compensation paid by the University for an employee’s appointment (9 or 12 months), whether that individual’s time is spent on research, teaching, or other activities. IBS does not include bonuses, one-time payments, or incentive pay. Additionally, IBS does not include payments from other organizations or income that individuals are permitted to earn outside of their University responsibilities, such as consulting. IBS must be used as the base salary on all grant proposals. |
| Institutional Review Board (IRB) | A committee formally designated to approve, monitor, and review biomedical and behavioral research involving humans with the aim to protect the rights and welfare of the research subjects. Regulations have empowered IRBs to approve, require modifications in planned research prior to approval, or disapprove research. An IRB performs critical oversight functions for research conducted on human subjects that are scientific, ethical, and regulatory. |
| Intellectual Property (IP) | A broad term that encompasses the various intangible products of the intellect of inventors and authors. These include patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, know-how, and other proprietary concepts, including an invention, scientific or technological development, and even computer software and genetically engineered microorganisms. |
| Internal Controls | Internal controls are processes to provide reasonable assurance that CSUSB is managing federal awards in compliance with federal statues, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the award. (2 CFR 200.61) |
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| Key Personnel | Individuals who contribute substantively to the scientific development or execution of a project. Key personnel contribute a specified level of effort whether or not earning a salary. The term usually applies to the Principal Investigator(s), but may extend to other senior members or consultants of the project staff. |
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| License | The legal mechanism by which one party can obtain the right to use someone else's patent or copyright, usually by paying licensing fees |
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| Management Decision | Management decision means the evaluation by the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity of the audit findings and corrective action plan and the issuance of a written decision to the auditee as to what corrective action is necessary (2 CFR §200.66). |
| Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) |
An agreement between two or more interested parties establishing their respective rights and responsibilities regarding a project. |
| Misconduct | The Department of Health and Human Services, the National Science Foundation, and most other federal agencies define research misconduct as "fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results." |
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| No-cost Extension | An extension of the period of performance of an award, with no additional sponsor funding. |
| Non-federal Entity | Non-Federal entity means a state, local government, Indian tribe, institution of higher education (IHE), or nonprofit organization that carries out a Federal award as a recipient or subrecipient. (2 CFR 200.69) |
| Non-profit Organization |
Nonprofit organization means any corporation, trust, association, cooperative, or other organization that (2 CFR §200.70):
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| Notice of Grant Award (NOGA) | The legally binding document that serves as a notification to the recipient and others that a grant or cooperative agreement has been made. It contains or references all terms of the award and documents the obligation of funds. |
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| Obligations | When used in connection with a non-Federal entity's utilization of funds under a Federal award, obligations means orders placed for property and services, contracts and subawards made, and similar transactions during a given period that require payment by the non-Federal entity during the same or a future period (2 CFR §200.71). |
| Office of Management and Budget (OMB) | Agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government that assists the President in overseeing the preparation of the Federal budget and establishes government-wide grants management policies and guidelines through circulars and common rules. These policies are adopted by each grant-making agency. |
| On-campus |
For the purposes of sponsored research, “on-campus” refers to research that is conducted in space owned by the University and for which the University is bearing the space costs, from University funds. For space used for on‐campus research, the University has already included the costs associated with that space in the “facilities” portion of the on‐campus F& A rate. |
| Overhead | Costs that are incurred for common or joint objectives and, therefore, cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular sponsored project, instructional activity, or any other institutional activity. F& A costs are sometimes called "indirect" costs or “overhead.” |
| Oversight Agency for Audit | Oversight agency for audit means the Federal awarding agency that provides the predominant amount of funding directly to a non-Federal entity not assigned a cognizant agency for audit. When there is no direct funding, the Federal awarding agency which is the predominant source of pass-through funding must assume the oversight responsibilities (2 CFR §200.73). |
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| Pass-through Entity | Pass-through entity means a non-Federal entity that provides a subaward to a subrecipient to carry out part of a sponsored program (2 CFR §200.74). |
| Patent |
Legal recognition issued by the US government, allowing the inventor to prevent others from making or using his/her invention without permission. US utility patents last 20 years from the date the patent application is filed; US design patents last 14 years from the date of issue. Others who wish to use the patent holder's invention must obtain a license to do so. If the item to be protected is a written or artistic work (or sometimes computer software), a copyright is the appropriate legal protection. |
| Peer Review | The process by which competing proposals are reviewed and compared on the basis of scientific or intellectual merit by other investigators or “peers” rather than by agency administrators. Different federal agencies use peer review at different points in the proposal process, and with differing levels of involvement by experts both within and outside the agency. |
| Performance Goal | Performance goal means a target level of performance expressed as a tangible, measurable objective, against which actual achievement can be compared, including a goal expressed as a quantitative standard, value, or rate. In some instances (e.g., discretionary research awards), this may be limited to the requirement to submit technical performance reports (to be evaluated in accordance with agency policy) (2 CFR §200.76). |
| Period of Performance | The time period during which the proposed work will be completed and the funds awarded are available for expenditure by the recipient. The time during which the non-Federal entity may incur new obligations to carry out the work authorized under the Federal award. The Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity must include start and end dates of the period of performance in the Federal award (2 CFR §200.77). |
| Prime | The original funding entity of a project for which CSUSB has received a portion of funding via a subagreement. The prime sponsor is our sponsor's sponsor. |
| Principal Investigator (PI) | The individual officially responsible for the conduct of a sponsored project. On research projects, the PI is usually a faculty member; on other types of awards, such as financial aid, the PI may have an administrative appointment. The determination of PI eligibility is made at the sub level. |
| Program Officer | The PI’s primary contact at a sponsoring agency. Federal Program Officer’s do not have signatory authority. Any agreement between the Program Officer and the Principal Investigator must be reduced to writing and signed by the Grants or Contract Officer at the agency. Program Officers at non-federal sponsors may have signatory authority. |
| Project Cost | Project cost means total allowable costs incurred under a Federal award and all required cost sharing and voluntary committed cost sharing, including third-party contributions. |
| Purchase Order (PO) | A form representing an authorized request for the purchase of goods or services from a vendor. In many procurement systems, a PO is synonymous with an approved "requisition." Invoices from vendors correlate with POs by "PO number," typically supplied to vendors when orders are placed. |
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| Questioned Cost |
Questioned cost means a cost that is questioned by the auditor because of an audit finding (2 CFR §200.84):
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| Reasonableness | One of the basic conditions that must be met in deciding whether a particular expenditure is appropriate to a particular federal account. “Is the charge reasonable?” means “does the nature of the goods or services acquired, and the amount paid for those goods or services, reflect the actions of a prudent person at the time the cost was incurred?” |
| Recipient | Recipient means a non-Federal entity that receives a Federal award directly from a Federal awarding agency to carry out an activity under a Federal program. The term recipient does not include subrecipients. |
| Request for Information (RFI) | A standard business process whose purpose is to collect written information about the capabilities of various suppliers. Normally it follows a format that can be used for comparative purposes. |
| Request for Proposals (RFP) | A standard business process, issued at an early stage in a procurement process, where an invitation is presented for suppliers, often through bids, to submit a proposal on a specific commodity or service. |
| Requisition |
A form used in procurement systems to enumerate the items to be included in a purchase request. |
| Research and Development (R&D) | R&D means all research activities, both basic and applied, and all development activities that are performed by non-Federal entities. The term research also includes activities involving the training of individuals in research techniques where such activities utilize the same facilities as other research and development activities and where such activities are not included in the instruction function. "Research" is defined as a systematic study directed toward fuller scientific knowledge or understanding of the subject studied. "Development" is the systematic use of knowledge and understanding gained from research directed toward the production of useful materials, devices, systems, or methods, including design and development of prototypes and processes (2 CFR §200.87). |
| Research Records | Research records are recorded research information, data and materials, in whatever form or medium, that are created or acquired in the process of performing research, whether supported by University resources or by external sponsors or donors. Research Records also include documents, materials, information and written correspondence that relate to administration and financial management of research, reporting of research results, or sponsored award applications. |
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| Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) |
Government programs that encourage innovation by mandating that the large sponsoring agencies fund cooperative R&D projects involving small businesses and research institutions. |
| Student Financial Aid (SFA) | SFA means federal awards under those programs of general student assistance, which are administered by the U.S. Department of Education, and similar programs provided by other Federal agencies. It does not include Federal awards under programs that provide fellowships or similar Federal awards to students on a competitive basis, or for specified studies or research (2 CFR §200.91). |
| Subaward | Subaward means an award provided by a pass-through entity to a subrecipient for the subrecipient to carry out part of a sponsored award received by the pass-through entity. It does not include payments to a contractor or payments to an individual. A subaward may be provided through any form of legal agreement, including an agreement that the pass-through entity considers a contract (2 CFR §200.92). |
| Submitted Financial Reports and/or Final Invoices | Many sponsors require the submission of annual and/or final financial reports or invoices at the end of each budget period and/or end of the project. Final reports and/or final invoices are submitted at the award termination. The final report also includes annual reports for a specific budget period when the award is set-up as year logic, and the accounts for the reporting period require final figures for closeout. |
| Subrecipient | Subrecipient means a non-Federal entity that receives a subaward from a pass-through entity to carry out part of a sponsored program; but does not include an individual that is a beneficiary of such program. A subrecipient may also be a recipient of other Federal awards directly from a Federal awarding agency (2 CFR §200.93). |
| Supplies | Supplies means all tangible personal property other than those described in §200.33 Equipment. A computing device is a supply if the acquisition cost is less than the lesser of the capitalization level established by the non-Federal entity for financial statement purposes or $5,000, regardless of the length of its useful life. See also §§200.20 Computing devices and 200.33 Equipment. ( 2 CRF §200.94) |
| Suspension | Action that temporarily stops work and suspends funding pending a corrective action. |
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| Termination | Termination means the ending of an award, in whole or in part at any time prior to the planned end of period of performance (2 CFR §200.95). |
| Total Direct Costs (TDC) | The sum of all charges that are clearly associated with a sponsored project-the salaries of people working on it, the cost of necessary supplies and equipment, etc. TDC is often used to identify the costs on which overhead will be charged, i.e., an overhead rate of 8% TDC on an account means that all of its direct charges will be assessed 8% overhead. |
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| Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) |
The Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) are the federal regulations for the management of federal awards. The Uniform Guidance streamlines and supersedes guidance that was previously contained in eight different OMB Circulars (including A-21, A-110 and A-133). The Uniform Guidance administrative requirements and cost principles will apply to new and incremental funding awarded after December 26, 2014. |
| Unliquidated Obligations | Unliquidated obligations means, for financial reports prepared on a cash basis, obligations incurred by the non-Federal entity that have not been paid (liquidated). For reports prepared on an accrual expenditure basis, these are obligations incurred by the non-Federal entity for which an expenditure has not been recorded (2 CFR §200.97). |
| Unobligated Balance | Unobligated balance means the amount of funds under a Federal award that the non-Federal entity has not obligated. The amount is computed by subtracting the cumulative amount of the non-Federal entity's unliquidated obligations and expenditures of funds under the Federal award from the cumulative amount of the funds that the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity authorized the non-Federal entity to obligate (2 CFR §200.98). |
| Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) | Section 513 of the Internal Revenue Code defines an "unrelated business" as an activity which is regularly conducted and not substantially related to the purpose for which the nonprofit organization was granted its exempt status. The University is required to report and remit any UBIT to the IRS. |
| Unrecovered Indirect Cost | The difference between the amount awarded and the amount that would have been awarded if the full federally-negotiated indirect cost rate had been included. Unrecovered indirect costs may sometimes be credited toward cost sharing requirements. |