Grant-Related Purchasing & Expense Management

Owned by Fox, Amy
Last updated: Jun 11, 2024
4 min read

 

As part of the office of Business and Finance OSP manages all financial aspects of grant-funded projects. Principal Investigators will work with their school or department Administrative Assistant, Budget Manager, or Grant Manager to spend award dollars through normal purchasing channels. OSP approves all grant related purchases and expenses including those made through p-cards, requests for payment, requests for reimbursements, participant incentives, stipends, gift cards, EPAFs, and special services contracts.

 

Hiring requests

  • Please follow the HR hiring procedures for all grant related hires.

  • OSP approves Electronic Personnel Action Forms (EPAFs) for grant related hires

  • Routing to OSP is handled by the budget office - no need to contact OSP

 

Special Services Contracts

  • OSP approves special services contracts for grant related payments.

  • Special Services Contracts are used to provide SPU employees grant related fellowship and overload payments.

  • Please use Special Services contracts for multiple or recurring payments. RFPs may be used for one time only payments.

  • Payments should be distributed such that the last payment is received after the work, project, or training has been completed.

  • Your budget manager or administrative assistant will prepare special services contracts.

  • Routing to OSP is handled by finance personnel - no need to contact OSP

 

Requests for Payment

  • Ensure that your description is sufficiently detailed to match the expenses

  • Invoices should include grant name, description of work, dates worked, hours worked, rate of pay, total amount, and payee address.

  • Please include receipts for all purchases. See Travel & Entertainment policy.

  • Expenses for payments without an invoice or receipt should note vendor/recipient name, amount, and purpose

  • Approvals

    • Principal Investigator must approve all expenses. This can be by Email, signature on the RFP, or by Jira approval.

    • Include other purchasing approvers per individual school or unit guidelines.

    • OSP is the final approver. Please include Derek Wood on your Jira ticket.

 

Requests for Reimbursement

  • Whenever possible, please use university purchasing cards

  • If cash is required please request an expense advance.

  • Ensure descriptions are sufficiently detailed

  • Please include receipts for all purchases. See Travel & Entertainment policy.

  • Expenses for payments without an invoice or receipt should note vendor/recipient name, amount, and purpose

  • Approvals

    • Principal Investigator must approve all expenses. This can be by Email, signature on the reimbursement form, or by Jira approval.

    • Include other approvers per individual school or unit guidelines.

    • OSP is the final approver. Please include Derek Wood on your Jira ticket.

 

W-9 requests

  • Please contact OSP on Teams to request grant related W-9 documents.

  • OSP will securely acquire grant related W-9s from vendors or contractors using Adobe Sign.

  • Please do not request W-9s by email or regular mail.

  • OSP securely maintains grant related W-9.

  • OSP will post W-9s on Jira for initial purchases.

 

Equipment purchases

  • Equipment purchases over $5,000 are covered by the institutional fixed assets policy.

  • Grant related equipment will be tagged and inventoried as described in the fixed assets policy.

  • If a Principal Investigator leaves the university and transfers their grant to another institution they may have the option to bring equipment purchased using grant funds. Please meet with OSP to determine agency and institutional regulations.

 

Computer hardware and software purchases

  • Computer hardware purchased with grant funds will be subject to a one time lifetime maintenance fee set by Computer and Information Services.

  • Computer hardware and software purchased using grant funds remains the property of the Principal Investigator.

  • See the Purchasing with Grant Funds section of the Centralized PC Purchasing Policy.

 

Amazon purchases

  • Please use the grant fund and org for all Amazon purchases.

  • Please select ‘yes’ from the “Is this a Grant purchase?” pull down when completing the Business Order Information section.

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  • OSP reviews post purchase

 

Purchasing cards

  • Use department p-cards for grant related advance purchases (e.g. airfare)

  • OSP approves grant related p-card use. Please include Derek Wood on your Jira ticket.

  • For detailed instructions on submitting Pcard reclassifications, click here.

 

Fund creation

  • When a grant is awarded OSP will work create grant specific designated fund to track award funds and expenses.

  • Budget managers and Administrative Assistants may request access to grant funds for their school or unit.

 

Expense and billing reports

  • OSP endeavors to provide budget expense reports quarterly for all grants.

  • Expense reports will be sent to the PI for approval prior to billing the grant agency.

  • OSP provides budget expense reports to meet grant agency reporting requirements.

  • Please contact OSP outside of reporting periods for budget updates.

 

Institutional commitments

  • Some grants require the institution to provide matching or other financial support for the project.

  • During the application phase OSP will identify the amount and source fund for any required institutional contribution and obtain approval from the fund owner to use these funds.

  • When the grant is awarded OSP will ask budget managers to transfer funds from the source fund to the grant fund on an annual basis.