Clarfication: 1% certification for a least one effort period

[Hlitawci Xiong]

Hello, I am sharing my effort correspondence in case you had the same question.

Hello Nicole, David, and Christopher 

I have a follow-up effort certification question, maybe a question for Nicole or Christopher Larson to clarify. 

Effort certification policy requires at least one PI/Co-PI to certified at least 1% for at least 1 effort period to reflect supervision. Nicole mentioned it must be reflected as a direct charge or a set-up as a cost-share to the project. 

ECRT allows certification of a 1% variance per project. If a PI/Co-PI certifies 1% on a project and that is reduced from nonsponsored, the effort coordinator can approve the certified effort without realigning payroll. Based on what I understand from Nicoles' response, the effort coordinator should run an RTD to reflect that 1%, direct charge to the project or as a cost-share, is this correct?

Thanks.

Christopher Larson	10:58 AM (31 minutes ago)
to me, Nicole, David

Correct.  The requirement for PI's of at least 1% effort in at least one of the two effort periods each year must either be paid directly from the Project or cost shared to the Project.

Chris

--

Christopher L. Larson
Analyst
University of Minnesota
Office of Cost Analysis 
Suite 450
200 Oak Street SE
Minneapolis, MN  55455
(612) 624-4542
lars...@umn.edu

*The University of Minnesota's Office of Cost Analysis staff began working remotely on Wednesday, March 18th, and will do so for the foreseeable future.  I am still available during regular business hours, and I am reading and responding to email on a regular basis.

[David Hagen]

Hi,

That's correct. The effort coordinator should create RTD to reflect the 1% that was certified to demonstrate oversight either as a direct charge to the project or as a cost-share.  The 1% flexibility in ECRT is intended to provide flexibility to deal with rounding issues that occur because certification is done using whole percentages, but payroll distributions are not always in whole percentages. It wasn't intended to avoid charging or cost sharing any payroll to meet the minimal effort requirement.

FYI -- the 1% minimal effort requirement is based on an OMB memo that states the federal government expects some level of effort to be directly charged or cost shared to an award to demonstrate oversight by the PI.

Thanks,

David