covid-19 guidance for research

frequently needed information

  • what is our federal-wide assurance number, animal welfare assurance number, duns, cage, tin and other federal ids?

    The most commonly requested organizational codes and numbers are listed below and on our Institutional Information & Rates section of this website. If you cannot find what you need on this list, please contact OSP. 

    Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS): 04-1508581 
    commercial and government entity (cage) code: 81359 
    congressional district: ma-002
    taxpayer identification number (ein): 04-2121659
    human subjects assurance #: fwa00015024 
    animal welfare assurance #: a3277-01 

finding funding

proposal preparation and submission

managing your award

  • what is the status of my award?

    please reach out to your post-award contact to inquire about the status of your agreement. there may be negotiations with the sponsor or compliance issues such as coi, human subjects, etc. that we are actively working to resolve.   

  • how do i add/remove personnel on my award?

    Changes to personnel typically require prior approval from the sponsor. Each sponsor is different in the level of detail they require to submit such a request (e.g. biosketch, C&P, a revised budget, etc.). All changes in PI and/or other Key Personnel on your award should be reviewed with your osp post-award contact, they will assist you in navigating the different sponsor requirements.

  • how do i change my effort on my award? / do i have to tell the sponsor if i need to change my effort?

    a significant reduction in effort (25% or more) for the pi or other key personnel usually requires prior sponsor approval. reduction includes an absence or disengagement from the project for an extended period of time of 3 months or more. the sponsor will typically require a justification outlining the change, why it is necessary and/or the impact to the project.

    please contact your post-award contact who will assist you with any budgetary or scope changes that result from the reduction of effort.

finance questions

  • i loved the report heather used to send me – can i get that report again?

    grant balance and transaction reports are available in the grants management worklet.  they are very easy to run and contain the same information that the old banner reports had.  instructions can be found on the spa website.  pis and grant financial analysts have the ability to run these reports at any time.

  • if my grant hasn’t been set up and i want to start charging on it, what do i do?

    please reach out to your post-award contact to inquire about the status of your award. there may be negotiations with the sponsor or compliance issues such as coi, human subjects, etc. that we are actively working to resolve.

  • can i charge (laptops, event costs, food) on my grant?

    please see the chart of allowable and unallowable costs here.

  • how do i find my grant in workday?

    if you are processing a spend transaction and do not know the grant number, you can start typing the name of the grant and search for it.   if you are looking for a list of your grants or balance/spend information, reports are available in the grants management worklet.  instructions can be found on the spa website.  pi's and grant financial analysts have the ability to run these reports at any time.

  • why haven’t i received my summer salary payment?

    please check with the administrative employee in your department who processed your summer salary request.  that person will be able to look in their process history archive to find the request and check on the status.  you can also search your inbox archives (see below).

  • how do i check the status of items i have approved in workday?

    go to your workday inbox and click the archive tab.  click the little arrow under the archive tab (on the right) and “view more processes”.  enter a time frame (or leave blank for all) and this will give you a list of actions you have submitted or approved.  you can search by filtering and/or sorting the results.

reporting

  • who can submit my report?

    technical/progress reports: some funders (such as nsf) allow the pi to submit the report on their own. others (such as nih) require that osp do it. if the report asks for a signature from an “authorized official,” “signing official,” or something similar, that means osp has to submit it. please send the report to your osp post-award contact person, ideally a few days before the due date. when in doubt, contact osp. 

    financial reports: financial reports are submitted by sponsored programs accounting. please contact them directly. 

wpi policies

  • do i need cost share approval for my own ay time?

    yes.  your departmental head or manager must approve the use of your ay time as cost share.

  • what is allocation of credit? why does it matter?

    allocation of credit is the method by which wpi allocates overhead return to faculty.  if there are number of faculty on a grant as copis the overhead return will be in proportion with allocation of credit.

  • can i get paid for three months during the summer?

    as per wpi policy this must be approved by the provost.

  • what is a prf and why do i have to sign it?

    a proposal routing form (prf) is an internal tracking document which is created for each proposal submission. it is a written record of the allocation of credit between the key personnel team and also provides a pi conflict of interest certification. additionally, it documents if there is any cost share. if you do not complete the prf your award set-up will be postponed until it is completed. the pre-award team creates this for you in docusign at the time of submission.

  • I noticed there are a few different overhead rates in the F&A agreement. What is the difference between each one? How do I use a lower overhead rate? What if the sponsor mandates a different overhead rate than one of the posted ones?

    wpi has several different negotiated rates. 53.77% is the full overhead rate used for on-campus, research activities. it is likely that your proposal falls into this category.

    if a sponsor mandates using a specific overhead rate, we will use that in the budget. this happens most commonly with foundation proposals.

    other rates include a 26% off-campus rate, which is used when the activities of the grant are conducted completely off-campus (such as a study-abroad site).

    “instruction” (45.75%) and “other research activity” (36.84%) are used by osp on a case-by-case basis if the pi feels their proposal does not fall within the scope of "research activities".

  • is overhead taken on subawards? isn’t that charging overhead on the proposal twice?

    yes, the overhead rate is applied to the first $25,000 of a subaward per our federally negotiated overhead agreement with onr. this is because wpi, as an institution, is managing and facilitating the subaward. this requires institutional resources to administer.

  • what is the difference between basic, applied, and development research?

    the best definitions come from nsf.

    there are three types of activity: basic research, applied research and experimental development. basic research is experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view. applied research is original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge. it is, however, directed primarily towards a specific, practical aim or objective. experimental development is systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience and producing additional knowledge, which is directed to producing new products or processes or to improving existing products or processes

    source: //nsf.gov/statistics/randdef/rd-definitions.pdf

sponsored research agreements

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