Recently The Oregonian newspaper reported that the University of Oregon had to repay $330,000 in federal grant funds and replace key grant personnel after investigating payroll irregularities at two of their research facilities. The issues centered on improper charging of overtime and other hours to federal grants. Reportedly employees were encouraged to mischarge the federal […]
Best Practices
5 Steps to Stop the Budget Stalemate Train Wreck
Last week we looked at the effect of the Budget Stalemate budget shutdown on the grant community. All finger-pointing aside-there are many factors that got us to this point. But being solution-oriented real people at MyFedTrainer.com -we thought it might be a good time to review how the budget process was designed to produce an […]
7 Audit Secrets Every Grant Manager Should Know
Do you wish you had a crystal ball of what Federal auditors look for when they arrive to make sure your grant management is up to par? What Are They Looking For? If you knew what the primary focus areas were, could you concentrate your compliance efforts at your organization? Sure this doesn’t cover everything, […]
Big Bucket Theory-How to Get Your Grant Spending Frozen
Last week we looked at the recent news about the US Department of Justice (DOJ) freezing grant funds for Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS) in Philadelphia after the organization couldn’t backup almost $20 million dollars in spending of federal dollars in Big Bucket Theory. In this series will look at the major grant management mistakes […]
Secrets of the Supreme Court: Is Your Grant Violating the First Amendment?
On June 21, 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Government violated the First Amendment by requiring an organization receiving Federal funds to have a policy opposing prostitution. Just in case grant professionals didn’t have enough to worry about, now we need to make sure that by accepting federal grants, we don’t stomp […]
Grant Alert: Can You Live With a 10% Indirect Cost Rate?
Last week we looked at the blow-back from the grant community about the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) proposed changes to the indirect cost rate negotiation process. As a result of the comments, three new options were contemplated by the OMB: Option #1: Extend the Timeframe for the Indirect Cost Rate Agreement The OMB […]