The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is the research administration office for UNLV. Our mission is to provide research administration support to faculty in their pursuit of funding for research and scholarly activity while ensuring compliance with federal, university, and private sponsor regulations, terms, and conditions.
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General Information About the Office of Sponsored Programs
OSP is the coordinating office for external research funding. We assist faculty to find funding opportunities, submit proposals for funding, negotiate and accept awards, and assist with post-award management. OSP also sets up account numbers, produces financial reports and invoices, and closes out accounts.
Monday-Friday: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
OSP’s administrative structure provides the researcher with a pre-award contact (a research administrator) and a post-award contact (a grant accountant), each of whom is assigned to provide services to several university departments. The research administrator will assist primarily with seeking funding opportunities, developing and submitting proposals, and negotiating awards. The post-award grant accountant will assist primarily with financial management of the award (account setup, billing, financial reporting, and close-out). The post-award grant accountant will also assist with requests for an extension of time, budget revisions, and other post-award administrative matters.
OSP contacts are listed here.
In November 2005, Grants and Contracts and OSP were co-located in the Research Administration Building. In May 2006, Grants and Contracts and OSP merged under the name Office of Sponsored Programs.
A sponsored project is a project that is funded by a third party external to the university. Generally, the project is funded by means of an award agreement, and the award terms require some kind of deliverable (a technical report, a financial report, milestones, etc.)
The authorization to sign proposals, awards, invoices, financial statements, and other official documents related to sponsored programs is vested in the vice president for research and the executive director of sponsored programs. Researchers should not sign any of these documents as the authorized university signatory.
Faculty should discuss potential commitment of university resources with OSP prior to submission of a proposal. Typically, faculty are not authorized to commit university resources in a contractual arrangement. Chairs, deans, vice presidents, the provost, and the president have the ability to commit resources, but any such commitment for a sponsored project must be submitted to the sponsor through OSP.
It depends on department and college requirements. If such an arrangement is required or permitted, it is recommended that the PI provide the chair or dean with written or emailed approval to sign the proposal (with a copy to OSP for our records).
Finding Funding
OSP provides multiple resources to assist in locating Funding Opportunities (i.e. Pivot funding opportunities database, OSP Weekly and customized funding searches). The Awards Manager, Althea Sheets, is available for questions, althea.sheets@unlv.edu, 702-895-1880.
No, although UNLV graduate students and post-docs can work with the Awards Manager, Althea Sheets, althea.sheets@unlv.edu, 702-895-1880, to seek sponsored funding opportunities for their research projects or creative activities. Note, however, that OSP does not assist with searches for general scholarships. However, OSP does provide some general resources for Graduate and Undergraduate student funding opportunities.
Developing and Preparing a Proposal
Any sponsor forms related to the proposal submission — cover pages, budget pages, representations, and certifications, etc. — are required. Additionally, the university utilizes an Internal Routing Form to obtain information about your project; you should complete the form and have it signed by your chair and dean prior to sending it to OSP. If you have subrecipients on your project, OSP will also need a copy of the subrecipients’ statement of work and budget as well as a letter on letterhead agreeing to participate in the project.
Usually, OSP staff will review and sign the final proposal. Most hard-copy proposals also require the principal investigator’s signature. Some electronic systems, however, will require the principal investigator to submit the final version of the proposal without OSP authorization. Your OSP research administrator should be able to determine who will need to be the final signer and submitter of the proposals.
Your pre-award research administrator in OSP can assist you with developing your budget.
Your pre-award research administrator in OSP can assist you with interpreting proposal guidelines.
OSP can assist with preparation of forms such as the cover sheet, representations and certifications, and budget forms.
Yes, OSP will require a complete copy of your proposal application prior to signing.
As a guideline, OSP prefers to have your completed application and routing form four days prior to the deadline, especially if the submission is electronic. If the proposal is provided to OSP with fewer than four days to review, OSP will provide as much review and service as possible, given other proposal submissions and workload. Please note that it is always a good idea to provide OSP with applications that must be submitted to a sponsor electronically several days in advance of the deadline. Due to bandwidth issues, applications submitted late in the day on deadline days may have difficulties being processed through electronic systems.
Any proposal that requires an authorized university signature and involves a project that commits university resources; proposes deliverables (technical report, financial report, etc.); requires a budget;, involves a subrecipient; or involves human subjects, animal subjects, radiation, or biohazards. Contact your OSP representative if you have questions about whether your proposal should be submitted through OSP.
UNLV’s legal name is Board of Regents, Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) on behalf of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
- The university’s TIN (also known as an EIN) is 88-6000024A3.
- UNLV’s DUNS number is 098377336.
Principal investigators should include salary and fringe benefits in the proposal for work that they will undertake for the project. The salary can be paid for by the sponsor (called "buyout" because the PI is buying out time from teaching) or can be donated by the university (cost sharing). PIs must obtain chair and dean approval for buyout or for cost-shared salary and fringe benefits.
See the policies page for more information about buyout.
Fringe benefits are retirement and health insurance benefits associated with salaries. Medicaid and workers’ compensation are also included in fringe benefits.
OSP permits the use of a fringe benefit rate when developing budgets.
The actual charge for fringe benefits depends on the employee’s job classification and number of dependents.
Effective 7/1/2019 UNLV Office of the Controller has instituted Fringe Pool Rates. For proposal budgeting purposes please use the fringe pool rates or view the printable version.
Yes, you should include funding for retirement (14 percent of salary) in your budget.
Budgets
"F&A" stands for facilities and administration, and the term is used interchangeably with "indirect costs." These terms are defined as "…those expenses which cannot be specifically identified as solely benefiting one particular project, but instead are incurred in support of common or joint expenses which are derived from the administration and maintenance of the sponsored activities." In universities, F&A costs are incurred for general support and management of the mission-related research/teaching/service enterprise. They are sometimes referred to as "pooled costs" because they are accounted for and controlled centrally. Examples are library costs, utility costs, costs of operating and maintaining facilities, and the cost of the general administration of the institution.
The university negotiates a facilities and administration rate agreement every three to five years that provides the rate to be charged depending on the type of sponsored project.
Yes, generally F&A should be applied to all sponsored projects. Nevertheless, there are a couple of exceptions to this rule.
- If the sponsor has a written policy that restricts the rate to a lower percentage than the university’s negotiated rate, please notify OSP. OSP will review the sponsor’s policy and will make a determination on the use of the sponsor’s rate.
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If the project meets the following criteria, OSP will review the request for a waiver/reduction of F&A and will recommend a waiver/reduction or a nonwaiver to the vice president for research:
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The sponsor is a nonprofit, state government, local government, or school district, and funds provided are not federal pass-through funds.
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The budget available from the sponsor is very small (>$10K).
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There are minimal administrative costs associated with the project (no subawards, human subject payments, etc.).
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There is a substantive benefit to the university in performing the work.
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Yes, the vice president for research may waive F&A for the following reasons:
- The sponsor is a nonprofit, state government, local government, or school district, and funds provided are not federal pass-through funds.
- The budget available from the sponsor is very small (>$10K).
- There are minimal administrative costs associated with the project (no subawards, human subject payments, etc.)
- There is a substantive benefit to the university in performing the work.
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You should submit your waiver request to your OSP senior research administrator for consideration. Please note that F&A will not be waived for corporate sponsors.
The easiest way to develop a budget is to work with your OSP senior research administrator. If you want to develop your own budget, you should consider including the following line items, which are included in most budgets:
- Salaries and wages
- Fringe benefits
- Materials and supplies
- Equipment
- Travel
- Other direct costs (includes subrecipient and services agreements)
- Facilities and administrative costs
OSP will review your budget prior to submission to the sponsor to ensure compliance with sponsor, university, and NSHE requirements.
Cost sharing is the provision of internal university funds in support of the project funded by the sponsor. Most sponsors do not require cost sharing; if it is not required, you do not have to provide cost sharing as part of your budget.
If the sponsor requires cost sharing, you can cost share in two ways — cash or in-kind. A cash match is a match of dollars. An in-kind match is a match of services. Typically, UNLV faculty will provide in-kind cost sharing through donation of their effort.
Faculty must be cautious not to overcommit effort. Faculty are not permitted to work more than 100 percent of their time (except in limited circumstances). All cost-shared effort donated to sponsored activity must fit into the 100 percent available. Generally, faculty cannot commit more than 25 percent of their time to cost sharing for sponsored activities. This is because the teaching of classes, work with graduate students, and committee work must also fit into the 100 percent.
State-funded faculty may cost share a portion of their effort if they are not 100 percent committed to teaching and other academic duties. In addition, third parties can provide cost sharing. The researchers should obtain a letter from the third party on letterhead that indicates that party will provide cost sharing in the amount that is required.
You would reference subrecipients by name in both your statement of work (and describe their activities) and in your budget, under either the category of "Subrecipients" or "Other Direct Costs." Your subrecipients should also submit a letter on letterhead indicating their willingness to participate in the project, a statement of work, and a budget.
You will need a statement of work and budget to document their costing. Depending on the sponsor and the nature of the award, you may need to obtain detailed costing information from the subrecipient. This is particularly true in the case of subcontracts under prime agreements with Federal Acquisition Regulation clauses.
A vendor provides a commercial item, like paper, or a service, such as maintenance services for copiers. A subrecipient, on the other hand, participates in the research by contributing to the development of the research and has an impact on the direction of the research. A subrecipient is a participant and collaborator in the project, unlike a vendor.
Submitting a Proposal
No, all proposals to external funding agencies must be reviewed and authorized by OSP before they can be submitted to a sponsor.
Any sponsor forms related to the proposal submission — cover pages, budget pages, representations, and certifications, etc. — are required. Additionally, the university utilizes an Internal Routing Form to obtain information about your project. You should complete the form and have it signed by your chair and dean prior to sending it to OSP. If you have subrecipients on your project, OSP will also need a copy of the subrecipients’ statement of work and budget as well as a letter on letterhead agreeing to participate in the project.
Usually, OSP staff will review and sign the final proposal. Most hard-copy proposals also require the principal investigator’s signature. Some electronic systems, however, will require the principal investigator to submit the final version of the proposal without OSP authorization. Your OSP research administrator should be able to determine who will need to be the final signer and submitter of the proposals.
It depends on the sponsor; different sponsors use different electronic systems. Most systems require data and files related to the proposal to be uploaded into the sponsor’s system, either through use of a sponsor-created software package or on the web. Your OSP research administrator will assist you with the submission.
Your chair and dean are required to sign off on the proposal so that they are aware of the research and sponsored activity taking place in their department and college. Additionally, the chair and the dean are permitted to commit university resources to the proposal if required. Their signatures authorizing such commitments are necessary for OSP’s file.
Most department chairs and deans delegate signature authority when they are out of the office. If a designee is not available, discuss the situation with your OSP research administrator.
Send a copy of the proposal and budget to OSP for our files. OSP will review the submission for compliance with university and NSHE rules. If the proposal is not compliant, OSP will contact the sponsor to make any necessary revisions to the proposal in coordination with the principal investigator.
Deliver the check to OSP for deposit. (Do not send the check by campus mail.) OSP will ensure that the funds are credited to your sponsored project account.
Compliance Issues
The staff of the Office of Research Integrity - Human Subjects can provide that determination.
You should contact OSP and describe the conflict of interest. View the policies page for information on the university’s Conflict of Interest Policy.
"Export control" is a term that describes the application of the export control regulations. Knowledge of export regulations may be important for you to know about if you:
- Send data, technology, intellectual property, or tangible items (like equipment) out of the country.
- Employ non-U.S. citizens in your laboratory and perform applied research in a sensitive area or you work with a third party’s data, technology, intellectual property, or equipment, especially if the third party is a corporation.
- Work with embargoed countries such as Afghanistan, Angola, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Rwanda, Sudan, Syria, or the Western Balkans (Serbia and Montenegro).
View the university’s export control website.
Talk to your OSP research administrator about these issues if you anticipate transmitting or shipping anything outside the U.S. or if you anticipate performing nonfundamental research with non-U.S. citizens.
Awards
If the award comes to OSP, we will send you a copy of the agreement.
You may receive the award directly from the sponsor. If you do, deliver the award to OSP so that we can review and sign the award, as required, and set up your account number.
University rules require that OSP accept awards on behalf of the university.
If you have been notified by the sponsor that an award is imminent, let OSP know. We may be able to set up a risk account for you so you can begin spending in advance of the receipt of the award.
A risk account is an account that OSP can set up for you in advance of receipt of your award if we have received written notice from the sponsor that the award is being processed. Your OSP research administrator can assist you in requesting a risk account. All requests must be submitted to your OSP research administrator.
When an award has been signed by both the sponsor and OSP, it is ready to receive an account number. Your OSP grant accountant will enter budget, invoicing, and financial reporting information into the university’s systems and will generate an account number for your expenditures on the award. It usually takes a couple of days for an account number to be generated after the award has been signed by both the sponsor and OSP.
Some sponsors permit you to make budget revisions without permission. You should review your award terms and conditions for specifics or ask your OSP grant accountant. If you have to seek permission from the sponsor to change the budget, submit your revision to your grant accountant with an explanation of the revision. OSP will then forward the request to the sponsor and revise the budget when the sponsor approves the change.
Usually, your OSP grant accountant will prepare financial reports required by the sponsor. In unusual cases, you may be asked to assist with the preparation of the reports, especially if receipts for expenditures are required or when the reporting documentation is extensive. Additionally, sponsors sometimes request that a copy of the technical report be sent with the financial report; your OSP grant accountant will coordinate submission of the financial report with your technical report in these cases.
Your departmental administrative support staff should provide assistance with paperwork associated with your project.
Subrecipients
The principal investigator is responsible for monitoring subrecipients’ performance of the work they agreed to perform. In addition, the principal investigator should review all subrecipient invoices for correct billing, including any required cost sharing. If the invoiced amount is acceptable, the PI should write "approved" on the invoice, sign and date it, and forward it to Accounts Payable on a payment voucher. The PI is also responsible for insuring the subrecipient submits all deliverables and technical reports as required under the subrecipient agreement.
Contact OSP if your subrecipient is not performing adequately and provide us with the details. Depending on the seriousness of the situation, OSP may have to contact the Office of General Counsel to assist in resolving the situation.
Post-Award Issues — Extensions, Revised Budgets, Award Transfers
You can ask the sponsor to extend the period of performance. Contact your OSP grant accountant if you need to extend the end date of the project. You will need to provide an explanation of why the extension is necessary. (Spending out the account is not a valid reason to extend a project.) Your OSP grant accountant will submit the request to the sponsor and update the end date if the extension is approved.
In some cases, you will need approval. Review your award for sponsor approval requirements. If you do not need approval, your grant accountant will be able to adjust the budget quickly. If sponsor approval is required, you should work with the OSP grant accountant to prepare a budget revision request. OSP will send the request to the sponsor; when the request is approved, the account budget will be modified.
No, but let OSP know you sent it to the sponsor. A copy of the cover page for documentation purposes is sufficient for OSP’s files.
If you anticipate transferring equipment to an off-campus location please contact OSP.
In many cases, you can transfer your award. Discuss transfer with your department chair, and if she or he approves the transfer, contact your OSP grant accountant. OSP will review sponsor requirements for transferring the award. You should finalize all expenditures on the project if transfer is approved. Additionally, if you anticipate transferring equipment or data, please let OSP know the details. You must let Delivery Services know if you are transferring equipment so that inventory can be updated.
Data Use Agreement (DUA)
A data use agreement (DUA) is an agreement that is required under the Privacy Rule and must be entered into before there is any use or disclosure of a limited data set (defined below) to an outside institution or party. A limited data set is still protected health information (PHI), and for that reason, covered entities like UNLV must enter into a data use agreement with any recipient of a limited data set from UNLV.
At a minimum, any DUA must contain provisions that address the following:
- Establish the permitted uses and disclosures of the limited data set;
- Identify who may use or receive the information;
- Prohibit the recipient from using or further disclosing the information, except as permitted by the agreement or as otherwise permitted by law;
- Require the recipient to use appropriate safeguards to prevent an unauthorized use or disclosure not contemplated by the agreement;
- Require the recipient to report to the covered entity any use or disclosure to which it becomes aware;
- Require the recipients to ensure that any agents (including any subcontractors) to whom it discloses the information will agree to the same restrictions as provided in the agreement; and
- Prohibit the recipient from identifying the information or contacting the individuals.
Additionally, covered entities such as UNLV must take all reasonable steps to cure a recipient's breach of the DUA. For example, if UNLV learns that data it provided to a recipient is being used in a manner not authorized under the DUA, UNLV should work with the recipient to correct this problem. If these efforts are unsuccessful, UNLV would be required to cease any further disclosures of PHI to the recipient under the DUA and report the matter to the federal Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights.
A limited data set is a data set that is stripped of certain direct identifiers specified in the Privacy Rule. A limited data set may be disclosed to an outside party without a patient’s authorization only if the purpose of the disclosure is for research, public health, or health care operations purposes and the person or entity receiving the information signs a data use agreement (DUA) with the covered entity or its business associate.
Limited data sets may include only the following identifiers:
- Dates, such as admission, discharge, service, and date of birth (DOB)
- City, state, and zip code (not street address)
- Age
- Any other unique code or identifier that is not listed as a direct identifier.
This means that in order for a data set to be considered a limited data set, all of the following direct identifiers as they relate to the individual or his/her relatives, employers, or household members must be removed:
- Names
- Street addresses (other than town, city, state, and zip code)
- Telephone and fax numbers
- Email addresses
- Social security numbers
- Medical record numbers
- Health plan beneficiary numbers
- Account numbers
- Certificate/driver’s license numbers
- Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers, including license plate numbers
- Device identifiers and serial numbers
- URLs and IP addresses
- Biometric identifiers
- Full face photographic images and any comparable images.
A covered entity (such as UNLV) may use a member of its own workforce to create the "limited data set." On the other hand, the recipient may also create the "limited data set," so long as the person or entity is acting as a business associate of the covered entity.
A DUA must be entered into before there is any use or disclosure of a limited data set to an outside institution or party.
Yes, you will need both a data use agreement (DUA) and business associate agreement (BAA) because the covered entity is providing the recipient (UNLV) with PHI that includes direct identifiers. For that reason, a BAA would be required to disclose the direct identifiers to the recipient. Once the limited data set is created under the BAA, all of the PHI, other than the PHI qualifying as the limited data set under the DUA, must be returned to UNLV.
No, disclosures of "limited data sets" are not subject to the HIPAA accounting of disclosures requirements. DHHS has taken the position that the privacy of individuals with respect to PHI disclosed in a "limited data set" can be adequately protected through a single DUA.
Contact the Office of Research Integrity, David Hatchett, Ph.D., david.hatchett@unlv.edu, 702-895-0213.