Policies and Procedures

Personnel

The policies and procedures for personnel on project funds (C&G) are the same as those UCF applies to departmental funding (E&G): http://www.hr.ucf.edu

Certain projects may have export control requirements that restrict foreign national access, dissemination, and participation.

Travel

Travel manual and related information

Pre-Expenditure Cost Transfer Review Checklist

Pre-Expenditure Review – Travel

• In order to provide adequate monitoring of awards, the Office of Research is required to review certain categories of travel expenditures to ensure that the trip is approved or appropriate on a specific C&G account. The categories of C&G travel which require prior approval are:
  • Domestic (Continental U.S.) exceeding $2,500/trip/person
  • International – all trips
• Create Spend Authorization in Workday the university’s formal document for travel approval to satisfy the requirement that travel must be authorized in advance of the travel date per Florida Statute §112.061. In addition, the Spend Authorization and the Expense Report must reflect the same worktags for the sponsored research grant.
• Requisition is routed to OR for approval.
• If sponsor approval is required OR will discuss with PI before contacting the sponsor. Sufficient travel detail in the proposal budget helps in these situations. Travel will be approved by OR, (a) if travel can be approved based upon your award or (b) once agency approval is received.
• Travel expenditures that have not been pre-approved and that cannot be charged to a C&G account due to agency restrictions will be charged against the C&G balance or indirect cost account of the PI, department, college, or institute, as necessary.
• Review by OR is solely to ensure the allowability of the expense in accordance with the terms and conditions of the award. Financial Affairs and the PI’s department will continue to assume the responsibility for ensuring that C&G accounts and their budget categories are not over-expended.
• The Fly America Act (41 CFR 301-10.131 through 301-10.143) requires that all federally funded travel be on a US flag carrier or US flag carrier service provided under a code-share agreement, except under specific situations. Under certain circumstances, PI’s traveling internationally on federally funded grants MAY be eligible for exemptions to the Fly America Act but prior authorization is required. The explanation of eligibility and instructions for requesting prior authorization can be found in the Fly America Act Exception Form

(Export Control and International Travel) may have certain restrictions including limitations on the export of computers or other scientific devices. If you plan to travel internationally with UCF owned equipment and have any questions related to export, please email the Office of International Collaboration and Export Control (OICEC) at exportcontrol@ucf.edu.

Equipment

All equipment purchases are subject to the bid and quote limits and procedures outlined in the Purchasing Manual.

Pre-Expenditure Review – Equipment

• Federal Property Control System Analysis regulations require that the Office of Research review purchases of equipment to ensure that the item is allowable for purchase on a Contract and Grant (C&G) account.
• 1. Prior to C&G equipment purchases, either through purchasing, the computer store, expense card, or credit card, the PI or his/her designee is requested to create a requisition within the Workday system which workflow to the Office of Research for approval. If agency approval is required, the Office of Research will contact the PI to determine if agency contact is desired. If the equipment can be approved based on the award or, once agency approval is received, OR will load into to HRS the approval e-mail and the appropriate decal information will be documented within the Workday.

• Office of Research’s approval to purchase will also provide proper decal instructions for vesting information:

  • FS (Florida Solar)
  • CG (Contract and Grant)
  • CF (Central Florida
  • BV (Brevard Campus
  • DB (Daytona Beach Campus)
  • SO (South Orlando campus)
  • US decals
• This decal information should become part of the Workday record so Property and Inventory Control will know which type of decal to use for the item of property the PI is purchasing from the C&G account.
• Any requisition without this information will be returned to the PI for correction or forwarded to OR for the required approval or information.
• OR will make every effort to respond within a day of receipt of the PI’s request.
• Purchases made within ninety (90) days of the project end date will need an additional justification regarding the need to make an equipment purchase at the end of the project.

 Processes for Property and Inventory control.

Traditional scientific research usually requires project progress be documented in a record log, journal, diary, or progress notebook. These records keep track of project dates, events, and travel. These records also outline research directions, detours, and dead ends of the project, as well as aid the PI in writing the required reports specified in the award. The OR recommends that all UCF researchers maintain such documentation of their work.

It is advisable to keep record logs in a pre-bound notebook. Be sure to date each entry and have a witness read and sign important observances, events, or notations. These records should be kept current and in a secure location. Duplicate records, such as a photocopy of the records, should also be kept in a separate, secure location.

The OR and UCF’s Research Foundation (RF) are the official liaisons between UCF researchers and funding agencies. UCF’s Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) is responsible for managing the university’s intellectual property (IP) assets and for bringing discoveries to the marketplace through IP protection, marketing, and licensing. Our teams are committed to fostering growth of the research enterprise through sponsored research and facilitating commercialization of innovative research results. OR, RF and OTT work collaboratively to negotiate optimal IP terms in sponsored research contracts to ensure protection of university’s innovations and to safeguard the university’s rights to continue to use, disseminate, and build on its knowledge base and research capabilities, while providing to private industry sponsors opportunities to secure rights to bring university technologies to market.

UCF’s standard position on intellectual property (IP) in sponsored research contracts with industry:

UCF’s standard IP terms are consistent with the best practices followed by many other research-intensive universities across the nation and are briefly summarized below.

• Each party to an agreement retains rights in its IP existing before a project or generated outside of the scope of a project (“Background IP”).
• IP generated in the performance of the scope of a project (“Foreground IP”) solely developed by each party to an agreement is owned by that party.
• Foreground IP developed jointly is owned jointly by the inventing parties. Inventorship is determined in accordance with United States patent laws.
• An industry sponsor is provided a time limited first option to negotiate a commercial license. An industry sponsor may also be provided a nonexclusive license for internal research purposes.

Special Industry Partnering Program:

To support our research ecosystem and provide a pathway for more efficient contracting, UCF also offers interested industry partners certain selectable pre-negotiated choices for grant of commercial Foreground IP rights:

• Nonexclusive royalty free (NERF) license with an upfront payment of 5% of the sponsored research contract;
• Exclusive license with an upfront payment of 10% of the sponsored research contract or $15K, whichever is greater; or
• Transfer of ownership with an upfront payment of 20% of the sponsored research contract or $30K, whichever is greater.

Researcher Responsibilities

TUCF employees are bound by the Collective Bargaining Agreement and/or by UCF Regulations 2.029 (Patents, Trademarks and Trade Secrets) and 2.033 (Copyrights and Works) to disclose to OTT the Inventions and Works described below. All capitalized words are defined in the aforementioned UCF regulations.:

• All Inventions made in the field or discipline in which the Inventor is employed by the university or for which there has been University Support and all Works developed by Creators using University Support ;
• All Inventions and Works made during the course of funded research;
• All Inventions resulting from Outside Activity within the field or discipline of the inventing employee.

OR and OTT will report to the sponsor all Inventions and Works developed under the sponsored project in accordance with the agreed-upon terms. OTT will lead licensing discussions with the sponsor.

Cost share and matching are commitments from sources other than the funding agency to cover certain costs of a project or to provide in-kind services such as use of space or equipment.

If a project requires cost share, a separate account(s) will be established to document all cost share expenditures. OR will send the PI a separate cost share memo detailing how to utilize the account(s). Read and follow the directions included in the cost share memo.

It is essential that the cost share account(s) be used to document the fulfillment of your cost share commitments. Failure to properly document cost share may result in an audit finding, the requirement to return agency funds, and could negatively impact future sponsorships.

Cost share/matching sources can originate from:

• OR Match Commitment Policy for Proposals to Federal Agencies.
• A University department
• A University College
• Other sources from within or outside the University.

Implementation

1. A match (cost sharing) account will be established for each sponsored grant incorporating cost sharing/matching provisions. This includes grants covered by agency standing policy (National Science Foundation (NSF)), and by other required cost sharing arrangements.
2. The source of funds may be any E&G fund account of the university, and in some instances other non-federal C&G funded accounts (funding from a foundation could serve as cost share to a federally funded project). It could also be an F&A return account (indirect/overhead).
3. All costs shared, including those that exceed the contractual requirement, must be budgeted, and recorded in the match grant except for F&A (indirect) costs allocable to the match grant. F&A will recognize both costs in their financial reporting.
4. Upon receipt of an award OR will establish a sponsored C&G award and assign a grant number; budget as awarded; determine the required cost sharing/matching from the proposal and/or award; establish a match grant and assign a number. This information will be provided to the department responsible for administering the grant.
5. For E&G accounts, the PI will coordinate with department/college personnel in the preparation and submission of a budget transfer form to fund the match account.
6. Charges will be recorded against the two accounts as directed by the PI on payroll vouchers, purchase, and check requests, etc.
7. Cost share should be limited to the amount specifically required by the funding agency. All committed cost share must either be specifically identified in the proposal or by a separate form accompanying the proposal during internal routing and approvals, documented on the Proposal Transmittal Form (PTF) and signed by the responsible party for the cost share commitment (e.g., chair, dean, etc.). Subsequent funding of the proposal requires that all proposed cost sharing be budgeted, recorded, and documented in accordance with this policy.
8. Responsibility for substantiating cost sharing/matching is the PI’s and the department heads.

UCF’s Guidance and Directive on Cost Share (Matching) Requirements