Impact of COVID-19 on Sponsored Projects
This page is intended to serve as a resource for guidance related to the effect of COVID-19 preparations on federal awards and the sponsored project lifecycle. See the contents below to jump to specific pages or sections and please check back for additional information as it becomes available.
Contents
Are you looking for...
- COVID-19 summer appointment info?
COVID-19 Summer Appointment Guidance FAQs guiding summer appointments for the Urbana-Champaign campus.
- Links to sponsor COVID-19 info?
COVID-19 Sponsor Guidance Page: Dedicated page compiling links to both federal and non-federal agency specific guidance
- Data on how coronavirus is impacting sponsored research on our campus?
COVID-19 Impact Data: Jump to a comparison of SPA's most recent proposal, award, and expenditure data
- A quick summary of adjustments to federal agency grants policy?
Federal Agency Policy Table: Jump to a summary of changes to proposal submission and award management policy
- Info on how SPA is adjusting to meet sponsor guidance?
SPA FAQs: Frequently asked questions pertaining to SPA's COVID-19 response
In the event the Urbana-Champaign campus remains under a full or partial remote work policy due to COVID-19, the following protocol will guide summer appointments. The guidance is intended to assist units in managing these appointments and to clarify appointments posted to sponsored projects. We recognize the release of the guidance may post-date already processed appointments. Please review all summer appointments for consistency with the guidance.
COVID-19 Summer Appointment Guidance
Links to COVID-19 Sponsor Guidance
Many funding organizations have their own coronavirus info pages and are providing updated guidance on their policies and procedures as new information is available. Due to the large number of sponsors who fund research at Illinois, we've created a dedicated page to compile info links provided by many of our major sponsors, both federal and non-federal. Links to general research administration resources, like those provided by COGR, can still be found on the left-hand side of this page.
Go to COVID-19 Sponsor Guidance Pages
COVID-19 Impact Data
How is the coronavirus outbreak affecting sponsored research at Illinois relative to past years? See how proposal, award, and expenditure data compares to corresponding dates in each of the previous three years, specifically highlighting the time frame of the Illinois Stay-at-Home Order.
*Note: For internal users, you must be logged in to the campus VPN and provide your university netID and password to view data
Graphs the total yearly number of new and renewal proposals submitted by a given day, for each year 2017 - 2020(to-date).
Graphs the sum of newly awarded dollars (no modifications) for the year on a given day; for each year 2017 - 2020(to-date).
Graphs the total of all dollars awarded (including modifications) for the year on a given day; for each year 2017 - 2020(to-date).
Graphs the total dollar amount of grant expenditures for the year by a given day; for each year 2017 - 2020(to-date).
Summary of Changes to Proposal Submission and Award Management Policy by Federal Agency
| Agency (as of) | Proposal Deadline Flexibility* | Prior Approval Requirement Waived | Charging Idled Staff Salaries | Charging Non-Refundable Travel Costs | No-Cost Extension Allowance | Delayed Progress and Financial Reports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NIH (3/19/20) | ||||||
| NSF (4/1/20) | ||||||
| USDA (3/19/20) | ||||||
| DOE (4/1/20) | ||||||
| DOD (3/24/20) |
*Please see individual sponsor notices for details on deadline flexibility. Some sponsors have extended deadlines for select funding opportunities while others have issued guidelines allowing extension requests to be determined by the program manager on a case by case basis.
The University of Minnesota has put together a useful guide summarizing various federal agencies salary charging rules for those unable to work remotely, which can be found here.
SPA Frequently Asked Questions
Proposal Submission, Delays, or Missed Deadlines
- Will SPA be able to review and submit my proposal?
- If I have a proposal due and my institution closes, will the awarding agency still accept my application?
Yes, myProposals will be available for submission to SPA. SPA staff will continue to provide all of our current services across the lifecycle, remotely if not able to be on-sight.
Per NIH: “A primary concern of NIH applicants is how to handle when an institution is closed due to natural disaster or other emergency situation. In these cases it is not necessary to get permission in advance for delays in grant application submissions. Instead, applications submitted late must include a cover letter indicating the reasons for the delay. The delay should not exceed the time period that the applicant organization is closed. Although NIH will often issue a Guide Notice reminding applicants of this policy during times of major emergencies, this policy will also apply to emergencies of a more limited or local nature not discussed in a separate NIH Guide Notice.”
Per NSF: Researchers or sponsored projects office staff from organizations that have been affected and are unable to meet stated NSF deadlines should contact the cognizant NSF program office to discuss the issue. NSF will consider extensions to the submission deadline on a case-by-case basis (and, in a few cases, on a program-by-program basis), understanding that it may be particularly difficult for individuals impacted to contact NSF. See NSF PAPPG Chapter I.F for additional information on procedures for submitting such requests.
SPA will pass along other agency guidance as received
Travel Cancellation Costs
- Are travel cancellation costs due to COVID-19 allowable as direct charges to sponsored projects?
- How should credits or refunds from cancelled travel costs be handled on sponsored projects?
- I am scheduled to host a conference paid by my grant. I have already incurred expenses associated with the conference prior to the conference being cancelled. Can I charge any conference expenses incurred to date to my award?
Traditionally our practice has been to review for exceptions to charge cancellations fees. University Payables has issued guidance addressing travel reimbursements and COVID-19. NIH issued guidance which specifies that non-refundable grant-related travel costs and conference registration fees due to COVID-19 may be charged to NIH awards. Other cancellation fees will be handled in accordance with federal guidance once available.
If a traveler has charged (e.g., through a travel advance) an airline ticket or other travel cost to a sponsored project, and then that trip is later cancelled, the credit must accrue to the sponsored project.
If the conference was cancelled due to travel restrictions or safety concerns related to COVID-19 you should inform the sponsor. NIH issued guidance which indicates non-refundable costs associated with NIH supported meetings and conferences affected by COVID-19 are allowable and may be requested as an administrative supplement. Other sponsor cancellation fees will be handled in accordance with additional guidance as it is provided.
Remote Work Environment
- If employees are required to work from home will they still be able to get paid by grants?
- What happens if government employees are unavailable to perform their duties (e.g., issue prior approvals or process awards, amendments, issue payments?
- If a student or a researcher needs to access a data set from home in order to keep working on a project, how do we address privacy requirements, if the data set contains sensitive or private information?
If UIUC employees are authorized to work remotely and if employees can work successfully in that environment, then their salary can continue to be paid. Consult with your HR manager for specifics
We expect that funding agencies will put out guidance in the event these circumstances become likely. Contact SPA if you experience this issue prior to agency guidance being released.
If the researcher cannot obtain secure access to the data set (e.g., remote access via VPN or other means), then the data set should not be accessed. Researchers should work with their IT staff to explore whether a secure remote access option is viable for their project. If unsuccessful, researchers should document the amount of time they were unable to work on the data set for the purpose of any subsequent request for a no cost time extension
Project Progress Issues
- What happens if the deliverables in my scope of work timeline cannot be met due to a slow down or gap in activities or if staff may need to work from home?
- Will agencies consider longer no cost time extensions if needed to finish a project after disruption?
- I can't get to my research site and my research will be severely impacted. Will the sponsor provide incremental funding and/or additional time so that I can successfully complete the aims of the award?
- The IRB is not able to process my protocol or protocol continuation. May I proceed anyway?
- I have lab animals that need to be cared for and am concerned that staff may not be available to care for the animals or have the access they need to facilities if my institution closes.
Clearly COVID-19 is an extraordinary circumstance. If the scope of work demands a precise schedule in order to make an experiment viable, and the investigator cannot meet the schedule, they should contact the sponsor immediately. Note that this applies to financial assistance awards; contracts requiring deliverables by a certain date may need to invoke their Force Majeure clause. If you are experiencing this issue on a contract, contact SPA for assistance.
Researchers should document the actual impact of COVID-19 on the progress of their grants to provide substantiation for any future no cost time extension request. It is not known at this time if agencies will consider longer-than-normal no cost time extensions, or multiple no-cost time extensions, in this situation. If not already exercised, SPA has the authority to grant a first no-cost time extension up to 12 months in duration for most federal research grants.
We expect federal agencies will recognize the difficulties inherent in this situation and work with institutions to facilitate the conduct of the project. As a reminder, recipients are required to (1) inform their program officer and grants officer if the need arises for additional Federal funds to complete the project (200.308.(c)(1)(viii)) and (2) federal agency notification is required as soon as “problems, delays, or adverse conditions which will materially impact the ability to meet the objective of the Federal award”(200.328.(d)(1)) is known. In the latter case, the notification must include a statement of the action taken or contemplated and any assistance needed to resolve the situation. It is possible that there will not be an answer yet on what is needed to resolve the situation; in that case, recipients should simply indicate that they will report back when more is known. If you find yourself in this situation, please contact SPA.
In general, no, the activities covered under the protocol may not begin or continue, except as needed to safeguard the lives of the human subjects or the animals. Please immediately contact IACUC or OPRS if this is an issue. Even if the institutional committees are not able to meet, it is likely that IACUC or OPRS has put out guidance on how best to handle emergency situations (including emergency continuation of treatment for human subjects). Follow that institutional guidance.
The University is required to have animal care emergency plans in place as a condition to a federal award involving animal research. Consult IACUC for questions about caring for your animals.
Salary Charges
- If a researcher chooses to travel to a country with a CDC-level warning (e.g., to fulfill a grant responsibility such as present a paper or attend a meeting to discuss research) although the university has advised against travel to that country, can salary still be charged to the award, even if they need to stay in country longer than originally anticipated? Does it matter what level of CDC-level warning exists?
- Can salary continue to be charged if a researcher is on a multi-day self-isolation or self-quarantine period? Does it matter if the researcher is able to continue to work on the project from the self-isolation or self-quarantine site (e.g., home or designated facility) or is not able to work (e.g., because the work must be done in a wet lab or field site)?. Does it matter whether the self-isolation is self-imposed, institution-imposed, or government-imposed?
- If schools or elder-care facilities close, can award-funded employees stay at home to do child-care and elder-care and still charge their salary to a grant?
See the University COVID-19 FAQs for specifics.
Contact HR for additional guidance on this situation. In general, we expect that salary treatment for sponsored travelers will be the same as for non-sponsored travelers (including whether or not vacation/sick time needs to be taken or if the university is providing some other form of paid leave in these circumstances).
If an award funded employee stays home due to a school or facility closure for child or elder care needs, the employee’s salary would be charged in accordance with the University’s HR policy. Consult with your HR manager for specifics.