SPA February 2023 Newsletter

Personnel Updates

Please join us in welcoming new UEI staff and congratulating others on new positions. In September, a new Administrative Support Coordinator, Miriam Alexander, joined the SPA team, and Emma Kroger moved from a part-time to a full-time Account Associate. In November, UEI said farewell to CFO Craig Barth after more than twelve years of service. Terri Stevens, previously UEI’s Controller, has been appointed as the new CFO. Additionally, Lily from Business Services has moved into a newly developed position within Business Services to further support SPA. Lily will be assisting with payment requests and can be contacted about payment statuses, processes, and forms. Welcome, Miriam! And congrats to Emma, Terri, and Lily!

SPA continues to recruit for the Contracts Counsel, Contract Analyst, and Compliance and Grant Analyst positions. Job postings can be found on the UEIWorkforce website.

Expenditure Processing Changes

University Enterprises Inc.’s (UEI) is making changes to the handling of sponsored program expenditure requests.  Changes include the reassignment of some of the review elements and a revision to the processing timeline.

Effective immediately, an Accounts Payable Senior Accounting Assistant – a new position in Business Services – will review expenditure requests for compliance with UEI, Sac State, Chancellor’s Office, taxation, and other accounting-type regulations. This will allow Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA) to focus its review on compliance with regulations related to the grant/contract award as well as sponsor, federal, and state regulations.

The process to submit requests remains the same; submit to your SPA account analyst or associate. After SPA reviews, requests will be sent to Lily in Business Services for the next review. Lily may contact you for additional information to complete your request. She will also be your contact for inquiries about the status of payments. Her contact information is fnu.lily@csus.edu or (916) 278-4677.

Effective March 6, you will need to allow for two to three weeks processing time depending on when paperwork is submitted and if it is completed fully and correctly. Requests received by Friday will be processed for payment within two weeks. This revised timeline provides UEI a reasonable amount of time to review and process payments. While many appreciated the ability to have a request submitted Friday for a check the following week, it is no longer feasible to consistently maintain that type of schedule. We are providing this advance notice so that you may plan your internal timeline for payment request submissions. Please note that incomplete requests will take longer to process until outstanding items are resolved.

Authorized Signers of Agreements, Processing Time, & Liability

Many sponsored project budget items – consultants, caterers, performers/speakers, hotels, equipment leases, etc. – require a contractual agreement to be entered into by the providing party and UEI. Only an authorized UEI signer can enter into (approve and sign) those agreements. No other campus entity or employee is authorized to enter into an agreement that is connected to and/or paid for by the grant or contract administered by UEI.

As soon as you identify a need for services, alert your administrator and for independent contractor services, start the ICC Request form. It is currently taking three to four weeks to process agreements because they are handled by multiple UEI departments, each reviewing for their areas of expertise and responsibility.  Last minute requests hinder UEI’s ability to process other requests that were submitted timely.

In your discussions with potential service providers, please keep in mind the time required for UEI processing. When possible, if the person or company has their own standard agreement, send it to UEI for review as early as possible and prior to finalizing dates and services. Please note that it is imperative that UEI – not Sacramento State, the college or department, or the center – is listed as a party to the agreement. If you do not see that, please ask for that change prior to sending the draft to UEI.  On occasion, there may be questions or concerns that could result in disallowing an agreement. Please do not make verbal commitments.

In addition, payments for services to an individual or company should not be paid out-of-pocket by a campus employee. These payments are reviewed for reportable income/revenue requirements, therefore, payments must be processed directly to the individual or company by UEI in accordance with proper accounting principles and auditing standards. Signing an agreement or paying individuals or companies directly puts you at risk for liability and you may not recover your personal funds.

Faculty Compensation

Faculty working on a sponsored grant or contract are compensated in one of two ways: University release time and additional employment. University release time is a partial release from a regular appointment to pursue work on a grant or contract that is then fully reimbursed by the grant or contract. A typical reimbursed time buyout is three (3) units. Additional employment, per the CSU/CFA Collective Bargaining Agreement Article 36, refers to any employment within the CSU system (including its auxiliaries) which is in addition to a faculty unit employee’s primary or normal employment. The compensation method is determined at the proposal budgeting stage.

Release time requests are submitted through the campus OnBase system each semester according to the University’s process and timelines located here.  Additional employment requires submission of a completed UEI Faculty/Chair Agreement form to SPA, at least forty-five (45) days prior to the estimated first day of work. Once cleared through SPA’s two levels of approval, the form is processed by UEI Human Resources. Faculty not currently in UEI’s HR and payroll system, UEIWorkforce, will receive a welcome email with onboarding instructions. Those already with a UEIWorkforce login will receive an email from HR when the new cost center (project account) is available to select for timesheet entry.  Please note that any delay in completing your new hire onboarding forms, will delay your start date and ability to be paid.

UEI operates on a bimonthly payroll cycle. Please submit hours worked timely in accordance with the UEI payroll schedule.

Gift Cards

Gift cards are sometimes budgeted as an allowable expense for use as incentives for non-employee research participants. Prior to inclusion in your proposal and/or use, please review the gift card procedure here. If you are requesting gift cards for other purposes, such as for employees, students, or other non-campus entities, it must be communicated to SPA prior to committing or purchasing. Gift cards are considered taxable income to employees regardless of amount. Also, gift cards must both be used in alignment with campus requirements. Please see Policy Statement 903 for further information.

Online Account Information

Principal Investigators/Program Directors (PIs/PDs) who would like the ability to view their project financial data may submit a user request for access to UEI’s online financial system, OneSolution, to their SPA Administrator. The form is on our website along with documentation for accessing reports. If a PI/PD would like their support staff or someone else to have the ability to view their project account information, they will need to complete and approve a request form for each person.  Additional training is also available upon request; please talk to your account analyst.

Form Changes

UEI’s Justification for Sole Source form for securing contractor services was recently updated. For services ≥$50,000, UEI Purchasing Policy 2025 requires that you obtain three (3) price quotes for the work unless you conclude that only one supplier can fulfill the service request after having conducted a reasonable search that is free from favoritism or preference. At which point, this form should be submitted with the Independent Contractor/Consultant Request Form. As a reminder, no contractor should begin work until a fully executed agreement is in place and an agreement will not be issued if the request is not in compliance with UEI Policy 2025.

Effective January 1, 2023, the IRS increased the standard mileage rate used for reimbursement. The new rate is 65.5 cents for every mile driven for business travel. This is an increase from the July 1, 2022 rate of 62.5 cents. The updated travel form reflecting the new mileage rate can be found on SPA’s Forms page under Expenditures-Travel. As a reminder, the standard mileage rate applied to travel claims is based on when the travel occurred and not when it is submitted; please select the appropriate form.

Please download and use SPA Forms from the website to ensure you have the most current version.