Transcript Principal Investigator Effort Training Created 07/2010 by Sponsored Projects Administration What are Effort Certification Statements? Effort Certification Statements are documentation of effort (the amount of personnel.

Principal Investigator
Effort Training
Created 07/2010 by Sponsored Projects Administration
What are Effort
Certification Statements?
Effort Certification Statements are
documentation of effort (the amount of
personnel work) expended on federally
sponsored projects.
Statements include:
What is on an Effort
Statements?
Information
about who the
statement is for
and the effort
period (the
dates) it covers.
Statements include:
The accounts listed
on a statement are
in relation to the
covered
individual’s payroll
distributions during
the time period of
the statement
covers.
GL and OGA
related accounts
are included.
Statements include:
Oracle divides the
“effort related”
payroll paid during
the period for each
account by the
total effort related
payroll the
individual received.
This is then
represented as a
percentage on the
statement.
It is worth noting, that a projects start
and end date in relation to the start
and end date of the effort period can
effect how the covered individual’s %
of payroll distribution is represented.
Statements include:
Cost sharing
activities (that are
not already being
represented by a
cost sharing
companion
account) are
accounted for by
being written in on
the statement in
this column.
Statements include:
The covered
individual’s total
effort for each
account is
written in here
and must equal
a 100% when
added together.
Statements include:
The actual
statement on the
form that a the
signer is
certifying to.
The statement again, this time in a
readable size font:
“I certify that I have reasonable means of
verifying the activities performed by the above
mentioned employee and that the distribution of
effort represents a reasonable estimate of the
actual work performed by the employee during
the period covered by this report.”
What Does “Reasonable”
Mean?
Reasonable means OHSU allows for a 5%
variance per line on an effort statement
when it is certified.
For example, if a statement is certified with
10% on a particular project, this implies
that the covered individual’s effort for that
project was between 5-15%.
Statements include:
A person who is able
to agree that
statement and sign
the form are:
•The covered
individual
•The Principal
Investigator for the
project’s represented.
•A supervisor who has
direct knowledge of
the covered
individual’s activities
Why Do We Certify
Effort?
OHSU’s Effort Certification system was
developed in direct response to the
Federal Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) Circular A-21
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars
_a021_2004/).
What is A-21?
 A-21 aims to ensure that the Federal
Government bears its fair share of total costs.
 A-21 recognizes that in an academic setting,
teaching, research, service, and administration
are often inextricably intermingled. A precise
assessment of factors that contribute to costs is
not always feasible nor is it expected. Reliance
therefore is placed on estimates in which a
degree of tolerance is appropriate.
What is A-21?
Effort is auditable and failure to comply with
A-21 can have very serious consequences.
Who needs to have their
effort certified?
An employee is required to complete an
Effort Certification Statement if they have:
Activity that is partially or totally devoted to a
federally sponsored agreement.
AND, pay that is partially or totally paid from
such an agreement, OR is represented as
cost sharing
When Do We Certify
Effort?
OHSU certifies effort on a semi-annual
basis.
OHSU effort periods are from:
Jan 1-Jun 30
July 1-Dec 31
Statements are generated and
distributed approximately 30 business
days after the end of an effort period.
The delay is to provide Departments
additional time to work with PI’s to
ensure that the payroll distributions for a
project in Oracle are correct.
What are a PI’s Responsibilities
at OHSU for Effort Reporting?
Review, Understand,
and Certify
As a PI you are responsible for:
Understanding Effort Certification Policies and
Procedures. This information is posted on the
Sponsored Projects Administration website at
http://www.ohsu.edu/research/rda/spa/effortcert.
shtml.
Working with your Department Effort
Coordinators to review, understand, and certify
your own statement and when appropriate your
project staff’s statements.
Ensuring Payroll Charges
are Appropriate
As a PI you are also responsible for
ensuring that the charges on your
sponsored accounts are accurate and
appropriate.
This includes being aware if you are affected by a
federal salary cap and working with your
department to ensure that your salary over the cap
is being supported as cost share by a nonsponsored account.
At times a rounding error in the Payroll
Distribution % column can occur within
Oracle. This can cause the Payroll
Distribution % to show slightly more or
less than 100%.
This rounding error falls within the 5%
variance allowed for statements and is
acceptable.
Keeping Track of Your
Committed Effort
Principal Investigators are responsible
for making sure that your total effort
commitment does not exceed 100%.
All Research?
All the Time?
If you have100% of your effort charged
to sponsored agreement(s) than you
must have a letter that has been signed
by your Dean or Director that specifies
that you are dedicated 100% to
research and not responsible for any
administrative, teaching, or clinical
duties at OHSU.
Getting Sponsor Approval
for Changes
As a PI you must obtain prior approval
from the appropriate institutional and
agency authority to make a change to
the committed effort(s) to a project
award.
Also, you need to be aware if there are
special effort related terms and
conditions to a particular project award.
Contacts for Effort
Related Questions?
Your first resource for effort related
questions is your Department Effort
Coordinator.
Your second resource is the Sponsored
Project Administration’s Institutional
Effort Coordinator who can be reached
at [email protected] or ext 4-6984.