Office for Finance Internal Process Guidelines for Grants

 Santa Fe College’s post-award processes for grants are primarily managed by the Project Director (PD), the appropriate Administrative Division, Office for Finance, and Human Resources (HR). This guideline sets forth the post-award general administrative requirements.

Step 1: Opening a Fund 2 Account and Setting Up a Budget

1. 1 Upon receipt of an award notification for a grant program, the SPO requests that the Office for Finance set up a new account. A copy of the award letter, budget, and approved Board Item must    be included with the request. Office for Finance creates a new, unique Fund 2 restricted account for the program. An Approval Path Request form must also be completed. For budget and related transactions, the Project Director’s department chair and appropriate Associate or Assistant Vice President (AVP) are required to provide a second and third level approval in the system. The Office for Finance is required to ratify and proceed as a final approver for the initial budget, budget changes, and award expenditures.
2. The Office for Finance issues an official new account email to Project Director, with copies to its respective Department Chair, dean, appropriate Associate or Assistant Vice President, and the Sponsored Project Office (SPO).
3. The PD works with the Office for Finance to set up an initial budget for the grant program after the new restricted account is established in the College’s accounting system, E-Staff. The PD is required to use the budget approved by the funding agency to set up the budget in the College’s system. Note that the College’s financial system does not allow any program costs to be charged to the restricted account without an approved budget established in the accounting system.
4. Budget transfers must align with:
   • Grant award documents including the approved budget or budget narrative;
   • Grant amendments along with the revised budget or budget narrative; or
   • Written prior approval from the grantor agency.
     The same multiple-level approvers are required for both budget transfers and budget amendments. All budget approvers must comply with the funding agency’s guidelines as well as all applicable federal and state rules and regulations.
5. If a PD receives a check for grant funds in the mail or is asked where a check should be mailed, all checks must be sent to Santa Fe College, Office for Finance, 3000 NW 83rd Street, Room F-030A, Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL 32606.

Step 2: Carrying Out the Grant Program

1. The PD or administrator is permitted to proceed with the hiring process only after the budget for the grant program is set up in the College’s accounting system. It is the Project Director’s responsibility to properly document employee’s time and effort for the grant program using the SF time and effort certification forms provided by the SPO (SF Personnel Activity Report) or such other form as may be provided by the funding source. The Project Director is required to certify the Federal Payroll Activity Report, provided by Office for Finance, on a bi-weekly basis.
2. The PD can also carry out program procurement processes after the grant program budget is established in the College’s accounting system. The PD is required to adhere to the College’s purchasing and contract procedures for the procurement of goods and services.
3. The PD must follow the College’s standard travel procedures as well as any requirements prescribed by the funding agency for all required travel activities that are allowed by the grant program.
4. It is the PD’s responsibility to make sure expenses for the grant program are allowable and charged properly. It is also the PD’s responsibility to make sure proper documentation for program costs are obtained, provided and retained as required. The appropriate documentation includes, but is not limited to:
   • approved budget narrative and budget amendments;
   • purchase orders;
   • vendor quotes and invoices;
   • purchase card (credit card) reconciliation reports;
   • and time and effort certification forms.
     All costs charged to the grant program must be allowable, meaning necessary, allowable, and reasonable. The PD should follow the College’s procedures or processing and approving invoices. The PD should monitor grant account activities, at a minimum, on a monthly basis. Any disallowed cost in a grant program account must be removed immediately. To remove the cost from the account, the PD should work with the Office for Finance to correct any accounting issues. The PD will attend Grants Management meetings with Sponsored Project Office staff and the Office for Finance staff for periodic account review and financial reporting and billing processes.
5. The PD adheres to the College’s[CG1] [CG2]  internal guidelines for all cost transfers between different programs or cost centers.
6. An expenditure is allowed only if it is a direct cost to the grant program and the allocation category is identified in the original grant budget or subsequently allowed by the funding agency. The PD is required to document cost-sharing for all grant programs.
7. The Office for Finance is responsible for processing and negotiating an Indirect Cost Rate with a Federal Cognizant Agency. This rate is sometimes referred to as Facilities and Administrative (F&A) cost rate. For all grant programs that are allowed to charge indirect costs, Office for Finance will process and post the indirect costs to the grant account on a monthly basis.
8. For program income that is associated with a grant program, Office for Finance will either designate different general ledger codes or create separate accounts to keep track of the receipts and expenditures.

Step 3: Compliance

1. The PD is required to share information disseminated by the funding agency with Office for Finance and the SPO during all stages of grant implementation.
2. Office for Finance is responsible for providing the PD with information regarding the most relevant accounting principles and cost standards and all fiscal compliance requirements of the funding agency.
3. It is required that the PD abides by the College’s property control procedures.
4. The PD is required to comply with the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Uniform Grants Guidance located at 2 C.F.R. Part 200, Florida statutes, specific requirements of the funding agency, and College policies and procedures for conducting a grant program.
5. Before sending written notification to the funding agency, the PD must submit a copy of the request to the SPO and College administration for review and approval if any of the following circumstances apply:
   • Change of Project Director or other key personnel;
   • Change of program goal, scope, objective, deliverables, work task, etc.;
   • Modification of existing budget;
   • Budget amendment, increase or decrease in budget;
   • Change of performance period;
   • Request for extension (including no-cost extensions); or
   • Others as required by the external funding agency or the grantor.
   • Grant programs require periodic reporting. Please see the section of this Handbook entitled Performance and Fiscal Reporting Requirements for reporting procedures.

Step 4: Closing Out the Grant

1. The PD should work with Office for Finance and the SPO for final grant program reports and billing, as well as grant program account closeout.
2. Both financial and program records for grant programs are maintained and stored according to the funding agency’s requirements and governmental regulations. The Office for Finance’s retained files include, but are not limited to, grant documents, general correspondence, financial records, and inventory and property information. The Program Office is required to maintain both physical and electronic copies of the financial records and program related information. At the close of the project period, Project Directors must forward all grant records to the Sponsored Projects Office. These records will be retained by SPO.