Discovery October/November 1999

 by Leslie Schmidt

I am happy to report that the Office of Grants and Contracts continues to be a busy and productive area within the University. As I am sure that you are aware, we have been extremely busy with the Banner software implementation. We apologize for the inconveniences caused by this transition. Most of our initial Banner training has been completed; however, if you missed the previous sessions you can still call and sign up. What's more, we are putting together an abbreviated training session for PIs as well as additional training that will help departments customize their own reporting from the database.

In conjunction with the Banner rollout, we have initiated a monthly research administrators' roundtable discussion group during which we disseminate information, discuss problems and give feedback to central administration. Our next meeting will be November 16. Everyone is welcome.

I would also like to direct your attention to a couple of new policies that may affect you. Effective Oct. 1, 1999, MSU's cost sharing policy for federally funded proposals will be the following: cost sharing can only be added to proposals if it is required by the sponsor (i.e., listed in the RFP as one of the eligibility criteria to apply for the award). A hard copy of the entire policy was mailed to Deans and Department Heads on Oct. 4. The new NSF Fastlane policies and procedures are also available on our homepage at http://www.montana.edu/wwwvr/propprep.html.

Finally, the NSF has published an updated version of the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) and Proposal Forms Kit that are effective for proposals submitted on or after Oct. 1, 1999. The GPG and all forms are available on the NSF Web site in HTML, Microsoft Word, ASCII text, and Portable Document Format.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of these changes or other matters related to the administration of your grants, please do not hesitate to contact me at 994-2381 or by e-mail at lschmidt@montana.edu.

Leslie Schmidt is the director of the MSU Grants and Contracts Office.