天美传媒

UMass Boston

Forms, Policies & Processes

Resources for Preparing Proposals & Managing Sponsored Programs

Forms, Policies & Processes contain important information and resources intended to assist faculty and staff in preparation of proposals and sponsored program management.

Additional Compensation & Summer Salary

Guidance for Proposals and Awards

See also, Effort Reporting in Research Integrity & Compliance.

Advance Accounts

Advance Account Policy and Request Form

Charges incurred prior to the start date of a grant or contract are usually unallowable because they are made before the effective date agreed upon in the final award document. Occasionally, due to circumstances beyond the control of the principal investigator (PI) and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP), the terms and conditions of the award are still being negotiated when the anticipated start date of the project arrives. The following is provided to clarify the UMass Boston procedures by which ORSP, given reasonable assurance that the award is forthcoming, will establish a sponsored program account to provide the PI with an opportunity to initiate project activities and begin incurring associated expenses.

Award Management

Allowability and Allocability

Guidance for appropriate budgeting and expenditure of sponsored funds.

See also, Budgeting in Proposal Development Tools below.

Authorized Signature for Sponsored Projects

Authorization to initiate and/or approve transactions for sponsored awards.

Award Closeout

Policies related to closing out your award. Post-Award services initiates the award closeout process, contact your Financial Research Administrator if you have any questions.

See also, Award Closeout in the Grant Lifecycle.

Award Modifications

Forms and guidance for modification of existing awards.

The Research & Sponsored Programs Budget Workbook can be found on the Proposal Development Tools section under Budgeting.

Cost Transfers

UMass Boston is committed to ensuring that all cost transfers, either in the form of an electronic personnel action form (ePAF) or a journal entry, are appropriate and are conducted in accordance with sponsor terms and conditions, applicable Federal/State regulations, and UMB policy.

Course Buyout

Tenured and tenure-track faculty members may, with proper approvals in advance, buy out courses to free up time for advancing their scholarly work and research endeavors.

For additional information see the Budgeting section of the Proposal Development Tools.

Hiring

Hiring for sponsored projects must be conducted in accordance with sponsor terms and conditions, applicable Federal/State regulations, and UMass Boston policy.

For additional information see Budgeting under Proposal Development Tools.

Internal Grant Programs

Resources for managing your internal grant programs.

The Internal Grant Programs are administered in accordance with established university fiscal procedures and policies relating to the conduct of sponsored programs. All budget expenditures and project activities must occur within the established project period.

One copy of submitted, published, or conference papers and facsimiles or descriptions of artistic creations that result from the project activities must be submitted when they become available. All publications resulting from the grant project and all narratives associated with exhibitions or performances of works resulting from the grant project must acknowledge the assistance of your Internal Grant Program and the 天美传媒.

All documentation must be emailed to: Internal.Grants@umb.edu   

To request an extension to your award, use the request form linked above. 

A final project report must be submitted via email within 1 month of the end of the project period, summarizing grant activities, expenditures, and outcomes. Refer to your specific grant program guide for more details pertaining to management of your internal award, guides are available on the Finding Funding page linked below. 

See UMass Boston Internal Funding Programs in the Finding Funding section of the Grant Lifecycle. 

Participant Incentives

Participant incentives, such as gift cards and cash payments, are restricted items requiring special review and approval by UMass Boston ORSP and UPST with ongoing monitoring and tracking by the PI.

  • Gift Card Request Process
  • ORSP Request Form -
    • Each approved form will generate one declining balance card to use to purchase the incentives
    • Complete the detail block of the form indicating how many incentives and at what value (example: 10 $50 cards)
  • UPST Payment Form

For additional information see Institutional Review Board (IRB) under Research Integrity and Compliance.

Participant Support Costs

If a grant supports a conference, meeting, workshop, seminar, symposium, or training program, then the direct costs associated with an individual’s participation in these activities may be allowed under the sponsoring agency’s program guidelines as participant support costs. A number of grants awarded by Federal Agencies allow budgeting for these costs and they must be separately accounted for by the university.

If your award includes participant support and was not setup with a participant support cost project, use this form to request one be added.

For additional information see Budgeting under Proposal Development Tools.

Student Payments

UMass Boston must ensure all student payments (fellowships, stipends, awards, etc.) processed through ORSP follow the correct taxation rules and regulations of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). All sponsored student payment requests must be reviewed and approved by ORSP prior to processing.

To assist with proper budgeting of student payments, Kuali Proposal Development (PD) has a form that assists with determining the correct budget category for your proposals.

For additional information see Budgeting under Proposal Development Tools.

Compliance

Conflict of Interest (COI)

UMass Boston has a responsibility to manage, reduce, or eliminate any actual or potential conflicts of interest that may be presented by financial interest, outside activities, or foreign influence and engagement of an investigator.

See also, Conflict of Interest under Research Integrity and Compliance.

Effort Reporting

UMass Boston utilizes ECC (Employee Compensation Compliance) on an annual basis to ensure compliance around compensation of personal services for sponsored research. ECC facilitates the required after the fact review of interim charges made to sponsored programs through a certification process. This in conjunction with monitoring compensation allocations throughout the year helps the university comply with federal requirements in , the , and any other personnel commitments for sponsored programs.

Visit Effort Reporting under Research Integrity and Compliance.

See also, Summer Salary Supported by Sponsored Programs in the Additional Compensation & Summary Salary section above.

Export Control

Export controls are U.S. laws and regulations that control and sometimes restrict the release of critical technologies, information, and services to foreign nationals, within and outside of the United States, and foreign countries for reasons of foreign policy and national security. They apply to all faculty, staff, and students.

Visit Export Controls under Research Safety & Security.

Human Subjects and IRB

University policy requires that all research involving human subjects be reviewed and approved by the UMass Boston Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to initiation of the research. This requirement applies to all human subjects research conducted by faculty, staff, and students, on- and off-campus, regardless of the funding support, if any, for the project.

Visit Institutional Review Board (IRB) under Research Integrity & Compliance.

See also, Participant Incentives in the Award Management section above.

Animal Subjects and IACUC

UMass Boston is a teaching and research institution which supports the responsible use of animals in research. All proposed research and teaching activities involving the use of vertebrate animals requires review and approval by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

Visit Animal Care and Use under Research Integrity & Compliance.

Malign Foreign Government Talent Recruitment Programs (MFTRP)

Important updates to our collective responsibilities under federal regulations and University policy, particularly concerning participation in Malign Foreign Government Talent Recruitment Programs (MFTRPs). The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 and subsequent federal agency policies—including those from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Department of Defense (DoD)—impose strict prohibitions on participation in MFTRPs for all individuals engaged in federally funded research. The University of Massachusetts needs to be fully compliant with these requirements for continued eligibility for federal funding.

Under the university’s Conflicts Policy, the Conflicts Committee has been expressly delegated powers from the Board of Trustees to manage conflicts of interest in the research enterprise. At its regularly scheduled meeting on August 8, 2024, the Conflicts Committee voted to approve the language linked below as an advisory and policy statement of the Conflicts Committee.

Research Misconduct

UMass Boston requires that all research and scholarly activities be conducted with strict adherence to the highest possible professional, ethical, and legal standards. Misconduct in research and scholarly activities is harmful to the University’s teaching, research, and public service missions and cannot be tolerated.

Visit Research Misconduct under Research Integrity & Compliance.

Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR)

All members of the research community, including faculty, research staff, students, adjunct faculty, and visiting researchers, are expected to adhere to the highest ethical and professional standards as they pursue research activities to ensure compliance with all legal, regulatory, and ethical requirements established by the University, regulatory bodies, funding sources, and professional organizations.

Visit Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research under Research Integrity & Compliance.

Consulting

Outside Consulting Guidance for Faculty

Consulting agreement and related policy

Cost Sharing

Guidance for Proposals and Award Management

Policies and forms related to cost share for proposals and award management.

Grants vs. Gifts

How do I determine if my funding is a grant or a gift?

Funds from individuals, corporations, foundations, and other private-sector sources that provide general support for broadly defined activities or a specific program area or purpose can be difficult to quantify. These entities can be perceived as either sponsors of specific activities or donors to general university support, depending on the circumstances under which the funds were provided and the specifics of the award that controls the use of the funds. The university must maximize the benefits that can accrue both to the university and to the entity providing the funds while ensuring the proper level of accountability in the custodianship of these extramural funds.

Is my award or proposal considered a Grant or a Gift? ORSP will help guide you to ensure the funds are handled appropriately, see the documentation linked below and reach out to your Department Research Administrator or Grants and Contracts Administrator with any questions.

Grant vs. Gift Policy

Indirect (F&A) Rates, Costs, and Recovery

Everything You Need to Know About Indirect Rates

The Indirect (Facilities and Administration Cost “F&A”) rate for a project is identified when the proposal budget is initially prepared. The applicable rate depends upon the location, purpose and funder/sponsor of the project. As a rule, our federally negotiated rates should always be used unless the sponsor has a published rate.

Indirect Waiver Forms

The Indirect Waiver form assists in determining the appropriate Indirect rate to use when preparing budgets for your proposals and facilitates the approval process should you request a reduced rate.

  • Use the form available from the Preproposal Forms section in your proposal within Kuali Proposal Development (Kuali PD)

Indirect Waivers for proposals should be initiated from within the proposal in Kuali PD using Preproposal Forms whenever possible. Use the form linked below only if your proposal has been fully routed through worfklow approval routing and is in status Approved and Submitted.

Policy and Guidance

The documentation below outlines the policies and guidance behind the determinations on the Indirect Waiver Forms available in Kuali PD and online.

Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreements (NICRA)

The University negotiates indirect cost rates with the Federal Government. These negotiations are based on actual costs incurred by the University and are approved in accordance with the authority of . The Cognizant Federal Agency for the University is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

For additional information see the Budgeting section of the Proposal Development Tools.

Investigator Eligibility

Guidance and Resources for Becoming an Eligible Investigator

These resources outline the roles, responsibilities, and expectations throughout the grant lifecycle for Principal Investigators (PIs) and Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs) involved in research programs at the University Massachusetts Boston. The University aims to ensure the highest standards of stewardship, integrity, compliance, and effectiveness in the conduct of research, facilitating a collaborative environment that fosters innovation, accountability, and the advancement of knowledge.

To access UMass Boston systems, users must have completed a CON-15 form and Computing Awareness form through the UMass Boston Controller's Office. ORSP has setup a powerform in DocuSign to assist with this process, this has selections set for general investigator access, .

Research Professorships

Faculty Research Development Resources

Proposal Development Tools

Assignment of Shared Credit

Budget Development

The Research & Sponsored Programs Budget Tool is a template used to prepare a detailed budget for a sponsored project. This tool incorporates current fringe and indirect rates providing you accurate calculations in one easy to use workbook. Read the Instructions tab and complete the Cover Page to get started.

Related topics:

Equipment Fabrication

Fabricated equipment is complex equipment comprised of a number of individual components that are fabricated / built into a single function unit. Fabricated equipment is capitalized as a single asset for a combined total cost in excess of $5,000, is free standing, is complete in itself, does not lose its identity when affixed to other property, and has a useful life greater than one (1) year.

International Travel and Export Control Checklist

When planning a trip abroad, individuals sometimes take information, technology and equipment with them. However, faculty, staff and students need to be aware of the impact of export control regulations when traveling internationally. Complete the checklist below to ensure you are compliant with all export control related travel requirements.

International Travel Checklist

Statement of Work (SOW)

A Statement of Work (SOW) is a detailed document that defines the project, scope, roles, timelines, and deliverables for contracted activities. An SOW is an essential toll to ensure everyone understands their objectives, roles, and responsibilities.

Small Business Development SBIR/STTR

SBIR and STTR awards are grants given to small businesses to fund research and development (R&D). The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are part of the U.S. government's America Seed Fund.

For additional small business resources see Venture Development Center (VDC) on Tools & Resources.

Sponsor Related

The SF424 (Standard Form 424) is a standardized application form used by federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other organizations, for grant applications related to research, projects, or programs.


Proposal Development Resources from Key Sponsors


For additional data management resources see Research Data Management – Healey Library on Tools & Resources.

Roles & Responsibilities

Clearly Defined Roles and Responsibilities for Sponsored Programs

This document outlines the roles and responsibilities for sponsored programs at UMass Boston, clearly defining the key duties and expectations for each role to ensure success throughout the grant lifecycle.

State & Federal

State and Federal Guidance

Subrecipient Monitoring

Everything You Need to Know About Subrecipients