The Office of Sponsored Programs will replace the current employee-based Personnel Action Reports required for federal and federal pass through projects, as well as projects involving cost share with a more streamlined project-based Project Verification Statement, effective Jan. 1.

Project statements will focus on a system of internal controls, which involves the amount and type of documentation required to support salary, wage and benefit charges to federal awards, federal pass through awards and awards involving cost share. This means that instead of one report being generated for each employee, one report will be generated for each project, listing all employees assigned to it. That will decrease the number of items faculty need to review.

The new project system is electronic, requiring no paperwork. The statements will be generated once a year, instead of the current three times annually. The system also allows for simulation reports to be run at any time.

Belinda Gillam, an Office of Sponsored Programs project specialist, said the new system will be much more user friendly for department contacts and principal investigators, especially for large projects that involve many faculty/staff.

Ninety-minute training sessions are scheduled for department contacts on Jan. 7, 8, 15, 16, 22, 27 and 28 and Feb. 4, 12, 19 and 27, and for principal investigators Jan. 22 and Feb. 12. It’s important that faculty and staff sign up for the correct training. View the training schedule and register soon.

There will be monthly training sessions throughout 2020 for both department contacts and principal investigators.