It depends on the sponsor of the research project.

• For Federal agencies who are adopting OMB Memo M-20-17 the memo does allow for charging of salaries and benefits consistent with our University’s policy. 
  • In example, if the University continues to pay Teaching Assistants (paid on non-ledger 5 projects)  who are unable to work/telework due to COVID-19, then we can continue to pay Research Assistants (paid on ledger 5 projects) who are unable to work/telework due to COVID-19.
  • Currently, NC State has extended COVID-19 Administrative Leave, for certain classes of employees, until 4/30/20. This excludes all temporary employees.
  • Therefore, we can charge salaries and benefits to ledger 5 projects, for those classes of employees where Administrative Leave was extended, if individuals are unable to work/telework due to COVID-19.
  • Tracking of these salaries and benefits, paid on ledger 5 projects, is required. The tracking of these salaries and benefits should be captured as part of the weekly Administrative Leave reporting (requested by the HR Office) and as part of the weekly COVID-19 Related Costs Tracking Template (requested by the Budget Office).
  • Please reach out to your Post Award Consultant with any questions and to confirm these charges are allowable on the project.
• For non-federal sponsors (commodities, industry partners, foundations, etc) or federal agencies who have not yet adopted the OMB Memo, we do not yet have approval to charge these salaries and benefits to these ledger 5 projects. As information is shared, we will continue to disseminate it. However, please reach out to your Post Award Consultant with any questions.

• For Federal agencies who are adopting OMB Memo M-20-17 the memo does allow for grant recipients who incur costs related to the cancellation of events, travel, or other activities necessary and reasonable for the performance of the award, or the pausing and restarting of grant funded activities due to the public health emergency, to charge these costs to their award. 
  • Every effort should be made to recoup costs related to cancellations of conferences/events. 
  • The tracking of these costs should be part of the weekly COVID-19 Tracking Template (requested by the Budget Office).  Additionally, please notify your Post Award Consultant which charges apply to your grant.
• For non-federal sponsors (commodities, industry partners, foundations, etc) or federal agencies who have not yet adopted the OMB Memo, we do not yet have approval to charge these salaries and benefits to these ledger 5 projects. As information is shared, we will continue to disseminate it. However, please reach out to your Post Award Consultant with any questions.

At this time, we are not aware of any sponsors offering supplemental funds. However,  the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act has passed; therefore, as we receive more information we will continue to share it.

Yes, as negotiations can take time, we recommend continuing to process requests through CALS Pre-Award and onto the SPARCS Negotiators. However, during this COVID-19 time, the below terms and revisions will be incorporated into any negotiated/executed agreements:

• “Project Starts on X date or as soon as practical” 
• Additional time will be added to the period of performance, e.g. if normally 12 months asking for 18 months
• Include a term indicating, if needed, both parties will work in good faith for a no-cost extension
• Include a clause that sites COVID-19 and if unable to perform the work due to COVID-19 it is not considered a breach in contract
• Include a term that both parties have the right to terminate

Additionally, CALS is asking to potentially include the following term and would need the CALS PI to notify the Post Award Consultant, once they begin work, so we can prompt Univ C&G to invoice for the first payment:

• Upon work commencing, NC State would invoice for the first payment (this would be in lieu of the industry partner paying upon execution and would be the first line in a payment schedule, with the remaining lines being regular intervals)

This also means no expenses should be posted to the project until the CALS PI knows the work can begin and be completed during the life of the project. 

Prior to taking this step please reach out to Sean Munday, Director of CALS Budget Office and Holly Lipkovich, CALS Director of Contracts & Grants. In theory this can be an option but depending upon the expense and how far in the past it occured, additional steps may  need to be taken before the expenses can be reallocated off the grant. For example, if moving salary from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020, CALS C&G would need to consider the following items:

• Creating balances on projects that may require carry forward permission, as such approval is not automatic for all sponsors. 
• Any project for sponsors that monitor burn rates, e.g. Dept of Defense 
• Creating significant positive cash on projects.  This may trigger refunds and the need to have appropriate explanations as to why large refunds are being issued.

Additionally, a non-compliance form (formerly known as 90 Day Reallocation Justification) would need to be completed, and also TEARS (NC State Cost Share System) would need to be updated to continue to show the effort being allocated to the ledger 5 project so the individual(s) effort reports were accurate. 

At this time the CALS research/extension exemptions have been approved/issued for May and they are currently reviewing the requests submitted for off-campus research and demonstration projects planned for June 1 through August 15. Please see NCARS’ website for more details: https://cals.ncsu.edu/intranet/news/call-for-off-campus-research-exemption-requests/

Yes. NIFA is constantly updating its FAQS. Please see excerpts below which specify contacting NIFA during the last year of the project. Additionally, please reach out to CALS C&G prior to contacting NIFA, so we can assist in the process.  

NIFA Q#3: What are my options if the COVID-19 emergency does not allow me to complete the project? The project directors can contact the NIFA National Program Leader assigned to the project during the last year of the project to discuss various options. This includes adjusting the project scope, giving a No-Cost Extension, and providing supplemental funding for completing the project. Since these options are needed towards the end of a project, additional information about this topic will be provided at a later date. 

NIFA Q#7: My organization is under a shelter-in-place order due to COVID-19. My project cannot perform research during this time. If the project cannot be completed in original duration or budget, what are my options? If a recipient faces challenges to meet the award program objectives, they should contact the National Program Leader in the final year of the award and evaluate how to proceed with the work. Besides administrative options, supplemental funding requests may be considered depending on the justification. 

To discuss: 

• the allowability of salaries (including staffing fluctuation), stipends, and benefits 

and/or 

• administrative options, which may include No-Cost Extensions and change in scope, please contact NIFA at awards@usda.gov to consult with a grants specialist about the organization’s specific circumstances.

To discuss anticipated programmatic shortfalls, contact the National Program Leader. NIFA will evaluate the grantee’s ability to resume the project activity in the future and the appropriateness of future funding, as done under normal circumstances—based on subsequent project reports and other communications with the recipient. Recipients are required to maintain appropriate records and cost documentation as required by 2 CFR § 200.302 – Financial management and 2 CFR § 200.333 – Retention requirement of records to substantiate charging of any salaries and other project activity costs related to interruption of operations or services.

Yes. NIFA is constantly updating its FAQS. Please see excerpt below and reach out to your CALS Post Award Consultant for assistance:

NIFA Q# 9. How do I request a No-Cost Extension? For competitive grants, please check your award Terms and Conditions for information on how to request a No-Cost Extension (NCE).

Per the COVID-19 Research Continuity website, Vice Chancellor Mladen Vouk released a memo on 5/8/20 about the university’s phased-in research restart efforts that will begin 5/18/20. Colleges will approve which projects are appropriate for restart. We are providing guidance on how to manage disruptions to normal research operations resulting from the precautions (including recommended physical distancing and reduced facility access) taken to avoid widespread COVID-19 communal transmissions.

Yes.  The PI should have received a detailed email from Dr. Steven Lommel, Associate Dean and Director of NCARS and Dr. Richard Bonanno, Associate Dean and Director of NCCES discussing the research exemption, approval guidelines, and links to CALS specific google forms. Please note these forms are different from the HR required tracking forms. 

• For Faculty: All individuals working on this project are required to track information regarding their work on-site using this form: https://forms.gle/NfxExiUDR9PoD34FA
• For Extension Agents: Keep a log of all travel, personnel involved, locations visited, dates, times, and work conducted with this Google Form.

If there are any questions, please reach out to NCARS (llstensv@ncsu.edu). 

Yes. NCARS shared the following with the Department and Unit Heads during a DDD+ meeting on June 24th: 

Clarification of undergraduate activities on and off campus.

The current guidance and philosophy of the University under this phase of research restart is that undergraduates should not be working on or off campus. For on campus restarts, PIs will need to adjust their projects to comply with this guidance. In certain situations, undergraduates may work off campus. 

Off campus, temporary employees are allowed to work with an approved CALS exemption. If the temporary employee also happens to be an undergraduate student at NC State or anywhere else, as long as they are being paid for work, it is allowed.  An example of an allowable work activity is an undergraduate temporary employee being paid to take care of and harvest watermelons or tomatoes at a research station. Undergraduate temporary employees, including undergraduate research assistants, cannot conduct research off campus. 

On campus, NC State undergraduates, regardless of whether they are paid or not, are not allowed to conduct research or work. Exceptions for undergraduates to work on campus may be considered for unusual circumstances. For example, an undergraduate who is highly trained in a process or piece of equipment and replacing that person would require many hours of training might be eligible for an exemption. To request an exemption for an undergraduate to work on campus, please submit a succinct yet compelling justification for an undergraduate to work on campus to Laina Stensvold for review. If an exception approved, the individual must agree to and sign an assumption of risk form. 

Undergraduates are allowed to work remotely.

No volunteers of any kind are allowed on or off campus. This includes unpaid undergraduate students.

Yes. Please see below guidance sent from Richard Corley on June 12th:

From: Graduate School Assistantships <gradschool-assistantships@ncsu.edu>
Date: June 12, 2020 at 5:10:23 PM EDT
To: NCSU Graduate School <graduate-school@ncsu.edu>
Subject: [Grad Dept & College Reps] NextGen Update & Fall 2020 GA Hires

Graduate Assistantships

New GTA (A138) hires for Fall 2020 will be temporarily delayed while the NextGen system undergoes maintenance to change the employment dates 8/16 thru 12/31 to 8/5 thru 12/31 due to the early semester start date. These changes will then need to be verified in a test environment before production release. In all, we expect the entire process to take the next 1-2 weeks to complete but you will be notified right away when entries can be made. [Note: You will not be able to enter yearlong appointments, only semester-to-semester appointments using the A138 job code since the Spring 2021 academic calendar has not yet been determined. We will keep you updated on this developing situation]

For all other new GA 8/5 hires under other GA job codes (i.e. A148, A198, A178 etc.), the 60-day window opened on Saturday, June 6th so those entries can be entered now into NextGen. We highly recommend that departments enter semester-to-semester instead of yearlong appointments given the incomplete Spring 2021 academic calendar.

Rehires for Fall 2020 cannot be entered until after the separation row has been inserted on the previous job within the HR system and modifications must be entered prior to the auto-term. For summer 2020 appointment end dates, to be centrally changed from 8/15 to 8/4, the auto-term will run on 7/15 instead of 7/29. This means that modifications must be made before 7/15. After 7/15, you can only enter new graduate appointments or rapid rehires. [Note: We will send you a separate communication on the timeline for changing the summer 2020 appointment end dates]

Richard Corley
Graduate Assistantships
The Graduate School
919.515.2872 | grad.ncsu.edu