Q&A Follow Up Oct. 2021 MRAM

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The Oct. 14th MRAM materials are published for your review.  Q&A from our session are included here for reference and will be available with the other meeting materials shortly. 

NIH Child Care Allowance Update

Q1: What if the trainee doesn't use the full amount? Would a future trainee be able to use the remainder, or would they get the full amount? What if the trainee doesn't complete a full year? Are they eligible for the full $2,500?
A1: Based on current NIH guidance, NIH will provide an allowance of $2,500 per trainee slot per budget period. If a trainee could not use all of the allowance during the budget period, and the trainee terminates from the training grant during the budget year, a newly appointed trainee to that slot could use the remaining allowance. However, an individual trainee may not be reimbursed more than $2,500 during the year.

Please see the NIH Notice and FAQ for additional information:

Q2: Would GCA consider putting the childcare allowance in a sub budget and unrestrict it when appropriate? This could help prevent confusion around actual budget balance on the training grant.
A2: For training grants, GCA will create a sub budget for each eligible trainee once the department confirms eligibility and submits a Transpasu form to GCA. That helps reduce the number of potentially unused budget numbers. For fellowships, GCA will automatically set up one sub budget once we receive a Funding Action with an NOA that includes childcare funding.The department will not need to submit a Transpasu form for GCA to create the sub budget.

Covid-19 Vaccine Confirmation and Sponsor Requirements

Note questions that had similar responses have been combined.

Q1: New FAR clauses - what about subawards to an organization that is outside of WA state and doesn't have the same local requirements? And what if we have subaward members who are not vaccinated?
A1: When the FAR clause is included in our contract, we are required to flow-down the clause in outgoing subcontracts. Each subcontractor will need to determine if they can accept the modification. It may be difficult for subcontractors in jurisdictions that do not have similar requirements. The PI should be aware that this may trigger some changes on how that portion of the work gets done. Review Safer Federal Taskforce FAQs on the requirements imposed by inclusion of the FAR clause. 

Q2: Re: COVID Vaccination proof from the department from the "appropriate HR person," It may be helpful to have a list of which Workday roles are allowed to verify. For example, people with the I-9 role in Workday were tasked with verifying vaccination status for faculty and staff. Would I-9 coordinators be approved to document compliance with vaccination status?
A2: Those in the unit who are authorized to view vaccine status/exemption status in Workday are the appropriate HR staff. In most cases, this is the I-9 coordinator. After verifying statuses, the I-9 coordinator simply needs to email the PI that we meet sponsor requirements. If there is more than one department involved, there will need to be coordination by the lead PI/dept. to gather those statements from each department for their personnel working on the project.

Q3: Does the vaccine requirement apply to foreign contractors or foreign subcontractors? How will our foreign subawardees be affected if they are unable and or limited in availability to get vaccines where they are located.
A3: Please see answer to Question 18 under the “Guidance for federal Contractors and Subcontractors”. If the work is performed outside the U.S. by a covered contractor employee, then the protocols do not apply. We are seeking clarification this goes for subcontractors performing outside the U.S., as well.

Q4: Do you anticipate that this new rule will spread from federal contracts to federal grants?
A4: EO 14042 exempts grants from the federal “Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocol” requirements.

Q5: Can you please confirm, subawards will get the flow-down T&C, and that institution will need to determine their response, but if they don't respond back to the federal sponsor will the subaward be cancelled?  If the subrecipient organization chooses not to accept the FAR clause because they cannot comply, must the subaward be abandoned or terminated?
A5: This is the most likely situation. If they do not respond, there is follow-up, including reminding the subrecipient that early termination is a possibility, before such action is taken.

UW Announcement: Covid-19 Vaccination Confirmations & Sponsored Programs
Federal Resources:

Sponsored Program by the Numbers (FY21)

Q1: What comprises covid relief funding?
A1: This is funding that was issued under the CARES Act, which includes Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) funding for institutional costs and FEMA Disaster Relief funding issued through the Washington Military Department.
Student aid funding under HEERF is not included in these numbers as that was processed separately.

Q2: Is OSP increasing FTE?
A2: No; we are working with the same budget constraints as other UW units. We continually seek to improve efficiencies (such as the Advance Budget Number process changes) to assist overall workflow.