Dean's Faculty Update
Transition Time at ISP
Date: September 1st, 2009
From: Mark R. McLellan, Dean
IFAS Faculty ----
As promised we would like to give you an update on the transition of IFAS Sponsored Programs (ISP). Previously we gave you an in-process plan (available here). Today I want to bring you more details of the transition.
ISP Post-Award: The ISP post award section has officially now moved (August 1st, 2009) to Contracts and Grants (C&G) under the Chief Financial Officer and is now known as "C&G @ IFAS". This group moved over intact under Brian Sevier who now reports to Brad Staats and remains located in the same place in McCarty with the same contacts as previously. We don't know if this will eventually change, but C&G has assured us that they do not expect any location or assignment changes during the first 6 months.
ISP Pre-Award: We have received confirmation that an agreement has been reached between the UF Division of Sponsored Research (DSR) and IFAS such that ISP will cease to function as a Pre-Award processor and all processing functions will move to DSR. Friday, September 4th, will be the last full operating day of ISP Pre-Award. Changes in the six ISP Pre-Award staff were noted in the previous update linked above.
The transition will happen according to the following schedule:
September 8, 2009 ---
- All new proposals, contracts, subcontracts, Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs), Notice of Awards (NOAs) and Confidential Disclosure Agreements not yet received by ISP will be redirected to DSR for handling. Brandi Boniface is the Assist. Director of DSR. She will have overall responsibility for processing of IFAS materials and her number is 352-846-1501. Ms. Boniface reports to Dr. Tom Walsh, Director of DSR and his number is 352-392-3516. Remember, as normal, all proposals are required to have a Dean's approval - see note below.
- DSR Proposal Processing (supervised by Ms. Judy Harris) handles incoming proposals and contracts. The contact number for this office is 352-392-9267 and it is located in Room 207 Grinter Hall. See the following web site for more detailed information http://www.research.ufl.edu/research/proposal.html.
- DSR Award Administration(supervised by Ms. Dee Dee Teel) handles items such as NOAs, subcontracts, and no cost extensions. The contact number for this office is 352-392-5991 and it is located in Room 207 Grinter Hall. See the following web site for more detailed information http://www.research.ufl.edu/research/award.html.
- IFAS Dean's Approval (required on all grants and contracts before DSR will process) will be handled by a Grant Processor Office located in G022 in McCarty D Hall. This office will receive all IFAS proposals, will annotate and direct the proposal to the appropriate Dean's Office for approval including Cost Sharing, IDC, and other provisions. The Grant Processor Office will then route the proposal back to the Unit for final scanning, handling and submission to DSR (Note the PI and Unit are responsible for submission to DSR.) Normally approval for a proposal with minimal concerns will be rapid and within 24hrs depending upon availability of the Dean. Concerns or issues however may require more time to verify before a Dean's approval is received and therefore Unit Grant Specialists should allow more time for handling at our Grants Processor Office. See notes below on new technologies that will speed the approval time dramatically. We are in the process of hiring this Grants Processor role however, as of September 8, Ms. Debbie Powell (273-3489) will be acting in this capacity temporarily.
September 8 to 22 ---
- Awards and contracts submitted to ISP prior to September 8th will be processed by ISP personnel and executed for submission to the appropriate sponsor. Any proposals arriving new at ISP during this time will be immediately forwarded to DSR for handling as noted above.
- Unit Grant Specialists with urgent concerns will be able to place a call to Nancy Wilkinson 352-392-2356 for assistance.
- During this period, all uncompleted materials in the hands of ISP will be annotated and transferred to DSR for their processing.
September 22-30 ---
- All standing files and related materials will be boxed or filed and annotated for transfer to DSR.
- Final scanning of remaining files is completed.
- IFAS Sponsored Programs finishes transition and closes doors.
October 1st ---
- The new IFAS Grants Resource Team will be open for business with a help desk set up for Unit Grant Specialists. More details on this team will be presented to you as we complete transition to DSR. Our goal will be to support your Unit Grant Specialist as well as possible so that in turn they will be able to fully support your efforts. The team will man a help desk and also start building training programs for Unit Grant Specialists. These training opportunities will be typically on a monthly basis as we start building capacity into the system. Additionally the IFAS Grants Resource Team will also build training programs for faculty.
- A systemwide meeting of all Unit Grant Specialists is scheduled for October 26th in Gainesville. All travel costs for this first meeting will be covered by the Dean for Research Office.
- On this date or soon thereafter a new system will be released to assist units in generating DSR-1 forms which will integrate the just recently released IFAS Cost Sharing Tool. The IFAS Cost Sharing Tool has already become a big hit with unit fiscal officers and the new effort will extend that capabilities of that automated tool.
Winter 2009/2010 ---
- Soon to follow will be the release of an IFAS-wide DocuSign system for electronic signatures and approvals that will speed the processing of critical documents even faster and more seamlessly with PI approvals, Unit Leader, and Dean's approvals received in minutes whether they are down the hall, in TREC or in South Africa. (Curious? -- ask any of our IFAS breeders and their Unit Leader about how well this works!)
A few faculty have expressed concern that their department/center might not have a Unit Grant Specialist identified. I am encouraging all units to [1] hire a unit grant specialist (my office can provide a job description if desired), [2] team up with another department to consider a joint hire, or [3] identify and designate a current employee with the experience and capacity to do this job and whose job can change to take on this added responsibility. If a unit is not able to identify a Unit Grant Specialist, we will automatically identify the Unit Grant Specialist as the Unit Leader and he/she will be invited to the training session to learn the new tools being designed and the training programs planned for the year ahead.
Mark R. McLellan
Dean for Research, IFAS
Director, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
