What’s New in Washington:A COGR Update

David Kennedy, Director of Costing PolicyCouncil on Governmental Relations (COGR)

NCURA Region III – 2008 Spring Meeting

Wild Dunes ResortIsle of the Palms, South Carolina

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

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Agenda COGR Overview

Audit Landscape

35-percent F&A Cap, DOD

NSF Summer Salary

Other Areas of Interest

Recent COGR Publications

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COGR Council on Governmental Relations

1948 … Staff of 5

Costing, Compliance, Intellectual Property

Active Board and Committees

170+ member institutions

www.cogr.edu

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The COGR MissionFoster strong working relationships with Federal Agencies and their representatives. Primary goals are to facilitate federal rules and regulations, and to advocate for and represent the research and university community with a single voice.

√ Federal Register, Comment Letters √ Publications, Surveys √ Updates-Newsletters, Position Papers √ Membership Meetings, 3 per year √ Everything else, as needed

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COGR Partners Association of American Universities (AAU)

Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)

National Assoc. of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC)

NCURA, NACUBO, Big XII, Big Ten, SECA-MECA-WECA-NECA, The FDP …

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COGR and Washington Research Regulatory,

Funding Agencies Oversight, Policy

NSFHHS-NIH

DOD-ONRUSDA

DOENASAED

20 more …

HHS-OIG

NSF-OIG

OtherOIGs

OMBGAO

OSTP

CONGRESS

HHS-DCA

DCAA-ONR

Agency GPS …

HHS-OHRP

HHS-CDC, FDA,

CMS

DOJUSDA-APHIS

BIS

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COGR and Washington HHS – Department of Health and Human Services

NIH – National Institutes of Health

NSF – National Science Foundation

OIG – Office of Inspector General (all agencies)

OMB – Office of Management and Budget

DCA – Division of Cost Allocation

ONR - Office of Naval Research

DCAA – Defense Contract Audit Agency

GAO – Government Accountability Office

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COGR and Washington OSTP – Office of Science and Technology Policy

OHRP – Office for Human Research Protections

CDC – Center for Disease Control and Prevention

FDA – Food and Drug Administration

CMS – Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

BIS – Bureau of Industry and Security (Commerce)

APHIS – Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service

DOJ – Department of Justice

GPS – Grants Policy Statements (all agencies)

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Audit Landscape

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Audit Landscape Effort and Labor – NSF OIG

Administrative and Clerical Salaries – HHS OIG

Financial Conflict of Interest – HHS OIG, NIH

A-133 and the Single Audit

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NSF OIG Robust audit program

√ To-date; 5 labor audits (www.nsf.gov/oig) √ Next wave of labor/effort audits, ongoing √ Subrecipients, Cost sharing, Program Income

Monitoring and Desk Review by NSF DIAS (not the OIG) – 30 to 40+ per year

Investigations Unit: internal audit reports, general ledger (electronic version)

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NSF OIG Labor/Effort findings

√ Suitable Means of Verification √ Timeliness √ Independent Internal Evaluation √ Voluntary commitments / Grant apps. √ Estimates / Precision / Significant changes √ Key personnel with zero effort √ Summer effort √ Appt. Letters / Salary Rates / Work Duties

Internal Controls vs. Questioned costs

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HHS OIG Relatively quiet …

Administrative and Clerical Salaries

√ Unlike Circumstances, Major Projects √ To-date; 2 audits and “benign”

(http://www.oig.hhs.gov/reports.html) √ In total, 4 to be completed √ Pay attention???

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HHS OIG, NIH But you said “Relatively quiet” ???

Financial Conflict of Interest – Jan. 2008

√ Evaluation and Inspections, not Audit(http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-03-06-00460.pdf)

Report Recommendations

√ NIH needs to increase oversight √ √ NIH ICs to forward all conflict reports

to Office of Extramural Research √ √ NIH to collect details on conflicts __

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HHS OIG, NIH Report Recommendations – continued

NIH believes … responsibilities for identifying and managing financial conflicts of interest must remain with grantee institutions. Furthermore, NIH … collection of specific details … would effectively transfer the responsibility … to the Federal Government. (page iv)

NIH response -- determine value of collecting details. HHS OIG response -- contact 43 institutions; obtain procedures for handling financial conflicts

www.aamc.org/jointcoireport (87 pages)

www.cogr.edu (updated case studies; soon)

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A-133 and the Single Audit

Report on National Single Audit, June 2007

√ PCIE, ECIE, OMB, IGs, + AICPA √ Sample of 208 (30 colleges/universities)

√ A-133 and auditors under the microscope

SAS 112, Communicating Internal Control Related Matters … applicable to A-133

√ Definitions: Control Deficiency, Significant Deficiency, Material Weakness

√ Lower bar for A-133 audit findings

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In Summary A coalescence of:

√ IG activity (NSF, HHS) √ NSF Monitoring and Desk Reviews √ Program Audits from other agencies √ A-133 under the microscope √ Single Audit concept in limbo?, GAO 2007:

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08213t.pdf

What does this mean ??? …

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Always a Storm

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35-percent F&A Cap, DOD

DOD Appropriations Bill, HR 3222, Section 8105 – November 13, 2007

Indirect can not exceed 35-percent of total project costs -- different than the MTDC concept and requires more “manual” administration

www.cogr.edu – Recent News, Dec. 19

FY09 DOD Appropriations Bill; an opportunity to revisit ?

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NSF Summer Salary COGR-AAU joint letter sent to the National

Science Board (NSB) – July 2007

Initial concern raised in COGR Effort paper, and subsequent concerns:

√ Basis of NSF policy√ Audit risk during summer, 100% salary√ Academic year salary -- Allowability

Solution? -- Flexibility to charge when effort is expended (e.g., academic year), with option to utilize 100% summer if it can be supported

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NSF Summer Salary NSB addresses in August 2007 meeting

NSF policy staff charged to “fact-find”

√ Uncertain historical basis √ Variance among directorates √ Variance among recipients √ Engage research community

NSF has reviewed the COGR/AAU letter and is considering a response

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Other Areas of Interest

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Federal Research Budget

America COMPETES Act

√ Signed by President, August 2007 √ Significant funding increases for NSF, Energy-

Science Office, NIST … however, next slide …

Basic Research for NIH, USDA, DOD; not good

Declining/flat success rates; ~20% at NIH

As always, tight budgets = Scrutiny

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America COMPETES While significant funding increases

authorized (e.g., NSF = $6.6b, $7.3b, $8.1b for FY08, 09, 10) -- FY08 appropriations not in-line

Sections 7008, 7009, 7013, 7036

√ Mentoring post-doc researchers (7008)√ Responsible conduct of research (7009)√ Cost sharing (7013)√ Major research instrumentation (7036)

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America COMPETES Mentoring (7008)

All grant applications that include funding to support postdoctoral researchers must include a description of the mentoring activities – NSF DEVELOPING DRAFT POLICY

Responsible conduct of research (7009)

Institutions to describe plan to provide training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergrads, grads, postdocs – NSF DEVELOPING DRAFT POLICY

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America COMPETES Cost sharing (7013)

NSB to evaluate 2004 policy that eliminated cost sharing – REPORT RECOMMENDS COST SHARING FOR ERC, EPSCoR, I/UCRC TO BE REINSTATED:

(www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/2008/rprt_congress_cs_policy.pdf)

Major research instrumentation (7036)

30% cost sharing; Director can waive for those not in top 100 per NSF survey – HOWEVER, WAIVER NOT IMPLEMENTED

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Also On the Radar NIH Public Access Policy

Grants funded since 10/1/07 and contracts after 4/7/08, provide copy of final peer-reviewed manuscript accepted for publication (on or after 4/8/08) to PubMed Central:www.cogr.edu – Recent News, March 20, andNIH Public Access Homepage (with FAQs) at:http://publicaccess.nih.gov/

NIH 2007-2008 Peer Review Self-StudyEstablish a minimum Effort threshold at 20%: www.cogr.edu – Recent News, March 17, andhttp://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/

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Also On the Radar Department of Commerce, Deemed Export

Advisory Committee (DEAC) report

Reduce list of covered technologies, less complex rules, simplify licensing -- addresses knowledge transfer barriers to foreign nationals. However, concerns with 7-step decision process, “loyalty assessment”, definition of fundamental research: www.cogr.edu – Recent News, Feb. 20

Troublesome Clauses

New data shows that situation has not improved and restrictions appear to have expanded. COGR/AAU, 2004:http://www.aau.edu/research/Rpt4.8.04.pdf(update to 2004 report, soon to be released)

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Always a Storm

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Recent COGR Publications

Finances of Research UniversitiesRecent News, March 6, 2008

Approaches to Developing an Institutional Conflict of Interest Policy

Ed Materials / Conflict of Interest(update soon to be released)

University-Industry RelationshipsEd Materials / Intellectual Property, August 2007

An Analysis … DCA Best Practices ManualRecent News, December 5, 2007

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Recent COGR Publications

21 Questions about University Technology Transfer

Ed Materials / Intellectual Property, July 2007

Troublesome Clauses(update soon to be released)

Compensation, Effort Commitments, and Certification -- Policies and Practices … i.e., the “Effort Paper”

Ed Materials / Financial Management, March 2007

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Contact Info

David Kennedy

dkennedy@cogr.edu

202-289-6655, ext. 12

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