In USCeRA, while completing the PAP (Proposal/Award Processing form), answer the collaboration questions under the “Funding” section. Then under the “Questions” section (last section) click yes to question number 5 (Sole source considerations: subcontracts, outside consultants, equipment?) and complete the sole source certification that will pop up under my forms after the PAP form is completed. NOTE: complete ONE certification for EACH collaborating institution (i.e. 3 collaborating institutions = 3 certification forms). Click “Add Certification” button under tools section for additional certifications.
Upload the following forms for each subaward:
- SOW (scope of work)
- Budget
- Budget justification
- Letter of intent/collaboration approved by the SAM equivalent representative for the institution
- USC Subrecipient commitment form
Additional information for NIH submissions:
- Facilities document
- Biosketches
- Equipment, if applicable
- Performance site
- LOI from PI
- Scope of work (a description of USC’s portion of work in the project, be specific).
- Budget and budget justification (ask the collaborator if the institution is requiring specific forms).
- Any other required forms from the collaborating institution.
- SAM representative will write the letter of intent/collaboration.
- You are not required by USC to use a specific submission software. ASPH OoR suggests using ASSIST, Workspace, and Fastlane for federal proposals.
- You may submit in other portals for nonfederal sponsors once you have USC approval (ASPH and SAM).
If you answer YES to the following, then it needs approvals through USCeRA.
- Is this an institutional grant?
- Does it require a budget?
- Does it need an USC Authorized Signature?
You can make a change to the budget, but it will then have to be routed again for signatures. All documents are to be in final form in USCeRA and the submission application at the time of routing for approvals. Re-routing a proposal with revisions not requested by ASPH OoR or SAM resets the 4-business day deadline.
Cost share or matching is that portion of the project costs that are not paid by the funding agency. Cost share can be provided by the university or third party.
As a rule, ASPH does not allow cost share on a proposal unless it is requested/required by the sponsor.
First determine that the call for proposal requires cost share. If you do need cost share, on the PAP form, in the questions section, answer yes to question 1 (Does this proposal involve cost share?). This will create a new form on the main page of the proposal. Once you open that form, you have 2 options.
1. Commitment of Department cost share
2. Commitment of College/Other Entity cost share
Click on the (+) sign next to the one you want to enter.
ASPH Department cost share: A new screen will pop up and you will then enter in the PI information requested and denote which category the cost share will be coming from (i.e. Salary, Fringe, Travel, IDC, etc.). You will need to do this for each year that has cost share.
Other College or Entity cost share: A new screen will pop you will then enter in the college or institution information requested and denote which category the cost share will be coming from (i.e. Salary, Fringe, Travel, IDC, etc.). You will need to do this for each year that has cost share.
Your chair will approve the cost share at the departmental level. Dr. Decho and the Dean’s business manager will approve for the college level. Any other college at USC will be alerted to approve through USCeRA.
If you are receiving money from a third party outside the university, you will need a signed letter stating they are committing the cost share loaded into USCeRA.
All cost share must be tracked by the university. Any In-Kind effort over 5% is also considered cost share that must be tracked.
Submitting Organization Legal Name: University of South Carolina
Type of Organization: Public/State Controlled Institution of Higher Education
Congressional District: SC-006
View USC business information.
Authorized University Signatories: Your SAM administrator is the designated signing official, DO NOT sign them yourself
Financial Contacts: Tiffany Boyd, Director of Grants & Funds Management
Federal Cognizant Audit Agency: USDHHS, Shon Turner, 214-767-3261
View USC business information.
Effective 7/1/21-6/30/22: 31.04% Full Time Faculty, Staff and Postdoctoral Associates
- Effective dates: 7/1/2018 through 6/30/2022
- Research 49%
- Training and service 36%
- Instruction 49.5%
- Industry sponsored clinical trials 25% TDC
- Off campus 26%
Yes. Please answer yes to the question on the Costs section of the PAP form and choose from the following:
- If the sponsor has published an IDC rate in their guidelines, USC will allow that rate. Please choose “The sponsoring agency has a formal policy limiting indirect costs”. Please include the guidelines and you do not need anything further.
- If you are requesting a “voluntary reduction in rate or waiver of indirect costs”, please choose this option and contact the OoR for a waiver form.
The Agreement was signed 11/20/2018
If your direct costs are less than $250,000 per year, use a modular budget. If your direct costs are more than $250,000 per year, use the detailed budget.
Always review the guidelines to make sure that there are not specifications on what kind of budget to submit.
Yes, your modular budget justification is personnel only.
Your sub’s budget justification should be detailed, labeled foreign or domestic, and rounded to the nearest $1,000.
Submit a detailed budget in USCeRA regardless of the budget template used for submission.
ASPH requires completed proposals to be entered in USCeRA and the submission software of your choice 4 business days before the sponsor’s or submitting institution’s deadline.
Ex: If your proposal is due to the sponsor on Friday at 5 pm. You will need to have a completed, ready to review proposal submitted to USC by 5 pm on the Monday before.
To be complying, a completed proposal is to be loaded in USCeRA and the submission software ready for review. A PI may still tweak the Aims and Research Strategy sections during review, but all other areas of the proposal are to be complete.
Please contact the ASPH Office of Research (OoR). You will be given a waiver form to complete and submit to request your proposal be processed. These will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If you know a few days in advance of the deadline, please contact the OoR and we will try to work with you.
No, the policy is 4 full business days.
Your proposal is due in USCeRA 4 business days before the institution has requested your paperwork. Please use their deadline in USCeRA instead of the main sponsor’s deadline.
Contact the OoR Director of Research Productivity Analysis, Susan Cate, and she will help you arrange the review after approval from ADR Dr. Decho. Allow enough time to contact the reviewers and have the proposal reviewed.
Susan Cate, (803) 777-5551, catesc@mailbox.sc.edu
The decision if it is a gift or a grant is made at the OoR and SAM level and not by the PI.
Grant Checklist
- Money or property is provided to achieve a specified scope of work or to provide a specific product, service, or other expected result within a specified period of time.
- There is an exchange of money/property (financial assistance) for research/instruction/public service activities in order to fulfill the institution’s mission (a quid pro quo arrangement).
- Use of funds is restricted by the sponsor, prior sponsor approval is required for budget revisions, and dis-allowance of specific types of expenditures are included in the terms.
- Sponsor retains the right to revoke award based on stated circumstances.
- Sponsor is a governmental agency or is awarding governmental flow-through funds.
- The award is a contract, cooperative agreement, consortium agreement, grant, sub-grant, or sub-contract.
- The sponsor requires external audits, detailed financial reports, invoices, and/or technical status reports as a condition of the award.
- Sponsor defines how unused funds are to be handled.
Gift Checklist
- Donor refers to funding as a gift, a donation, or a contribution and intends for the funding to be a charitable gift as reflected by the absence of any quid pro quo arrangement.
- Donor provides the funding to the University without expectation of direct economic or other tangible benefit commensurate with the amount of funding. Indirect benefits such as tax advantages, business or personal goodwill, or benefits derived from donor club status are of immaterial nature and not sufficient to negate the gift intent.
- Funding is provided with few terms beyond specifying general intent. Any conditions or stipulations placed on the use of the funding are reasonable and serve only to direct the funding to support the desired area of interest of the donor.
- Funding is irrevocable with the donor relinquishing rights to reclaim any portion of the funding.
- Funding is from a non-governmental source and is provided for such activities as endowments, capital projects, general student financial assistance, or other general operations of the University.
- Technical and/or progress reports are NOT required. These reports should not be confused with general stewardship reports which should occur on a regular basis or upon request from a donor on an ad-hoc basis.
- There is NOT a requirement for a line item budget and no restrictions are placed on the use of the funding other than expenditures must be consistent with donor’s stipulations.
- Often there is no time period specified with the use of the funding.
- No deliverables (reports or rights) are provided to the donor in exchange for the funding provided.
Erika Wright, Development Coordinator
The U.S. Government is increasingly concerned about inappropriate influence by foreign entities over federally funded research. A primary focus resulting from this concern is ensuring federally funded researchers at U.S. institutions disclose their relationships and activities with foreign institutions and/or funding agencies, which could jeopardize an individual’s eligibility to receive future funding. UofSC encourages international collaborations while reiterating the importance of our faculty and investigators being transparent about their involvement with foreign entities. The following information is provided to guide the research community on how to meet the obligations associated with reporting outside activities to federal agencies.
The message from the funding agencies is clear: investigators and their universities must disclose completely all foreign activities to their federal funding sponsors.
Please see the below link for additional information and guidance on disclosing international relationships:
Documents must be kept for a minimum of three years after the study has closed, unless the sponsor lists other specific requirements. See the Data Access and Retention policies for more details.