Reporting

In most cases, sponsors require both progress reports and final reports. Final reports are normally due within 90 days after the end of the project period, and usually include the technical, property (major equipment), and invention reports. The Property and Invention reports must be completed even when the project acquired no equipment nor produced an invention. PIs should take this requirement seriously and ensure that all reports are submitted to the sponsor on or before the due date. Failure to do so may adversely affect future prospects for funding from the agency. The schedule for required technical reports is often incorporated in the award document from the sponsor.

Examples of reports include:

• Interim Reports/Progress reports
• Final Technical Reporting
• Invention Reporting
• Final Reports/Closeout

General Overview
As a recipient of federal funding Morgan State University (MSU) is required to comply with the Office of Management and Budget Circular Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards "Uniform Guidance", as well as other federal requirements for certifying effort expended on sponsored awards. MSU requires all individuals who receive federal sponsored funding to comply with sponsoring agency regulations regarding the proposing, charging, and reporting of effort on those awards. MSU faculty and staff should ensure time charged to sponsored awards is commensurate with the committed effort expended on all activities they perform.

Effort Reporting Procedure at MSU
Time and Effort Certification Reports are generated three times a year (February for the Fall semester, July for Spring Semester, and October for Summer effort) for all employees paid from federal and state contracts or grants, including any mandatory cost sharing accounts. The reports are sent to the PIs, PDs and employees paid from and responsible for the funds reflected on the reports. The Platform used to distribute the reports is Searchlight. PIs, PDs, employees, and alternate certifiers are notified of the availability of time and effort reports via email from the Searchlight platform. The PIs or PDs or their approved designee (alternate certifiers) must verify and certify the reports, certifying that the employees reflected on the reports actually performed the work on the indicated accounts and in the same percentage of time. Any corrections to effort should be reported immediately to the Director of the Office of Research Administration, Gillian.Silver@morgan.edu - and the Grant Accountant assigned to the grant in Restricted Funds Accounting (RFA). Once released to the campus, the certifications should be completed within 14 calendar days.

What is time and effort reporting?
Effort is defined as the amount of time spent on a particular activity. It includes the time spent working on a sponsored project in which salary is directly charged or cost-shared effort (also known as match). Individual effort is expressed as a percentage of the total amount of time spent on work-related activities for which the University compensates an individual. Effort reporting is the Federally mandated method of certifying to the granting agencies that the effort charged or cost shared to each award has actually been completed.

What is a sponsored project?
A sponsored project is a funded project covering a range of activities including research, teaching, training, and services. The project may be supported by a number of different sponsors, such as federal agencies, state agencies, private foundations, corporate or industry, or non-profit organizations. These sponsors formalize the transfer of money to MSU with the intent to either carry out a public purpose or provide direct benefit to the sponsoring agency. At MSU, most of the sponsors that require time and effort certifications are federal agencies, state agencies, and federally sponsored contracts.

Why is it necessary?
The federal government mandate requires an effort report when an individual is compensated by or has agreed to contribute time to a federally sponsored project. All MSU faculty and staff serving as principal investigators (PIs) or project directors (PDs) on sponsored agreements are personally responsible to certify the amount of effort that they and their employees spent on sponsored activities.

Who certifies Effort Reports?
All PIs/PDs, faculty, professional staff, and students paid directly from federal grants and contracts (including federal flow-through sub-contracts) are required to certify their effort electronically at the end of the Fall semester, Spring semester, and Summer.

Effort Certifying Process
The automated effort reporting system provides a percentage of distribution between sponsored and non-sponsored programs for the hours worked. The electronic report may be certified by either the employee, Supervisor, or PIs/PDs who has personal familiarity with the employee’s compensated effort. Since this is an after-the-fact report, the electronic effort report is generated based on historical payroll data for a specific reporting period.

What is contributed or cost-shared effort?
Cost sharing represents that portion of the total project costs of a sponsored agreement that are not charged to the sponsor. These costs are absorbed by the University rather than by the sponsor. Since faculty, administrative, and clerical salaries at MSU are paid for by the employee's department, cost sharing of effort represents a redirection of departmental resources from teaching or other departmental activities to support sponsored agreements.

Cost sharing can be required by the sponsor or volunteered by a principal investigator or project director; regardless, any commitment of effort referenced in the project proposal or the award document must be honored, reported, and captured in an effort reporting system.

For questions related to Effort Reporting, Email:

Ms. Gillian Silver
Director, Office of Research Administration
Gillian.Silver@morgan.edu

or

Mr. Ryan Mobley
Training and Communications Coordinator, Office of Research Administration
Ryan.Mobley@morgan.edu

For complete Effort Reporting and Cost Sharing policy information, please refer to PI Handbook 5: Policies & Guidelines.

• Effort Reporting, page 96 of PI Handbook 5: Policies & Guidelines
• Cost Sharing, page 36 of PI Handbook 5: Policies & Guidelines.