Sponsored Projects Procedures

Temporary Project Request

Research, Sponsored Projects  |  Approved June 14, 2017

Purpose

Submit request to expend sponsored project funds prior to official receipt of an award when there is a very high likelihood that the award will be made.

Applicability

Investigators and administrators who are requesting a temporary project when an executed award document has not been received.  Setting up a temporary project enables the department to charge payroll and initiate procurements for a sponsored project prior to receiving the executed award document, thereby reducing the need for future payroll cost transfers. Temporary projects may be set up for a budget period not longer than one year.

For additional information, please review instructions on the Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA) website for Completing the Temporary Project Request Form.

Instructions

1. Ensure the following information is on file with SPA:

• A routed proposal for the budget period for which the temporary project is proposed.
• A complete final copy of the application submitted to prospective sponsor.
• The completed and signed Temporary Project Request Form
• When available, additional documentation from the agency regarding its intent to fund the proposed project.
• SPA reserves the right to disapprove the request if any of the above-listed documentation is not in SPA files.

2. The guarantee chartstring cited on the form must be a solvent University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) funding source.

3. The request will be reviewed and information validated by SPA.

1. The risk that an award, document and/or payment from the sponsor will not be received must be considered when requesting the temporary project.
2.  If approved, the request will be signed on behalf of SPA and sent to Sponsored Project Accounting and Compliance (SPAC) for chartstring set-up within the financial system. SPAC will then notify the investigator, department, and SPA via email of temporary project number and related chartstring information.
3.  If the request is not approved, the principal investigator and unit administrator will be so notified by SPA.

4. Charge appropriate expenses to account. Note: no invoicing will occur until the executed award documents are received.

5. The investigator and department should follow up with the sponsor to check the status of the award. SPA will work with the department to follow up on all temporary projects that are more than 90 days old that do not yet have executed award documents

6. When the executed award documents are received by SPA, they will be routed to SPAC, who will finalize the temporary project chartstring. SPAC will then notify the investigator, department, and SPA via email when the project is finalized in the financial system.

7. If an award is not received, it is the responsibility of the unit that requested the temporary project to transfer payroll and any other expenses to an appropriate funding source. Any Employee Funding Profiles (EFPs) citing the project should be removed. The department should work with procurement to remove any non-payroll encumbrances and requisitions.  Once all expenses, EFP’s, encumbrances, and requisitions have been removed, the department should notify SPA and SPAC that the account should be closed.