Policies for Sponsored Programs

Gifts (including bequests) are monies or property given voluntarily, without expectation of return or compensation on the part of the donor. Grants, on the other hand, are monies or property awarded to the University with terms and conditions for the use of the funds/property.

All grants must route through the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

Review the Determination Matrix for assistance in determining whether the funding is a grant or a gift.

The following personnel are eligible to serve as the principal investigator (PI) or project director (PD) on a sponsored program:

• Full-time UTC faculty in tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure-track appointments
• Full-time UTC staff

Adjunct faculty and individuals in courtesy or honorary appointments typically are not eligible to serve as the PI/PD on a sponsored program.

UT Faculty and staff are expected to take all reasonable precautions to ensure that their outside interests (including interests of a spouse, dependent children, and nondependent children) do not place them in conflict with carrying out their duties and responsibilities as employees of the university. This includes avoiding the potential to compromise or appear to compromise their judgement when conducting or reporting research.

UT Policy #GE0002 explains the UT Conflict of Interests Policy, details faculty and staff reporting requirements, and provides links to the Outside Interest Disclosure Form that all faculty and staff should complete annually. For help completing the OID form, review our OID guide for researchers here.

Note that there is no penalty for reporting an interest through the OID form and having a declared interest does not inherently prevent proposal submissions, though a management plan may be needed.

An “unpaid student worker” is a student who serves in a role that, if included in the budget, would be considered a personnel role. Participants in a workshop or other activity for the sole purpose of receiving training or completing a learning experience are not considered unpaid student workers. Please review the Unpaid Student Workers on Sponsored Programs infosheet to determine if this policy applies to your project.

UT’s code of conduct is intended to assist employees and their departments in creating a responsible and ethical workplace. It outlines the basic expectations for employees, directs them to policy requirements and training resources and provides instructions for reporting concerns and violations.

For information on UTC’s procedures for reporting sexual and other forms of harassment to NSF, click here.

The following fiscal policies are relevant to sponsored programs. Please keep them in mind as you work with ORSP to prepare budgets for proposal submissions and implement awarded projects:

• Sponsored Projects
• Distinguishing Direct vs Indirect Costs
• Salary Policy
• Federal Salary Rate Limitation
• Travel Policy
• Cost Sharing
• Effort Certification
• Cost Transfers
• Code of Business Ethics
• Contracts
• Subaward Origination and Subrecipient Monitoring
• Program Income
• Gift Cards and Gift Certificates
• Unmanned Aircraft Systems

UT Fiscal Policy FI0207 specifies certain conditions that must be met in order for extra service pay to be allowable for exempt staff, 12-month faculty, and/or 9-month faculty during the academic year from federal or federal flow-through funds. For non-federal sponsors, the institution has more discretion in considering special circumstances under which extra services pay may be approved. See the Extra Service Pay Procedure Statement for guidance on when and how to submit the Extra Service Pay Preapproval Form.

Cost-share, also called matching funds, is sometimes required for grant programs. Cost-share is financial or other resources (personnel time, etc.) which the funding organization requests or requires that the applicant contribute or “share” to support the grant-funded program or project.

Cost-share may be in cash or in-kind. Cash cost-share is when UTC or a partner commits to outlay funds to support the project/program. In-kind cost-share occurs when UTC or a partner commits to providing resources that are not cash but can be assigned a cash value (e.g., personnel time, use of facilities, use of equipment, etc.). If you are working on a project that involves cost-share, contact ORSP immediately for additional information specific to the project you are working on. Here are some general notes about the use of cost-share:

• All UTC cost-share must be approved in writing by an appropriate administrator and by the Vice Chancellor for Finance & Operations during the internal approval process.
• All cost-share from partnering organizations must be approved in writing by an appropriate administrator from the partnering organization.

During the project period, it is the responsibility of the Primary Investigator/Project Director to keep appropriate records and document that all cost-share commitments are honored.

Facilities & Administrative (F&A) costs, also referred to as indirect costs or overhead, are those costs associated with providing and maintaining the infrastructure that supports the research enterprise (buildings and their maintenance, libraries, etc.) and which cannot easily be identified with a specific project. “Facilities” is defined as depreciation and use allowances, interest on debt associated with certain buildings, equipment and capital improvements, operation and maintenance expenses, and library expenses. “Administration” is defined as general administration and expenses, departmental and college administration, sponsored projects administration, and all other types of expenditures not listed specifically under one of the subcategories of Facilities.

Per UT Fiscal Policy FI0206, the University expects that appropriate F&A costs will be included in all proposal budgets, unless the sponsor specifically prohibits them, and it is expected that F&A costs will be recovered to the maximum extent possible.

Further, UTC has established procedures for how the F&A recoveries should be distributed once they are returned to the university. Those procedures are outlined in this document.

Award contracts from external sponsors funding research, educational, or service projects conducted by UTC must be processed through ORSP. Subawards that pay outside/third parties to do a portion of the work on an externally funded project must also be processed through ORSP. Additional information is available at Award Contracts and Subawards.

The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) makes information on federal expenditures of taxpayer dollars more accessible to the public. FFATA requires prime recipients of federal awards to report on their subawards via a public website. Subawards include subcontracts, subgrants, and other instruments awarding funds to third party recipients.

Click here for FFATA Data Collection Form.

Sponsored programs involving minors are subject to UT’s policy on Programs for Minors. UTC specific procedures are available here.  

UT’s Responsible Conduct in Research & Scholarly Activities policy outlines expectations for high standards of research integrity and procedures related to allegations of misconduct.

UT’s Visitors Engaged in Research policy describes standards and requirements for individuals engaging in research on UT campuses who are not UT employees or enrolled students.

ORSP frequently provides sample funded proposals from other institutions that proposal writers can use to help identify the hallmarks of a successful proposal. These documents have been graciously provided by the PI/PD to illustrate the logical arguments, clarity, level of detail, etc. needed to be competitive.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should information be taken from these documents without proper reference/citation. To do so may violate legal and ethical codes of conduct.