Coming in the New Year…

We are resuming our SPA/SPAC meetings.  Save the Dates below:

• January 17^th, 2024.  2:30pm – 4pm – VIRTUAL
• April 17^th, 2024 – 2:30pm – 4pm in person.  Site TBD
• August 21^st, 2024 –2:30pm – 4pm VIRTUAL
• December 4^th, 2024 –2:30pm – 4pm VIRTUAL 

Agendas and meeting links will be sent out closer to the meeting.

SPAC Setup Team Reminders RAC 08012023

Volume and Milestone Billing not on SPAC Billing Template

04/12/2023 Cost Share Allocation Source Codes

04/13/2023 SPAC Update to the RAC

3/9/2023 - DocuSign Child Request Form SPAC Identified Challenges

3/16/2023 - DocuSign: Child Request Form SPAC Identified Challenges – UPDATE

03/23/2023-The award profile card has been updated with the SPAC Team

Child Request Form Docusign Instructions

June Master Volume and Schedule Based Close Speadsheet

Volume and Schedule Based Project Instructions

From: rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu <rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu> On Behalf Of Cooke, Kevin
Sent: Monday, August 9, 2021 3:26 PM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Subject: SPAC Volume and Schedule-Based Closeout Spreadsheet 

Greetings All, 

This notice is to inform you that the next Volume & Schedule-based Closeout sheet (see attached as an example) will be sent by SPAC in September.

Starting in November it will be sent on a quarterly basis with the below as a tentative schedule for dates sent by SPAC: 

November 2021

February 2022

May 2022

August 2022 

Thanks, 

Kevin Cooke

2021 SCR Report Template

From: rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu <rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu> On Behalf Of Scarantino, Laura B.
Sent: Monday, August 2, 2021 6:08 PM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Subject: Annual Service Contract Reporting (SCR) - PLEASE READ IF YOU HAVE FEDERAL SPONSORED SERVICE CONTRACTS 

Please see attached memo 

As per FAR Subpart 4.17, Federal Contractors and their first tier sub-contractors with contracts containing FAR clauses 52.204_14 or 52.204-15 are required to submit an annual Service Contracts Report (SCR) online at www.sam.gov. The current annual report covers the Federal Government’s Fiscal Year which runs from October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021. 

This is an annual function that SPAC performs with a few departments that have Federal Service Contracts.  In the past a majority of these contracts sit in CVD, Pathology, SSW, SOD and Vet Resources.  This email is to help those departments that we will be coming out to them for this years subrecipients Direct Labor Hours expended on the services performed during the period 10/1/2020 - 9/30/2021.  The cost of these labor hours match the monthly amounts invoiced to UMB and in turn invoiced to the Sponsor by UMB.  Attached is this years template if you want to get started. 

If any other departments negotiated a federal service contract  in FY2021 your department will fall under this requirement as well, and you will be contacted by our office.  We don’t normally have our full population until mid-September. 

If you have any questions about this process please contact Esther at spaccontractteam@umaryland.edu 

Best,

Laura 

Laura O. Scarantino, CPA, MSF,

Assistant Vice President, SPAC

SF-425

From: rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu <rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu> On Behalf Of Salsberg, Krista
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2021 1:36 PM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Subject: Federal Financial Reporting (FFR) update 

Happy New Year! 

As of January 2021, all Federal Financial Reporting (FFR) for NIH awards have been moved from Commons to the federal Payment Management System (PMS). CDC and HRSA’s FFR reporting was moved over to PMS in October 2020.  Due to these changes, there are also additional reporting requirements, that if not followed will result in the rejection of your FFR. 

When reporting FFR’s in PMS we are now required to include the Federal Cash fields under section 10 (see attached) for all reporting (interim an final).  These fields are:

10a – Cash Receipts

10b – Cash Disbursements

10c  -  Cash on hand (line 10 minus line 10 b) 

For FINAL FFR’S, we cannot report 10f (unliquidated obligations).  Therefore the amounts listed in 10a and 10b must match the amount of expense reported in line 10e (Federal share of expenditures). The system will not allow us to submit the FFR unless these amounts match. 

With the new PMS system,  the sponsor can see all cash distributed on each award.  This means that all draws must be done prior to submitting the final FFR.  Please make sure that you are getting your final expenses posted in a timely manner, so that SPAC can make the final draw on your award. All draws takes a couple of days to process and update in the PMS system.  If you do not submit your FFR on time, you risk  not receiving all funds to cover the expenses being reported. 

SPAC cannot guarantee that all funds will be drawn if your FFR is not received by SPAC at least 20 days prior to the Federal reporting requirement.  If you have any questions, please let me know. 

Thanks, 

Krista Salsberg

From: Scarantino, Laura B.
Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2020 12:27 PM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Subject: SPAC's Presentation from today

Please feel free to send me any questions.

SPAC's Presentation

Best,

Laura

From: rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu <rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu> On Behalf Of Salsberg, Krista
Sent: Friday, October 16, 2020 11:31 AM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Subject: Volume-Based Billing Events Credits and Rebills

Hello All, 

Please find attached a document that discusses credits and rebills for volume based billing events, and how the department should proceed going forward. 

There are (3) different scenarios discussed: 

Scenario 1  - When an original invoice needs an address/date change and the amount of the invoice will stay the same

Scenario 2 – When an original invoice needs to be adjusted for a different amount

Scenario 3 – When the invoice was sent in error or is no longer needed 

Thanks, 

Krista Salsberg

Changes in SPAC - Part II SPAC Communication Plan

From: Scarantino, Laura B.
Sent: Tuesday, September 1, 2020 5:14 PM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Cc: DL-SPAC Sponsored Projects Accounting and Compliance <DL-SPACSponsoredProjectsAccountingandCompliance@umaryland.edu>
Subject: PLEASE READ: Changes in SPAC - Part II SPAC Communication Plan 

Greetings All – 

Communication Plan SPAC – Part II (Finally) 

We addressed in our last communication that we are behind and have been behind for some time now.   There are replacements coming.  However, there are still some items we want to address: 

1. Reports of Expenditure: These need to be in by the 10^th of the month that they are due in order to ensure that they will be sent to the sponsor in a timely manner
2. Invoices – we are unable to do same day invoices.  We normally need 72 business hours or more to ensure that the invoice goes out properly.   I know a lot of you are experiencing COVID19 quick turn-around, however when you multiply that by 70-100 other awards (this is just COVID), we are not equipped to service a same day turn-around.
3. Setups - It is better to go to the management staff if you are having an issue with setup.  My recommendation is to go to Krista Salsberg ksalsberg@umaryland.edu to make sure she can work with the appropriate manager to address your concerns.   We are currently 2 weeks behind on award set up.  How we are going to address that is in the following new processes. 

New Processes Coming to Address our Backlog 

One of the reasons that we are behind is due to blackout dates required by Quantum in order for us to post payroll.  This happens every payroll week for 1-3 days. Normally Tuesday and Wednesday, but it has sometimes overflowed to Thursday.  This black-out period prevents us from setting up or account maintenance on projects.  During this time the teams will not be answering emails. 

1. Auto Return Emails- will be sent during that Tuesday to Wednesday period stating that we are unable to do any account maintenance.  We will be working on ROE’s and backlogged invoices at this time.
2. Black- out Periods:  We will be announcing several black-out periods in the upcoming months to ensure that we have all account maintenance completed in a timely manner.  We will use the same auto-return emails during this time. 

The teams will not be answering emails during that time, so I recommend that if you have an emergency that you go directly to the management if you are following up to see why your setup or bill has not been done.  As a reminder, 

Award Setup:  Krista Salsberg – ksalsberg@umaryland.edu 

Billing:  Volume Based & Federal:  Krista Salsberg

               Non-Federal - Team White:  Mila O’Callaghan mocallaghan@umaryland.edu

                                         Team Red:   Cheryl Williams-Smith cwsmith@umaryland.edu 

Director:  Kevin Cooke – kcooke@umaryland.edu 

Other Items on the Horizon

1. Updated Effort Reporting System

2. Cost Model online space module 

Just a reminder, you can find SPAC – Part 1 Communication Plan at the following link: https://www.umaryland.edu/spac/announcements/ 

Or 

CONTACT SPAC 

Or 

https://www.umaryland.edu/spac/external-communication-plan-for-spac/ 

Best,

Laura

From: Scarantino, Laura B.
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2020 5:59 PM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Subject: Changes in SPAC - Part 1 SPAC Communication Plan 

Greetings All – 

I hope this email finds you healthy and safe!  This is one of several emails that you will receive from SPAC about some new and exciting changers.  

This email concerns our communication plan on how to get the best response from SPAC.  There are some new players and we have a new design.  All of these changes are being implemented as SPAC has been trying to adapt to Quantum and the changes that it has brought us.  Unfortunately, it has proven to be challenging and we have determined that we need to change our organization in order to address your questions in a timely manner. 

All of these communication links will be available on our website main page under 

CONTACT SPAC 

Or

https://www.umaryland.edu/spac/external-communication-plan-for-spac/ 

And 

The new org chart is attached  as well as the Communication Plan document below for your reference. 

As always SPAC appreciates your support and understanding.  We have a lot of great things coming your way and I should be back to you next week with our expected timeline of upcoming improvements. 

Best,

Laura 

Communication Plan 

We have noticed that there have been a lot of emails copying our multiple workflows, which definitely slows down our productivity.  What we want to do is provide you with a more timely response to your questions.  Therefore, once your email is received and triaged to the appropriate person, we ask that you do not copy any of the email addresses that start with “SPAC”.  You can follow up directly with the individual who is working with you. 

Team Shared Services, Team Red, Team White 

Effective immediately, the Director over team red and team white is Kevin Cooke.  Kevin has been with us for some time, but he has been resolving Quantum issues and cleanup as we moved to the new system.   Mila O’Callaghan (Team White Manager) and Cheryl Williams-Smith (Team Red Manager) will report directly to him. 

We have also implemented a shared service area that supports award setup and billing for team red and team white.   This area will be managed by Sr. Manager Krista Salsberg who will also report to Kevin Cooke.   Her direct oversight will be Federal Award setup and setup and billing for Federal Contracts, VA&DOD and Volume Based awards.  However Krista will be monitoring team red and team white workflows to provide or engage the correct support to manage setups and billing. 

Contact for award after setup

Review your set up email from SPAC, reply to the SPAC team email who sent the setup if the setup appears to be incorrect. 

Contact if you are looking for your award setup 

All federal prime and volume based setups, your communication will be to:

spacsharedservices@umaryland.edu 

For all pass-through awards, you can continue to send your inquiry to spacteamred@umaryland.edu or spacteamwhite@umaryland.edu as assigned by your department. 

Please do not copy multiple SPAC accounts.  We will be sure to advise you of the correct person is to copy. 

Contact For award billing

Volume based (Clinical Trials):  spacteamblue@umaryland.edu  (dlb-billing email has been retired)

VA and DOD – Team Green spacteamgreen@umaryland.edu

Federal Contracts - Team Black spacteamcontract@umaryland.edu 

All other (non-federal/non-clinical trial): You can continue to send your inquiry to spacteamred@umaryland.edu or spacteamwhite@umaryland.edu as assigned by your department. 

If you do not receive a response to your inquiry please contact Krista Salsberg at ksaslberg@umaryland.edu  (do not copy the team – she will triage to someone who can answer your question) 

If you do not receive a response from Krista (which is highly unlikely), please go directly to Kevin Cooke at kcooke@umaryland.edu

Central Team and Cost Team 

The Director for these two teams is Michelle Ward.  If you are having issues getting answers to your questions for these two teams, please contact Michelle at michelle.ward@umaryland.edu. Otherwise contact the appropriate email below. 

Central Team 

Responsibilities: Sponsored Receivables/Sponsored Collections/Federal Reporting/Audits

For many years now, we have had a Central Team that deals with federal reporting (relinquishments and interim FFR’s – final FFR’s are currently with Team Red and White) and draws and sponsored receivables and collections.  They will now be handling our audit requests as well. 

Relinquishments

For questions on the status of a relinquishing statement, please contact:

Spacrelinquishing@umaryland.edu 

Sponsored Collections

For questions about collections on your open sponsored invoices, please contact:  spaccollections@umaryland.edu 

Sponsored Receivables

For questions about cash receipts on your open sponsored invoices, please contact:  mamiller@umaryland.edu 

Vendor (Banking) Verification Forms: mamiller@umaryland.edu

If you do not receive a response from these inquiries, please contact the SPAC Central Manager Lilly Liu at yu.liu@umaryland.edu

Draws or Audits

For questions on whether draws have been completed or questions on overall draw process or if your department requires assistance with and audit, please contact our Central Team Manager Lilly Liu at yu.liu@umaryland.edu. 

Cost Team           

Direct Retro Forms

If you are having an issue submitting your direct retro through the  online system starting August 18th, please contact:  help@umaryland.edu 

If you have a question on how to prepare the data that goes into a Direct Retro form please contact:  effort@umaryland.edu 

Service Centers – Contact Sr. Manager Beryl Gwan at bgwan@umaryland.edu

            F&A Rate Questions– Contact Sr. Manager Beryl Gwan at bgwan@umaryland.edu

            Fringe Rate Questions– Contact Sr. Manager Beryl Gwan at bgwan@umaryland.edu

Other General Questions:

Distribution Lists - Contact your Department IT Manager

Quantum Issues:  help@umaryland.edu

RAC - Go to RAC List Serv https://lists.umaryland.edu/sympa/info/rac

Subrecipient Monitoring or A133 Requests:  Nathan Hollaway nhollaway@umaryland.edu

Subrecipient and Internal Control Financial Questionnaires:  Link

Vendor (Banking) Verification Forms: spaccollections@umaryland.edu 

Best,

Laura

From: Scarantino, Laura B. <lscarantino@umaryland.edu>
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2020 9:28 AM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Subject: RE: Communicating with SPAC during Telework 

Greetings All –

As always, SPAC hopes that this email finds you healthy and safe!  We are all healthy here, we are just facing some other challenges.  SPAC has suffered some tremendous setbacks in the past several months and some positives.  

We are currently in the process of bringing on 5 new positions to our team.  One was a new position created due to the promotion of Kevin Cooke to Director back in January of this year.  I have been keeping Kevin a secret due to his new role and trying to tie together the pieces for Quantum.  Three (3) positions we lost to the schools and two of them we were recruiting for when we went to telework with COVID19.   

So for the past 9 weeks we have been resource challenged.  Not that this is an excuse for not being able to get projects set up on time or billing out immediately.  However what we thought would be a minor setback has continued to grow and now our resources are very strained.  It does weigh heavily on the team that is we have left.  They have been doing their best to keep up with the work load, and with a positive attitude! 

What are the positives you say?  We have a new little addition to our family, which put a six person out for several weeks.  Another positive is that we have been able to identify what appears to be some great talent for the 5 open positions.   However, only one on-boarded with us this week.   Hopefully the other 4 will not be far behind.   

If you have sent an email to one of our RS-SPAC team emails and you have not received an answer to your question in a reasonable time, and your issue is urgent, please email one of my management team directly.  Do not continue to copy the RS-SPAC emails.    

And you only need to choose one of us not all 3.  Possibly someone that your feel comfortable working with in the past year. 

lscarantino@umaryland.edu, AVP

Michelle.ward@umaryland.edu, Director

Krista.salsberg@umaryland.edu, Senior Manager 

If you come directly to one of us, we will triage it to the someone who can support your request and we will provide the appropriate timeline that this will be completed.   This cuts out a lot of email traffic.  Currently the RS team emails receive over 1,000 emails a week and this number compounds when we get behind. 

We apologize in advance for the challenges that we are causing your areas and we are diligently trying to find the best pathway to return to our customer service standards.  This entire experience will be bringing about additional changes in SPAC in FY21 to better prepare for any upcoming challenges we may face. 

Best,

Laura 

Laura O. Scarantino CPA, MSF
AVP, SPAC
Office: 410-706-2562
Cell: 443-466-8916

From: Scarantino, Laura B. <lscarantino@umaryland.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2020 6:29 PM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Subject: UPDATE SPAC Items of Interest: VA COLAS; PAYMENTS MADE IN STUDENT ACCOUNTING; MATCHING FINANCIAL REPORTS TO QUANTUM - PLEASE READ 

Greetings all! 

Please continue to be safe and healthy!   Lots of work to do. 

Since we did not have a SPA/SPAC meeting this quarter, I wanted to give you some updates on some areas of that we need your assistance. 

VA COLA Recuperation

So there have been continued discussions with the VA about paying the COLA rates that are approved under their awards, and over the negotiated award amount.  We still would like to bill up to the contract amount and do a second billing for the COLA because we continue having issues recuperating the “over the award” amount.  The VA has stated it is an internal issue that they have with their HR and Finance groups and that they are also having issues with getting someone to increase the PO’s in order to pay the overage.  Therefore if we isolate them, we can possibly send in a quarterly bill for all COLA’s over the award amount.   However, these amounts CANNOT be over the “allowable” amount stated in the award.  We have heard 2%, 3% and 4% but if it is not listed in the award as a % (see below) you would think we could go for anything.  Not true, there is something written at the VA level that does not seem to be available to us.  Due to the ambiguity, in order to get the overages, we must work together to determine what the allowable overage is.  If it is 2% or below there should not be a problem with us trying to get it on a quarterly bill with other COLA’s.  Over 2 % it is going to have to be a joint effort, but we should discuss those that fall within the 3 and 4% rule before striking out independently.  Anything over 4% you are going to have to seek a modification to the award.  

Dropping of payments to Student Accounting

Just a reminder for payments that are taken to student accounting.  When you are returning funds from a subrecipient (basically refunding expenses). 

• In the Transaction Description field, please reference the Project ID and object code for SPAC to credit the expense reimbursement. 

Here is a link to the instructions.  We have been receiving a lot of items with accounts that start with the #7, this is not the correct series of account number that are used for expenses.

https://www.umaryland.edu/financialservices/student-accounting/cashier/#deposit 

Matching financial reports to Quantum

There are many instances where the department is required to send a financial report to a sponsor. Whether it is embedded into a technical report, or if it is a “reporting” software that limits the amount of users, therefore there is not enough room for SPAC to upload the information (plus there is still an invoice component).  Please make sure what you are reporting matches Quantum for that period end.  We are receiving too many reports where you are asking for a small balance entry to be done to tie up the invoice.  However it is easier to put into your technical report that this is what is in our financial system as of this date and that there are trailing charges which will be reported in the next reporting period.   The reasons that we ask for this is that sometimes the expenses never come through and then you are off balance next month and there is a lot of extra work to “put in the trailing” charges because we have to put them in and then take them out until your charges hit.  And finally it is many times an audit issue.  We have many awards that we report this way to sponsors.  We normally only to adjustments to the final invoice when the expense is not in the system (as long as there’s is appropriate documentation provided).  And submitting the final invoice is a timing issue.  

If you have any questions please send them directly to me and I will get back to you as soon as possible. 

Take care! 

Laura

From: rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu <rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu> On Behalf Of Scarantino, Laura B.
Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 5:09 PM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Cc: DL-ORD-Grants_and_Contracts <DL-ORD-Grants_and_Contracts@umaryland.edu>
Subject: RE: Kuali Research proposal development change SPAC ADDED: how it will be captured in Quantum Financials in Purpose field using UCOVID19 

Greetings Everyone - SPAC hope this email finds you and yours healthy! 

We wanted to expand on SPA's message below and its importance to be collected in Kuali Research so that  SPAC can capture the information in Quantum Financials.  Again this is  for funding opportunities that are awarded  which include COVID -19 research or programs .  

SPAC will be translating that information collected in Kuali Research into the project level of Quantum Financials PURPOSE field using the code UCOVID19. 

We realize that the departments define the purpose field for tracking of certain sponsored grants and contracts,  however we wanted to align ourselves with a University directive.   If you have any concerns that this will conflict with future tracking of your departments  existing purpose initiatives,  please contact me. 

In summary: 

If you are routing a proposal through KR  that is going to be awarded with COVID-19 designated funds,  first make sure you are  and are answering the question in KR as yes.

If the proposal is awarded you must  have a segment set up with UCOVID19 purpose so that we will be able to choose that field in purpose field of Quantum Financials.

In response to your requests, the detailed segment information (Project Source, Project Org, Project Activity, Project Purpose and Project Function) for sponsored projects will be on display in HRMS.
The HRMS pages and reports affected are:

• Combination Code Table
• EFP Inquiry Page
• EFP Entry Page
• DR Entry Page
• PCD Report
• Funding Summary Report

You will be able to use the Combination Code Table (see instructions) to see the sponsored projects Quantum Account Combo information (based on the search parameters entered).

Please see instructions for more detail regarding the proposed changes which will be effective early next week.

SPAC Post Award Support Volume 1 Issue 1 11182019

• REMINDER – ROE’S and FFR’s that are due in September were due last Friday 9/6/2019 in order  to ensure that will be submitted on time.  We still have some outstanding that we are waiting for.
• The last letter of credit (LOC ) draw for September will be September 19^th so all expenses for the draw need to be in the system by the 17^th or they won’t be drawn until October
• ADDED – With the change in the DIRRF process from an online link to being entered into the Quantum system by the departments, we will be shutting down the DIRRF form link online at the end of this week SEPTEMBER 13.  This will allow us enough time to get all items in the workflow processed by the 17^th.  Please get your requests in as soon as possible.

For those of you submitting DIRRF’s online,  

https://inweb.umaryland.edu:9083/imagenowforms/fs?form=SPACDLBBillingForm 

Please make sure that your project end date is in the future.   We are unable to invoice sponsors past the expiration date of the award unless it is the final invoice.  

You will need to fill in the following form and submit to SPA to request the extension prior to submitting your DIRRF.

(note: cutoff for these extensions is 8/30 for Quantum) 

https://www.umaryland.edu/media/umb/ord/documents/spa/NCE-Request-for-NSF-Grants.pdf 

Information about NCE  can be found on SPA’s page

https://www.umaryland.edu/spa/award-management/changes-to-project-or-budget/no-cost-extensions/ 

This requirement to extend the date will be in effect when we go-live with Quantum as well.

Deadline reminders and other information that will assist all of us as we prepare for the transfer to Quantum on October 2, 2019 

COST

• Please focus on finalizing any outstanding effort forms the cleaner the data the better for all.
• During 9/20 to 10/1, the effort team will be available to train or help with any issues that you have been unable to resolve
• There will be no DR processing from October 2-7^th due to the HRMS shutdown, so you may want to get them in early for the October 1^st 

SPAC

• No more sponsored projects, modifications, child projects or temporary projects will be set up after  modifications will be accepted for setup after August 30^th, so get those requests into SPA ASAP.
• If you are awaiting an NOA that will have a project begin date from now through September, and you want to start charging in September you would need to route a Temporary Account Setup to SPA, by August 30^th in order to secure that project number.  Otherwise,  the award will not receive a new project number until October. 

https://www.umaryland.edu/media/umb/af/spac/forms/TempProjectRequest.pdf

• In order to ensure billing in September, all signed ROE’s are due back to SPAC on September 6^th
• Ensure that the appropriate backup and/or payroll certifications are also returned with the signed ROE
• In order to ensure timely reporting for September,  all signed FFRs are due back to SPAC on September 6^th
• There will be notices going to our sponsors in our August Dunning notifying them of a possible delay in billing for October bills
• This same notice will go out in the September Dunning which will be sent out on September 20 ^th
• The last letter of credit (LOC ) draw for September will be September 19^th so all expenses for the draw need to be in the system by the 17^th or they won’t be drawn until October

DIRRF Change Rollout Memo – Sent out through the RAC List on 2/22/2019

USDA Records Disposal Freeze UPDATE - RECORDS FREEZE HAS BEEN LIFTED

USDA Records Disposal Freeze Notice

From: rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu [mailto:rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu] On Behalf Of Scarantino, Laura B.
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2018 5:45 PM
To: 'rac@lists.umaryland.edu' <rac@lists.umaryland.edu>
Subject: FW: USDA Records Disposal Freeze NOTICE
Importance: High 

Greetings Everyone 

There was a form letter sent out to all entities that are recipients of  USDA awards about a Records Freeze. Our letter is attached, and will also be available on the SPA & SPAC websites.   

This freeze affects a very small population of UMB “direct” and “pass-through” USDA awards. Eight awards in total, of which 2 are currently active. The 5 departments that were affected have been notified directly. If you are receiving notifications from your prime sponsors that you have funds subject to this freeze, please read your agreements carefully because this did not apply to all USDA departments. 

Most of UMB’s grants come from NIFA – WHICH ARE NOT AFFECTED BY THIS FREEZE.  

Under the Secretary for Research Education and Economic within the USDA  there are 4 distinct departments

-Agriculture Research Service (ARS)

-National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

-Economic Research Service (ERS)

-National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) 

Only ARS, ERS and NASS grants are subject to the freeze  All of the 8 grants mentioned above were from ARS.   

SPA and SPAC want to ensure that that the departments are aware that any future award negotiations with ARS, ERS or NASS  will also be subject to the freeze until UMB receives notification from USDA that it has been lifted. This applies on all prime USDA and pass-through awards. Plus UMB will be required to notify any sub recipients enlisted on these awards. 

According to the letter UMB must follow the record retention requirement set forth in the applicable regulation or administrative requirement REE-425R, 2 CFR 200 (SEC 200.333(a) and (b))  or 7 CFR 550. 

No records (paper and/or electronic) can be destroyed or deleted. In addition, no agency official can authorize the destruction of any such records. You will be notified when this records disposal freeze is lifted. 

Federal statutes defines a record as follows as, "All books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures,operations, or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of data in them. Library and museum materialmade or acquired and preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes, extra copies of documents preserved only for convenience of reference and stocks of publications and of processed documents are not included." (44 U.S.C. 3301) 

Please reach out to your representative in SPA or SPAC if you have any questions.

4/19/2023 Process for Submitting Direct Retros for Closed Projects

FY22 Fringe Benefit Rate Announcement

From: rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu <rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu> On Behalf Of Gwan, Beryl
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2021 11:50 AM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Cc: Ward, Michelle <michelle.ward@umaryland.edu>
Subject: Finalized Fringe Rates for FY22 

TO:      All Research Faculty and Administrative Staff 

FROM:  Beryl Gwan, Sr. Manager, Costing and Compliance

Sponsored Projects Accounting and Compliance 

DATE:             July 15, 2021 

RE:                  Implementation of New Fringe Benefit Rate Agreement 

The University has successfully negotiated a new Fringe Benefit cost rate agreement with the federal government. The official rate agreement has been finalized and posted at:

https://www.umaryland.edu/cost/about-the-office/fringe-benefit/ 

The University’s current F&A rates remain unchanged through FY2022. 

In summary, the fringe rates effective 07/01/2021 through 06/30/2022 are as follows: 

Fringe Benefit Rates 

The following salary accounts will not incur fringe benefits due to the student FICA exemption: 

• 1020 – Graduate Assistants
• 2074 – Student College Work Study (CWS)
• 2075 – Students other than CWS

If it is determined that these employees are not eligible for the FICA exemption during the summer, then the Legislated Benefit rate above will be applied to these summer wages. 

These rates should now be used for all grant and contract proposals and for planning purposes on nonsponsored funding sources. Kuali Research has been updated to reflect these new rates. 

If you have any questions, please contact Beryl Gwan, Manager, Costing and Compliance at 410-706-2909 or bgwan@umaryland.edu.  

Beryl F. Gwan

Manager, Costing & Compliance

Certifier Guide - Quick Reference Final 6-21-21

From: rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu <rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu> On Behalf Of Scarantino, Laura B.
Sent: Friday, June 25, 2021 7:25 AM
To: Raclists <rac@lists.umaryland.edu>
Cc: Gwan, Beryl <bgwan@umaryland.edu>; Ward, Michelle <michelle.ward@umaryland.edu>
Subject: FW: Effort Reporting System - Certifier Guidelines - PLEASE READ

Greetings Everyone –

Effective 6/24/2021 the old version of the effort system was shut down.  The upgraded version will be available by 1 pm  Monday 6/28/2021 (fingers crossed).   

We have sent out the attached instructions to all of the certifiers listed in Effort Reporting System.   However we are sharing them with your community so you have them available if asked.   You can find these posted to our site

https://www.umaryland.edu/cost/about-the-office/effort-reporting/ 

We will be posting all of  the training materials  and recordings to  the same site, as they become available. 

If you have any questions  please contact effort@umaryland.edu. 

Best,

Laura

FY21 UMB Space Survey Training

From: Scarantino, Laura B.
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2021 8:44 AM
To: Moore, Drew <dmoore@som.umaryland.edu>; Puche, Adam <apuche@som.umaryland.edu>; Zhong, Yuping <yzhong@som.umaryland.edu>; Reinecke, Bruce <breinecke@som.umaryland.edu>; Hockenberry, Brian <bhock@som.umaryland.edu>; Marshall, Wendy <wmarshall@som.umaryland.edu>; Kelly, Mike <kelly@som.umaryland.edu>; Donhauser, Christopher <cdonhauser@som.umaryland.edu>; Stiles, Bobbi Sue <bstiles@som.umaryland.edu>; Close, Vicki <vclose@umm.edu>; Nuri, Aslihan <anuri@som.umaryland.edu>; Autry, Katherine <kautry@som.umaryland.edu>; Geppi, Cindy <cgeppi@som.umaryland.edu>; Holt, Susan <sholt@som.umaryland.edu>; Yates, Teresa <tyates@som.umaryland.edu>; Norris, Leslie <lnorris@som.umaryland.edu>; Trenchard, Joella <jtrenchard@som.umaryland.edu>; Zelle, Mabel <mzelle@som.umaryland.edu>; Chiapparelli, Teresa <tchiappa@som.umaryland.edu>; Bascombe, Arnold <abascombe@som.umaryland.edu>; McKay, Lori <lmckay@som.umaryland.edu>; White, Maurice <maurice.white@ihv.umaryland.edu>; Hornick, Karen <khornick@som.umaryland.edu>; Carhart, Kimberley <kcarhart@som.umaryland.edu>; Adewunmi, Olugbenga <oadewunmi@som.umaryland.edu>; Markland, Vernon <vmarkland@som.umaryland.edu>; Markland, Vernon <vmarkland@som.umaryland.edu>; Lizer, Cecilia <clizer@som.umaryland.edu>; Soronson, Bryan <bsoronson@som.umaryland.edu>; Iffland, Philip <piffland@som.umaryland.edu>; Loverde, Amy <aloverde@som.umaryland.edu>; Hagin, Kevin <khagin@som.umaryland.edu>; Newton, David <dnewton@som.umaryland.edu>; Matthai, Silvia <smatthai@som.umaryland.edu>; Cadwell, Jonathan <jcadwell@som.umaryland.edu>; Fisher, Kathryn <kfisher@som.umaryland.edu>; Goodwin, Ivy <igoodwin@som.umaryland.edu>; Stains, Joseph <jstains@som.umaryland.edu>; O'Hara, Nathan <no'hara@som.umaryland.edu>; Schroder, Charles <cschroder@som.umaryland.edu>; Howell, Aimee <aimee.howell@som.umaryland.edu>; Vandiver, Latia <lvandiver@som.umaryland.edu>; Hook, Christopher <christopher.hook@som.umaryland.edu>; Wallington, Lyndon <lwallington@som.umaryland.edu>; Sack, Karen <ksack@som.umaryland.edu>; Walker-Addy, L. <daddy@som.umaryland.edu>; Salyer, Shannon <ssalyer@som.umaryland.edu>; Baker, Lis <lbaker@som.umaryland.edu>; Lenox, Jason <jlenox@som.umaryland.edu>; Vaughn, Martha <mvaughn@fpi.umaryland.edu>; Segers, Miek <msegers@som.umaryland.edu>; Karabelas, Yana <ykarabelas@fpi.umaryland.edu>; Mensah, Vida <vmensah@som.umaryland.edu>; Maslonka, Kristen <kmaslonka@som.umaryland.edu>; Cornias, Larry <LCornias@umaryland.edu>; Seifert, Henry <hseifert@som.umaryland.edu>; Martin, Carey <carey.martin@som.umaryland.edu>; Sun, Yan <yansun@som.umaryland.edu>; Zhang, Li <lizhang@som.umaryland.edu>; Mosley, Teah <tmosley@som.umaryland.edu>; Battle, Kenya <kbattle@som.umaryland.edu>; Mitchell, Robert <rmitchell1@umm.edu>; Norris, Kathleen <knorris@som.umaryland.edu>; Meyer, Janet <jmeyer@som.umaryland.edu>; Pease, Steven <spease@umaryland.edu>; Wu, LiYi <lwu@rx.umaryland.edu>; Goldschmitt, Brandon <bgoldschmitt@som.umaryland.edu>; Neupane, Reetu <rneupane@som.umaryland.edu>; Mehrling, Michele <mmehrling@som.umaryland.edu>; Smith, Maggi <maggi.smith@som.umaryland.edu>
Cc: Gwan, Beryl <bgwan@umaryland.edu>; Ward, Michelle <michelle.ward@umaryland.edu>; Shah, Binita <binita.shah@umaryland.edu>; Sallese, Amy <asallese@umaryland.edu>; Nguyen, Tracy <tracy.nguyen@umaryland.edu>
Subject: FW: UMB Space Survey Training Recording (password Huron123@), PowerPoint presentations and timeline 

Greetings Everyone –

Attached is the Space Survey PowerPoint presentation and below are the links to the actual training itself.  Please note, password is Huron123@ for both recordings.  This will also be posted on our SPAC/Cost site under Costing and Compliance Announcements https://www.umaryland.edu/spac/announcements/ 

Space survey training links:

1. https://hcg.zoom.us/rec/play/jwbMv1mysAQXPwlKnm_DckgFZNzIXy6wYE6BN94pEl9JcEVBz0TKXP9hyp0awPi3e6nEzXDfuzJlNXwU.I-kDLSJYYJ19zjKv
2. https://hcg.zoom.us/rec/play/D0z7vO8OpkafrzsF5Eq32D8g3qXlnSlDZp0vckYi2xJ4UCU0GMs5bwVL2ELsEC7ng6g5XEXao8MQQoU5.YMO-iqXMksvwNPcK

 Emails will start going out today with your user names and passwords for the actual space survey.  If you have any questions related to the survey or access itself, please contact effort@umaryland.edu. 

The Cost team will be reviewing surveys on the site for completion,  we ask that you complete them ASAP, however the cutoff date of July 2, 2021.  

Thanks again for your continued support for this initiative. 

Best,

Laura

• 05/18/21
• 05/20/21

02182021 Fringe Benefit Planning Rates FY2022

From: Scarantino, Laura B.
Sent: Wednesday, October 7, 2020 4:25 PM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Subject: FW: Request from RAC to delay the 7/1 deadline for BR's in response to "Changes in SPAC" email request

Greetings All – 

Based on requests from the departments and follow-up by Neal,  below is a message from Beryl. 

SPAC has extended the BR dates as shown below  The extension has been processed in HRMS. The BR/DR deadline calendar has also been updated which will be up on our website soon. 

The changes are: 

All the periods after 21-10 remain the same. Please contact effort@umaryland.edu if you have any questions. 

Thank you, 

Beryl

Good Afternoon! 

The long awaited online Direct Retro Form is finally live. Effective immediately, any manual Direct Retro forms submitted via dretros@umaryland.edu will not be reviewed or processed. 

You can access the form using the link below. You will be prompted to use your single sign on to logon. 

https://cfapps.umaryland.edu/eumb-direct-retro/ 

If you missed any of the training sessions provided over the past two weeks, or you need a refresher, please follow the link below to our Cost website to view:

Training and Demo PowerPoint Presentation and Recording

• All Questions raised during the training sessions and the answers provided (Q&A)
• PI Approval Steps with screenshots 

https://www.umaryland.edu/cost/direct-retro-forms/ 

Recorded Training and Demo can also be viewed here:

https://umaryland.webex.com/umaryland/lsr.php?RCID=8779e09d28de4a709abf247d117ee577 

If you have any questions, please contact effort@umaryland.edu. For technical difficulties, email help@umaryland.edu 

Have a wonderful day and be safe! 

Thank you, 

Beryl

From: rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu <rac-request@lists.umaryland.edu> On Behalf Of Gwan, Beryl
Sent: Wednesday, August 5, 2020 12:50 PM
To: DL-CITS eUMB HRMS Users <DL-CITSeUMBUsers@umaryland.edu>; rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Subject: Launching of Online Direct Retro Forms - Training 

Good Afternoon! 

I am excited to announce to you that the long awaited online Direct Retro form is finally here! We will go live with this effective 08/19/2019. After Tuesday 08/18/20, you will no longer be allowed to submit Direct Retros through the email dretros@umaryland.edu. 

Training will be provided on the dates listed below:

•  Friday 08/07/20, 10am to 11am
• Tuesday 08/11/20, 3pm to 4pm and
• Thursday 08/13/20, 1pm to 2pm.

I will send out a calendar notification for each of these dates. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Thank you, 

Beryl

From: Scarantino, Laura B.
Sent: Thursday, May 7, 2020 8:30 AM
To: rac@lists.umaryland.edu
Cc: DL-ORD-Grants_and_Contracts <DL-ORD-Grants_and_Contracts@umaryland.edu>
Subject: Revisiting Administrative Leave and Effort Reporting Allocations 

Greetings Everyone – 

The attached document was prepared by Scott Bitner and myself concerning charging administrative Leave as well as aligning effort.  

As we continue to embrace our new normal, we have been reviewing the charges to grants to see COV19 has affected our effort on awards.  We have sent a lot of information on how to handle Administrative Leave, however, we have not really addressed the level of effort that we are working on awards.   From the timesheets it appears that there are a lot of faculty and staff who are working grants that are not taking administrative leave. 

If you are not taking any administrative leave, we want you to review your Effort Funding Profile (EFP) to verify if you are still working the same level of effort for your grant(s).  If some of your effort has shifted to more non-grant related administrative duties, this should be reflected in your EFP, and you should update this accordingly.  This realigned effort is not the administrative leave COVID19 purpose because you are not designating administrative leave on your timesheet.  You would not need to change your effort report constantly, but we want to ensure when we certify effort tin July/August that there will not be a dramatic change from what we have included in our EFP’s. 

For example if an EFP prior to COVID19 teleworking  was 

Project A          20%

Project B          30%

Project C          25%

Administration  25% 

And the level of effort on A, B and C dropped by 10% each COVID19 teleworking, and you are not taking administrative leave.  Where your you redirecting that 30% of effort? 

Project A           10%

Project B           20%

Project C           15%

Administration   25%

What are you working on?   30%

Communication on Charging Administrative Leave and Aligning Effort

In Light of the current COVID-19 crisis and the new telework policy, we have noticed a drastic decline in the number of Direct Retros submitted for processing. 

This is a gentle reminder that the University is fully operational and we are reviewing, approving and processing Direct Retros as normal. 

We are now accepting Direct Retros with electronic signatures. You may print to a PDF file and obtain necessary signatures prior to submission. The university’s payroll cost transfer policies and procedures have not changed in regards to the approvals needed. 

You may call the effort help desk at Ext 6-2987 and leave a voicemail. We will get back to you within 1 to 2 business days. 

If you are having any difficulties, please contact effort@umaryland.edu.

FY20 Fringe Benefit Rate Announcement

• Please focus on finalizing any outstanding effort forms the cleaner the data the better for all.
• During 9/20 to 10/1, the effort team will be available to train or help with any issues that you have been unable to resolve
• There will be no DR processing from October 2-7^th due to the HRMS shutdown, so you may want to get them in early for the October 1^st 

• The last letter of credit (LOC ) draw for September will be September 19^th so all expenses for the draw need to be in the system by the 17^th or they won’t be drawn until October

• There will be no DR or BR processing from October 2-7th due to the HRMS shutdown
• Effective October 8th you will be able to enter a BR back to July 1, 2019. To take advantage of this option the BR will need to be approved by November 12th 8 PM
• If you do not meet that deadline you will need to submit DR’s for 7/1/19 through 8/17/19.
• Effective November 13th you will only enter BR’s with an effective date 8/18/19

The Direct Retro (DR) Form has been updated with the new Quantum account information and can be accessed through the link below. Since you will no longer be able to do any DRs prior to FY16, the previous DR versions have been deleted as they will no longer be useful. 

Quantum Direct Retro Request Form 

In the new Quantum Financial system, there are no project IDs for non-sponsored accounts. Consequently it is necessary to change the subject line for submitting the Direct Retros in order to easily identify non-sponsored accounts. 

The new email subject line nomenclature to use when submitting DRs includes the following information indicating the employee whose wages are being affected, and is illustrated below: 

• 6 digit EMPL ID ^ Employee last name ^ Credit Project ID/Purpose ^ Credit HRMS Combo Code

Examples 

To submit a DR for Jon Doe, whose Employee ID is 123456, on which you are crediting project ID 10001234 and HRMS Code is 5000012345, the subject line of the email you send to dretros@umaryland.edu would look like this: 

• For Sponsored Accounts: 123456^Doe^10001234^5000012345 

If he worked on a non-sponsored account with no Project ID and HRMS Code 5000000123 the subject line of the email you send to dretros@umaryland.edu  would look like this: 

• For Non Sponsored Accounts: 123456^Doe^00000000^5000000123 

All other DR submission requirements remain the same. Attach new Quantum PCD by Accounting Period, run within a week of the DR submission date. 

Please email effort@umaryland.edu or call Extension 6-2987 if you have any questions.