1. MSU Billings Grant Management Processes
I Got the Grant! Now What?
MSU Billings
Grant Management Processes

2. MSUB Grant Management Contacts
Dean Hanson, MSUB Grants Manager: Manages/tracks grant expenditures, submits all grants’ fiscal reports to sponsors. Can answer all budget-related questions
Cindy Bell, MSUB Grants and Sponsored Programs Director: Is MSUB’s Authorized Official Representative for all grants. Can answer questions related to reporting requirements and act as liaison between the PI and the sponsor or PI and other campus entities
Jenay Cross, GSP Analyst: Can answer questions related to reporting and budgeting

3. When you receive your award notice:
Forward the award notice or contract to the Grants and Sponsored Programs (GSP) office.
The GSP will provide a copy of the award and an index request to Grants Manger.
Grants Manager (Dean Hanson) will provide Project Investigator (PI) with an index number. No charges can be made to the grant until an index number is assigned.
An Account and Signature Authorization Form will be sent to the PI for completion. Only persons indicated on this form will be allowed to sign documents for that account.
You’re ready to spend the grant dollars . . .

4. PI Responsibilities
Read and become familiar with the project contract, including reporting requirements and deadlines. If the deadlines and requirements are unclear to you, contact the Program Officer or the Grants and Sponsored Programs office.
Notify the Grants and Sponsored Programs Office of any proposed changes in the scope of the project, change of Project Director, changes in budget, period of performance, etc.
Supervise expenditures and ensure that they conform to the sponsor’s guidelines

5. PI Responsibilities Cont.
Initiate forms for travel, purchasing, employment, contracted services
Assure that cost-sharing or matching requirements are fulfilled and documented.
Write and submit progress and final reports as stipulated in the award agreement. Failure to submit timely progress reports can penalize the institution as a whole by possibly making MSUB ineligible to receive new awards. Progress reports must be submitted to and reviewed by the GSP prior to submission to the funding agency.
Fiscal reports are submitted by the MSUB Grants Manager, Dean Hanson, not the PI.

6. PI Responsibilities Cont.
Request (from Grants Manager) and review the monthly financial reports. Check these against PI’s or Administrative Assistant’s own budget spreadsheets. If corrections are needed, notify Grants Manager.
Ensure that the funder/s are properly acknowledged in ALL internal and external press releases, presentations, and publications. Funders generally indicate in the award document how they would like to be cited.

7. Departmental Administrative Assistant Responsibilities
Varies by department, but assistants may help by:
Having knowledge and understanding of MSUB policies and procedures
Maintaining budget spreadsheets through departmental accounting systems
Assisting the PI in reviewing expenditures
Assisting the PI in completing necessary forms (EPAFs, Time and Effort, BPAs, Travel Authorization, etc.)

8. Charging Expenses and Paying Bills
Expenditures must conform to the line item budgets included in the proposal and award. If you are unsure if an expense is allowable or if you need to make an expenditure that is not in your original budget, contact Dean Hanson.
PIs may request a Pcard for their grant index, or may spend from the grant index using their existing Pcard.
All charges are initiated at the departmental level.
Bills submitted for payment must have a BPA form and original invoices.

9. Charging Expenses cont.
The Business Office and Purchasing Department offer assistance: The “purchasing procedures” link provides excellent guidelines for various purchasing questions
Recharges/Internal Institutional Charges. Certain internal university services may be electronically billed to a grant index, for example, phone and computer charges. It is the PI’s responsibility to ensure that these charges are correct.

10. Charging Expenses Cont.
Cost Transfers
Cost transfers—shifting funds into or out of one grant index to another index—are allowed only within 90 days of charging the cost to a fund in Banner. Cost transfers include journal voucher requests, time and effort changes, or retroactive ETFs. Late cost transfers made from an over-expended account to an under-expended account suggest poor planning and management, and are discouraged.
For all changes to a grant account, PI’s must submit an Expenditure Correction Request, found here:

11. Documenting Cost Share
All cost sharing must be documented as it occurs. It must be verifiable in the PI’s records, and the basis for determining the value of non- cash items (for example, the dollar value of an individual’s volunteer time) must be documented.
MSUB employee time spent as cost share on a grant must be recorded on Time and Effort reports.
Outside organizations/individuals providing time or other services as cost share must be documented in a Memorandum of Understanding.

12. Grant Personnel
Before the recruitment process begins for new positions, you should contact the Human Resources Office at for current recruitment procedures.
All grant-funded positions require submittal of an Electronic Personnel Action Form (EPAF). Your Administrative Assistant should have access to the EPAF form and can assist you.

13. Personnel, Cont.
Benefits: The employer’s portion of payroll benefits will be charged to the grant account. Benefits rates vary depending upon the type of employee.
Benefit schedule:
Time and Effort Reporting: Effort reporting is expressed as a percentage of professional activity devoted to a particular fund (index). All individuals, including the PI, who devote effort to grants, whether or not they are paid, must submit a time and effort report for each pay period

14. Personnel, cont.
PIs are responsible for reviewing time and effort reports to ensure accurate accountability of their own effort and the effort of their staff.
Time and Effort Report Form can be found here:

15. Hiring Independent Contractors
MSUB’s policy on independent contractors is available here:
For all contracted services, the person providing the service must not be a current or former employee unless more than six months has elapsed since his/her termination.
To determine whether an individual meets the requirements to be hired as an independent contractor, complete the checklist available from the MSUB Business Office:

16. Indirect Cost (IDC) Allocation and Use
MSUB’s IDC Policy is available here:
All campus grants, unless prohibited by the sponsor, collect Indirect Costs (also known as Facilities and Administration, or F & A, costs).
A grant’s IDCs are divided in the following manner:
Principal Investigator/Project Director 20%
Department of PI/PD 10%
College of PI/PD 10%
Central Administration 60%

17. Indirect Costs, Cont.
PIs will receive an IDC index along with their grant index that they can draw from at their discretion.
IDC funds should be used to enhance research activities, professional development, instructional development, service, and scholarly and creative endeavor programs.
Examples of appropriate use of IDCs are:
Equipment, supplies and materials for research, service, and instructional development programs;
Computer hardware, software and Information Technology infrastructure for research, service, instructional development, and scholarly and creative activities;
Professional travel directly related to research, service, instructional and professional development, and scholarly and creative activity;
Start-up costs for new research, service, and instructional development projects;

18. Indirect Costs, Cont.
Undergraduate and graduate student research or service projects;
The acquisition of library materials, books, and other resource materials;
Salaries for graduate assistantships for research and teaching, or for other temporary salaries to support research and scholarly activity;
Communication, printing, and copy costs related to research, service and instructional development projects;
Matching funds where appropriate and when permitted by the funding agency or funding source;
Consultation, evaluation, and training expenditures related to existing and new research, service, and instructional development projects; and
Other costs related to research, service, instructional and professional development, and scholarly activity as may be approved by the Provost or his/her designee.

19. Rebudgeting
Before considering any budget revisions, discuss with the MSUB Grants Manager (Dean Hanson).
Usually, moving 10% or under between line items is acceptable (i.e., moving 10% of your supplies fund into your travel fund).
However, some sponsors may place restrictions on budget revision. For example, many Federal sponsors do not allow any changes in the Personnel line without the PI submitting a Grant Adjustment Request to the grant’s program officer for approval.

20. Rebudgeting, Cont.
Many sponsors require a Grant Adjustment Request for any changes over 15% of a line item.
All budget revisions must be submitted to the Grants Manager and copied to the Grants and Sponsored Programs office

21. Grant Extensions
Some sponsors will allow for extending a project’s completion date if it is necessary for a project’s objectives to be met. Extension requests can not be made simply because the entire award hasn’t been spent—this would indicate poor planning.
As with any changes in the terms of your grant, an extension request must be discussed with the Grants Manager and Grants and Sponsored Programs office before being submitted to the sponsor.

22. Close Out
PI’s should be checking financial statements monthly to ensure that they are spending down their funding as specified in the contract.
PI’s should pay particular attention a few months before the grant’s end date to ensure that their balance is neither exceeding nor below their projected total budget amount.
Any remaining funds must be returned to the sponsor, which reflects poorly on MSUB. Any over-spending will not be paid by the sponsor and must be reimbursed by a department or the PI.