Recovery FAQs
- What is the ARRA?
ARRA stands for the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009," otherwise known as the "Stimulus Package." The ARRA provides more than $787 Billion for a variety of programs designed to facilitate recovery from the current economic situation. ARRA will provide approximately $21 Billion for federal research and development activities.
- How is it likely to impact UM?
ARRA will provide funds to federal research agencies who will have to quickly develop programs to spend the funds. This will result in the funding of proposals already submitted and under review as well as new proposals submitted in response to specific ARRA solicitations.
- Have federal agencies already begun to award ARRA funds?
Yes. The bill was signed into law on February 17. Federal agencies are currently assembling their specific plans for dealing with their ARRA allocations. The plans have to be submitted to and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before funds will be released.
- What are the federal agencies going to use the funds for?
Each federal agency is finalizing its plans for how they plan to utilize the funds. For the federal research agencies, it is anticipated that some of the funds will be used for "one time expenditures" such as scientific instrumentation, research facility rehabilitation, research facility construction, and funding for existing research programs as well as for new research initiatives.
- Will the ARRA awards be grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements?
It is anticipated that ARRA awards will be made in all of the traditional federal award mechanisms: grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements.
- How do I find out if any of my currently pending proposals for new, renewal, or supplemental funding are being considered for ARRA funding?
The best way to accomplish this would be to speak with your Program Officer at the agency where your proposal is currently pending.
- Where can I find detailed information on current ARRA programs and activities?
The government has established a new website, recovery.gov, as the official federal-wide source of information on the ARRA and its programs. In addition, it is anticipated that the websites of each federal agency will begin to display information on the ARRA programs of that agency. Generally, these agency-specific websites will take the form "www.agency.gov/recovery" (e.g. www.nsf.gov/recovery) As they become available, links to these sites will be provided on this ARRA site.
Additionally, Grants.gov is listing ARRA funding opportunities: http://www.grants.gov, then click on "Recovery Act Opportunities."
- How can I find specific information about NIH or NSF programs that will be funded by ARRA?
NIH and NSF, as well as all other federal agencies, will be required to announce and post information on their ARRA programs. As soon as these announcements begin to be issued, we will add that information to this website.
- When are the proposals due?
The submission deadlines for ARRA proposals vary by each announcement. Be certain refer to the announcement for deadline information in addition to other submission instructions. It is anticipated that submissions for ARRA announcements will be heavy, please provide ORAA ample time to review your proposal for a timely submission.
- How should ARRA proposals be noted on the Routing Form?
The Internal Routing Form includes a check box to indicate that a proposal is in response to an ARRA Funding Opportunity. Additionally, the proposal's title should begin with "RECOVERY:"
- What should be the requested budget period?
PIs should refer to the Funding Opportunity for guidance regarding the requested budget periods and amount of funding available.
- Can ARRA funds be used to supplement a closed or terminated award?
No. Projects must be active to be considered for supplements or revisions. Supplemental or revision funds will be awarded and accounted for as a separate award with a separate FRS account number.
- Do institutions need to actually expend the ARRA funds by 9/20/2010?
No. 9/30/2010 is the deadline for the funding agencies to obligate all ARRA funds. Institutions can use standard expenditure rules in line with the grant budget period for actual expenditures. In general, project completion dates must therefore be no later than September 29, 2011.
- Do you anticipate the detailed tracking of expenses to carry forward to all other awards other than the ARRA awards?
No, it is not anticipated that the detailed tracking of award information will carry forward to other awards.
- Can AANAs be used with awards that are from ARRA funds?
Yes. The standard processes and responsibilities of the AANA process still applies to ARRA awards.
- Who will be responsible for tracking and monitoring expenditures and submitting reports to the funding agency?
This will be a shared responsibility involving departmental staff, PIs, ORAA, and OCGA.
- Will ORAA be able to help notify PIs about reporting deadlines?
ORAA will provide the PIs with the award documentation which lists the reporting requirements. Job creation and contribution to economic recovery are critical components for determining if a research program is appropriate for funding. We can expect that the PIs and campus will need to report on both aspects.
- How will UM account for ARRA funds?
Each award from an ARRA award will be given an individual FRS account. This account can not be co-mingled with other accounts.
- When are ARRA reports due, what time period do they cover?
Reports are due on tenth day after the end of the quarter: October 10, January 10, April 10, and July 10. Each report covers the activity of the previous quarter, except for the first report which covers all activity from April 1, 2009 – September 30, 2009. If an award was made during this time, a report must be submitted, even if the award date is September 30, 2009 and no work has been started.
- How will the information be submitted to Federalreporting.gov??
ORAA’s eRA team is coordinating the compilation of data from UM resources and will submit the completed Excel template on behalf of the PI and UM.
- What information are the PIs and departments responsible for submitting to ORAA, when is it due?
The PIs are asked to complete an Excel file with 6 data elements which include: project abstract; quarterly activity; project status; activity code; number of jobs created/retained; and description of jobs created/retained. ORAA requests that this file is completed and submitted via email no later than the first day after the end of the quarter (October 1, January 2, April 1, July 1).
- What happens if the reports are not submitted?
If the reports are not submitted it is possible that the Federal funding agency may revoke the award funding.
- Are quarterly reports required for those awards that were not submitted under an ARRA solicitation but were awarded with ARRA funding?
Yes. By accepting the award, UM has agreed to abide by all Terms and Conditions of the award, including submitting ARRA reports.
- If the ARRA award is a collaborative NSF award – individual awards made to each organization on the proposal – what should be reported?
Each organization shall report their portion of the project separately when individual awards are made – UM is only responsible for reporting UM efforts, budget, and scope of work on the project.
- What if the PI is working collaboratively with another investigator/department on campus? Who is responsible for completing the reports?
The PI is responsible for reporting all work done on the project here at UM. ORAA will provide the lead PI with the FRS account numbers for each related award, but the final report submitted will contain the information for the complete UM project. This includes the total number of jobs created/retained for all accounts.
- What are the reporting requirements/deadlines if UM is the sub-awardee on an ARRA award?
If UM is the sub, then the lead institution on the award determines the needed information and the deadline.
- Can the ARRA reporting requirements take the place of required progress reports?
No. All reports otherwise required by the funding agency are still required and due as determined in the award document. ARRA reporting is above and beyond any other reporting requirements.
- Part of the award funds will be used to create or retain a position. However, this appointment will not be made by the end of the quarter. What should be reported?
If an individual has not been appointed and no expenditures have cleared for the appointment, do not report the job as created/retained, wait until the following quarter to report the job.
- Are “jobs created” and “jobs retained” reported separately?
No. These figures are combined and reported as a single data element title “Number of Jobs.”
- How should graduate Research Assistants, Research Assistants, Students in terms of jobs created/retained be reported?
Jobs created/retained must be reported as Full Time Equivalents (FTE). If these positions are created or retained as a result of ARRA funding, then each should be counted. Please note that FTE is based on a 40-hour work week. While a GRA full time work week may be 20 hours, this is only 0.5 FTE.
- What if an individual needs to be transferred from a position funded by an ARRA award?
Payroll transfers are auditable. Once an individual is removed from an ARRA award, the jobs created/retained must decrease for that quarter.
- How are jobs created/retained calculated when the charge to the sponsored project is a percentage of an individual’s total activities?
Jobs created/retained are calculated as a Full Time Equivalent (FTE). From the OMB June 22, 2009 Memorandum: The calculation must comply with OMB Circular A-21 which outlines the allocable and allowable portion of activities which may be directly charged to the sponsored project. Compensation charged to the sponsored project must conform to the institution’s established policies and reasonably reflect the activity for which the employee is compensated.
For example – a faculty member charging 25% effort to a FRS account associated with an ARRA award will be counted as 0.25 FTE.
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