• Quick Reference for Grants.gov
• Proposal Submission During the Holidays
• Paying Salary Supplements Through Grants to Those on Military Leave
• NASA Grants to be Centralized at New Service Center
• No Changes for Employee Benefits Projection Rates
• Protected Information: Check with SPO Before Providing to Agency

Funding Program Announcements

Contract and Grant Awards in October

Limited Submission Programs

Faculty Prize and Award Programs

The University of California Policy on Supplement to Military Pay states that "the University will provide to eligible employees supplemental payments equal to the difference between the employees' University base pay and their military pay and allowances and will continue the UC contribution to health plan premiums."

The campus policy, guidelines, and resources on supplement to military pay is available at http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/policy/military.htm. A campus memo extending this policy through June 30, 2006 is available at https://mossberg.berkeley.edu/CALmessages/display_message.asp?d=11/1/2005&s=100.

According to OMB Circular A-21, "Cost Principles for Educational Institutions," this supplement is an allowed cost on grants. Section 10.f in A-21 states:

Fringe benefits.
(1) Fringe benefits in the form of regular compensation paid to employees during periods of authorized absences from the job, such as for annual leave, sick leave, military leave, and the like, are allowable, provided such costs are distributed to all institutional activities in proportion to the relative amount of time or effort actually devoted by the employees.

NASA Grants to be Centralized at New Service Center

On March 1, 2006, the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) at the Stennis Space Center plans to open for business. Business will include pre-award and post-award support for NASA grants and cooperative agreements.

The NSSC will centralize and consolidate a variety of transactional and administrative activities for NASA that are currently being done at each Center. Services provided by the NSSC will include procurement (including grants and contracts), human resources, financial management, and information technology.

NASA plans to move grant functions from the NASA centers to NSSC in four steps during fiscal years 2006 through 2008. The first group of grants is scheduled to move to NSSC in May 2006, and will include grants and agreements from Dryden Flight Research Center, Glenn Research Center, Kennedy Space Center, and Stennis Space Center; the second group, including Marshall Space Flight Center and Johnson Space Center, will move in October 2006; the third, Goddard Space Flight Center, is scheduled for April 2007; and the last group, Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center, will move in January 2008. The NSSC web site is http://nssc.nasa.gov/. See http://nssc.nasa.gov/documents/presentations/Procurement.pdf for the transition schedule.

The University of California Office of the President prepares and issues employee benefits projections for use in proposal budgets. The projection rates are available at http://www.spo.berkeley.edu/Policy/benefits/benefits.html on the SPO web site.

The most recent projection rates for employee benefits are available in UCOP Memo No 99-01 and UCOP Memo No 99-01, supplement 1. According to UCOP, these rates should still be used in proposals.

Postdocs benefits have changed recently, but for proposal budget purposes, the academic rate of 17 percent should be used. Note however, that for postdocs and all other types of employees, actual rates can be used if different.

Sponsors sometimes ask for personal information about principal investigators and personnel to be assigned to a project, particularly citizenship, visa status, nationality or country of origin. Terms can appear in requests for proposals, application forms, and award documents. One example is the American Diabetes Association, which asks applicants who are not U.S. citizens to provide a photocopy of their Permanent Resident Card.

Do not provide this type of personal information to the agency directly; contact a SPO research administrator. SPO will work with the agency to explain University policy related to such requests.

A UCOP Research Administration Office memo, "Provision of Information on Citizenship, Visa Status, Nationality or Country of Origin: Federal and State Law and Regulation" provides detailed guidance on responding to requests for personal information. The memo is available at http://www.ucop.edu/raohome/cgmemos/04-02.html.

The memo points out that the University is precluded under federal and State laws, including the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and the California Information Practices Act, from providing such information; that providing the information is also contrary to the federal Privacy Act Notice on the Office of Management and Budget approved form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services which forms the basis for the collection of such information, so that providing such information could also constitute a violation of the federal Privacy Act of 1974.