Award Closeout

The following guideline pertains to awards for which the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is required to submit final administrative materials (invoice, fiscal and patent reports, etc.) within the federally required 120 days after the end date, and to fixed price awards. The time frame may change if a sponsor has different requirements.
 

Sixty to ninety days before an award ends, the sponsored program officer will contact the principal investigator (PI) with a list of steps that need to be completed to ensure orderly award close-out. The PI responsibilities include:

• ensuring that all personnel are moved to another grantor a department funding source by grant end
• ensuring all required cost sharing is documented
• reviewing outstanding commitments and informing the Grants Shared Services Center of those that can be relieved
• reminding subcontractors that a final invoice must be submitted within 45 days of the subcontract end date
• ensuring that all costs are incurred by the grant end date
• resolving any potential over expenditures
• completing final technical report or other award deliverables
• settling cash advances, including final invoices and the return of unspent cash

Department Chairs are informed if there is likely to be significant award over-expenditure.

Costs will continue to post to the grant for up to 60 days after the end date e.g., final month’s payroll, payments for orders placed close to the end date, etc. During this time, the PI and department can also make any cost transfers necessary to correct errors or reduce over expenditures.

Sixty days after the end date, the grant will be closed to further activity and OSP Fiscal Services will prepare the final invoice to the sponsor, as well as any required fiscal and administrative reports (e.g., patent and property reports).

Within 30 days after the final invoice is submitted, OSP Fiscal Services will transfer any over-expenditures to the appropriate cost centers. 
 

Sixty days after the end date, the grant will be closed to further activity and OSP Fiscal Services will inform the Office of Grants and Contracts of the remaining balance.

If the remaining balance is less than or equal to 25% of the total award amount or is less than or equal to $10,000, that balance will be allocated to direct and F&A costs, using a TDC base and the award F&A rate. Direct costs will be returned to the appropriate cost centers and F&A costs will be sent to the Controller’s Office via the normal F&A return process.

If the remaining balance is greater than 25% of the total award amount and is greater than $10,000 the PI should work with the department and the sponsored program officer to ensure that all grant costs have been posted. Any balance greater than 25% of the total award amount and greater than $10,000 must be justified and approved before it can be returned to a cost center. The PI and department will receive an email notification from OSP Fiscal Services with the appropriate justification form attached. The justification should be returned to OSP within 2 months of receipt. If the justification is acceptable, the balance will be returned to the appropriate units as described above. If a justification is not received or is deemed inadequate by the Associate Vice President for Research, the PI and appropriate senior fiscal officer and Dean will be asked to respond within 2 months. Balances failing all of these timelines will be resolved with the aid of the Controller’s Office.

Costs that continue to post against a closed grant (e.g., recurring charges that have not been redirected) will be transferred monthly to the appropriate cost centers.