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Accounting & Grant Management for SARE Project Investigators

Winning a government grant opens a new door into funding research and education ideas for your farm, institution or community. Once you have been successful, the odds are excellent that you will continue to write competitive proposals for SARE or other public/private funding agencies.

With any grant there are also accounting and management responsibilities, which SARE tries to keep to a minimum. At first the language and regulations can be confusing, but whatever you learn in doing SARE paperwork will help you manage future grants, no matter who funds them. We've listed below the most frequently asked questions from SARE project investigators. If after reading them, you still have unanswered questions, contact SARE accountant Gail Patton.

How do I. . . . . . ? 

 What are the reporting requirements for a SARE grant?

 What activities require prior written approval?

Terms & Conditions - Links for people who want to know the legal framework behind SARE's accounting and grant management guidelines.

How do I?

  Invoice UGA for allowable reimbursable expenses:

A Standard Invoice form from the institution / agency / organization may be used. All invoices must  include the following details:

  • Project number (usually begins RD309 or RE675)
  •  Project Begin and End dates
  • Period or Dates covered by invoice
  • Expenditures by category as outlined in the original budget
  • An original signature of the financial contact

Invoices should be mailed to:
 SARE Accountant
 University of Georgia Griffin Campus
 1109 Experiment Street , Stuckey 209
 Griffin , GA 30223-1797

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  File a No-Cost Extension:

A no-cost extension may be needed if your project activities have not been completed by the project end date, and you still have money in the project account. Why might this happen? Agricultural research is subject to the same misfortunes that befall farms--hurricanes wipe out fields, drought prevents a cover crop from growing, goats get killed by stray dogs. Because of such things that are beyond your control, you may find that you need another season beyond your original project end date in order to complete your project.
 
 No-cost extensions must be completed 12 months before Southern SARE's Main Cooperative Agreement expires. S-SARE's Main Cooperative Agreement is the chunk of funding Congress allots to SARE every five years. So even though your project is funded for 1 or 2 years, it falls somewhere within a five-year cooperative agreement between SARE and USDA. When that five-year agreement comes to an end, the funds allotted for that five years are stopped, including the funds for your project. So if you apply for a no-cost extension to complete work on your project beyond its original end date, the extension cannot go beyond the start of the last year of the Main Co-op that contained its funding. That last 12 months of the Main Co-op will be used for your final report and other paper work needed to close out the project.

If you find yourself in a situation where you need to apply for a no-cost extension, contact Gail Patton at gpatton@uga.edu. Tell her your project number and she will look up the end date for the Main Coop and help you decide how much time you would have for an extension. Once you know how much time you can request for your no-cost extension, follow these steps:

1. Type a brief letter or email with the following content:

  • Justify and explain the circumstances that led to the need for the no-cost extension.
  • Specify the amount of time the extension request is for; remember your project activities must finish before the Main Co-op ends.

Address it to the appropriate person for your grant type: 

  • Jeff Jordan (Research and Education Grants, Sustainable Community Grants)
  • John Mayne (Graduate Students Grants, Producer Grants, On-Farm Grants)
  • David Redhage (Professional Development Grants)

What happens next?

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Change the Principle Investigator:

1. Type a brief letter or email with the following content:

  • Justify and explain the circumstances that led to the need for the change in PI.
  • Provide the name and contact information for the new PI.
  • Provide the vita / resume' for the new PI
  • Provide a letter from the New PI confirming his/her role and acceptance.

Address it to the appropriate person for your grant type:

  • Jeff Jordan (Research and Education Grants, Research and Education Planning Grants, Sustainable Community Grants)
  • John Mayne (Graduate Students Grants, Producer Grants, On-Farm Grants)
  • David Redhage (Professional Development Grants)

What happens next?

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Change the Scope or Objectives of the project:

1. Type a brief letter or email with the following content:

  • Justify and explain the circumstances that led to the need to change the scopes or objectives.
  •  Provide descriptions for the new scopes or objectives.
  •  Describe any budget modifications that may be needed for the newly formed objectives.

Address it to the appropriate person for your grant type:

  • Jeff Jordan (Research and Education Grants, Sustainable Community Grants)
  • John Mayne (Graduate Students Grants, Producer Grants, On-Farm Grants)
  • David Redhage (Professional Development Grants)

Once the request has been received, Dr. Jordan will review and determine whether the request should be submitted to the Administrative Council for their approval. Once this process is completed the approved request will be processed and forwarded to the UGA Sponsored Programs unit in Athens . A formal modification to the award will be issued by Sponsored Programs at UGA. This modification will be mailed to the PI's institution / organization / agency financial or administrative contact on file. Once received by the institution / organization / agency it should be signed and returned to UGA for finalization. The entire process can take up to 60 business days.

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Modify or Re-budget the original project Budget:

1. Type a brief letter or email with the following content:

  • Justify and explain the circumstances that led to the need for changing the budget.
  • How it will impact the project scopes or objectives.
  • Complete the Revised Budget form

Address it to the appropriate person for your grant type:

  • Jeff Jordan (Research and Education Grants, Sustainable Community Grants)
  • John Mayne (Graduate Students Grants, Producer Grants, On-Farm Grants)
  • David Redhage (Professional Development Grants)

What happens next?

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  Close out of the project:

The following item must be received in order to close all awards :

  •  Final Invoice - This document comes from the financial department of your institution, agency or organization. It is to your advantage to let them know when you have submitted all of your expenditures to them so they can prepare a final invoice for SARE. The period covered by the invoice must not go past the end date of your project. The Final Invoice should be clearly marked FINAL to notify the SARE accountant to close the project.

The following items are required by all awards with the exception of Producer Grants:

  • Final Report - is prepared by the SARE project investigator and submitted online, plus two hard copies mailed to SSARE at UGA.
  • Completed and Signed SF425 Form
     http://www.whitehouse.gove/omb/assets/grants_forms?ff_report_fill.pdf
     This form is prepared by the financial department of your institution, agency or organization. It is to your advantage to make sure they know about this requirement for all federal grants.
  • Equipment listing that describes any equipment purchases and the cost for each item. If no equipment was purchased, indicate "No Equipment Purchased" on line 12 of the SF425 form. This listing is prepared by the SARE Project Investigator and passed along to the financial department of your institution, who submits it along with the SF425 Form.

Please note the final invoice will be held without payment until the all close out documents from the above list are received.

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What is an AOR?

The AOR is an individual that has signature authority and permission to commit the organization / university / or agency for its time. This individual is usually found in departments typically like sponsored programs, grant account, or contracts and grants. Producer Grants do not go through an institution so the producer's signature is all that is needed.

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What happens next?

Once the request has been received, it will be reviewed and determined whether the request should be submitted to the Administrative Council for their approval. If the request does not need the AC approval, the request will be processed once the request is approved. The processing of all requests begins at the SSARE office and then forwarded to the UGA Sponsored Programs unit in Athens . A formal modification to the award will be issued by Sponsored Programs at UGA. This modification will be mailed to the PI's institution / organization / agency financial or administrative contact on file. Once received by the institution / organization / agency it should be signed and returned to UGA for finalization. The following are the typical turn around times for such requests:

  • Extensions - up to 30 business days
  • Re-budgets - up to 30 business days
  • Change in PI - up to 30 business days
  • Change in Scope or Objectives - up to 60 days

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Project Reporting Requirements - click on the type of report to obtain additional instructions and forms.

Activities or expenditures requiring prior written approval from SSARE - UGA:

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Terms and Conditions that apply to Federal grants in general and supply the legal framework for SARE accounting and management guidelines.

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Equipment purchases over $5,000
 

In proposal stage:

  •  List the item on the budget as non-expendable equipment.
  • Justify the purchase, describe the equipment and its projected use, and estimate the cost of the equipment in the budget narrative.

After grant is awarded if a need arises for the purchase:

  • Principle Investigator (PI) must write a letter requesting permission to purchase the equipment along with the following: The need for the equipment
  • The estimated cost for the equipment
  • How the existing budget will be modified to accommodate the purchase.
  • How the modification of the budget will affect the original scope and / or objectives.
  • How the equipment will be utilized in the project.

Address it to the appropriate person for your grant type:

  • Jeff Jordan (Research and Education Grants, Sustainable Community Grants)
  • John Mayne (Graduate Students Grants, Producer Grants, On-Farm Grants)
  • David Redhage (Professional Development Grants)

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Changing or Adding Sub-contracts in a project:

Sub-contracts  are commitments by institutions, organizations, or agencies that have an active role, participate, or are engaged in activities on a project to complete or help complete a portion of the projects scopes or objectives. Sub-contracts, at times, are referred to cooperating institutions, cooperators, and third party participants
 
 To make changes in sub-contracts write a letter requesting the addition of a subcontract, justification, and circumstances for the addition, and the role of the additional sub-contract

  • Budget modification request showing where the funds will be transferred from. (ie. Existing Sub-contract cancelled and funds will be diverted to the new one or a transfer of funds from Operating and Travel to the Sub-contract) and a statement regarding the effects of such transfer of funds on the originally approved scopes and objectives.
  • Plan of work from the new proposed sub-contract
  • Budget of the new sub-contract
  • Budget narrative of new sub-contract
  • Letters of support and from the new sub-contract principal investigator

Address it to the appropriate person for your grant type:

  • Jeff Jordan (Research and Education Grants, Sustainable Community Grants)
  • John Mayne (Graduate Students Grants, Producer Grants, On-Farm Grants)
  • David Redhage (Professional Development Grants)

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