American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

Faculty and Staff PresentationsSeptember, 2009Sue Ross Bruce ElliottDirector Director Office for Sponsored Research, Office for Sponsored Research,Evanston Campus Chicago Campus

Mike Daniels Jennifer WeiSenior Associate Controller/Executive Director Effort Reporting Research

ManagerOffice of Financial Operations Office of Financial Operations

Jane Roy-SinghAssociate DirectorAccounting Services for Research and Sponsored Programs

I. ARRA Overview

II. PI and Department Admin. Responsibilities

III. Reporting Requirements and Timelines

ARRA Overview

ARRA enacted 2/17/09 $Billions investment to science ($10.4B NIH,

$3B NSF, $5.5B DOE) Stimulus funding – looking for impact on

employment $68M ARRA awards to date, more expected Rigorous accountability and reporting

requirements Audit risk is high

ARRA Proposal Data

Strong Northwestern response to ARRA funding opportunities

Proposals submitted specifically for ARRA601 for a total of $386.6 mil

350 ARRA proposals in April 2009 alone

ARRA Award Data

$68M awarded through 9/11 (125 awards) Sponsors: NIH, NSF, DOE(nergy) Northwestern has exceptionally high volume

(per CIC [Big Ten] data) Award profiles on Office for Research web

site (http://www.research.northwestern.edu/stimulus/)

ARRA Recipient Reporting Process

ARRA funds are separate from other agency funds Distinct CFDA Numbers Set up in separate chart strings Drawn down separately from non-ARRA funds Accounting for ARRA funds a rigorous and frequent

processWho is required to report under ARRA? Prime Recipients who receive Recovery Act funds. Prime recipients may delegate certain reporting

responsibilities to sub-recipients (NU will report subrecipient’s data)

ARRA Recipient Reporting Process

What reporting is required under ARRA? Total amount of funds received; and of that, the

amount spent on projects and activities A list of projects and activities funded by name to

include– Description– Completion status– Estimates on jobs created or retained

Details on sub-awards and other payments

ARRA Reporting Requirements

Quarterly (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct) 10 calendar day deadline Transparent – full public view New portal (FederalReporting.gov) New data elements

ARRA Reporting Timeline

Days 1-10 – NU uploads data to FederalReporting.gov

Days 11-21 – data is public, data validation and corrections begin (phase I)

Days 22-29 – data validation & corrections (phase II)

NOTE: If an award is missing from initial report, penalties include risk of award being suspended

Contextual View of Reporting

ARRA New Data Elements

Jobs created/retained (prime recipient, subrecipients, vendors)

Research progress (not started, < 50%, >50%, complete)

Project description (abstracts) Project activity codes (need PI input) Aggregate and individual subawards issued Vendor purchases > $25,000 (item description

and purpose) Demographic data (DUNS, Cong. Districts, etc.)

PI and Department Responsibilities

Begin work, spend ARRA funds right away Charge payroll ASAP to reflect jobs

created/retained For NIH ARRA supplements, give the

supplement priority Be prepared to provide descriptions of

products or services provided by large (> $25,000) vendor purchases

ARRA Reporting Specs

Must submit first report by 10/10 Drawing data from several NU systems May submit web, Excel, or XML OMB provides data definitions, format Potential 99 fields for each award Each report submitted individually

Current Status of NU Reporting

Northwestern registration in FederalReporting.gov complete

Data mapping complete Database design complete XML coding in process Subcontracts issued ASAP OSR gathering abstracts Process for PI data review complete

ARRA Key Info

Quarterly Reports IN ADDITION TO existing reports

Funds 611 and 621 identify ARRA funding 1st Report includes all awards issued through

9/30 Northwestern reporting jobs and expenditures

through prior month close to ensure data is as complete as possible

Example – 10/10 report to cover jobs and expenditures through August close

ARRA Data Review Process

1) Stimulus report review with link to spreadsheet distributed

2) Spreadsheet has pre-populated data of all ARRA awards

3) PI (or designate) locates individual project data on spreadsheet

4) Confirm data or provide specific feedback via stimulus report review

5) Stimulus report review release 9/21 ( and 12/21, 3/22, 6/21)

6) Responses due by 9/25 (and 12/29, 3/26, 6/25)7) If no response, pre-populated data will be reported

ARRA Data Elements

ARRA Jobs Created and Retained

Formula dictated by the Office of Management and Budget and interpreted by NIH, NSF

One combined number reported for jobs created and retained

Report requires description of positions

ARRA Jobs Created and Retained

Example #1 - Exempt (e.g. faculty)– # of jobs created or retained is calculated based on

the paid effort charged to the ARRA grant divided by the total salary on a quarterly basis

ARRA Jobs Created and Retained

Example #2 – Non-exempt (e.g. Biweekly Paid)– 1 Full-time FTE is based on 489 hours per quarter– Default hours for hourly paid employees (biweekly regular or biweekly

temporaries)

*Note: Two weeks constitute 1 pay period

ARRA Jobs Created and Retained

Example #3 – Non-exempt (Biweekly Paid)

PI Responsibilities

Begin work, spend ARRA funds right away For NIH ARRA supplements, give the

supplement priority Complete the Stimulus Report Review 9/21-25 Be prepared to provide descriptions of

products or services provided by large (> $25,000) vendor purchases

Department Responsibilities

Establish payroll ASAP to reflect jobs created/retained

Serve as a back up for the Stimulus Review Report 9/21-25

Be prepared to provide descriptions of products or services provided by large (> $25,000) vendor purchases

ARRA Assistance

We are here to help you!

Northwestern ARRA Hotlinearra@northwestern.edu

Northwestern ARRA web sitehttp://www.research.northwestern.edu/stimulus/

Questions?