The American Recovery Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is now in place.  To help stimulate the economy, UW-Madison and institutions of higher education nationwide are being asked to contribute our expertise and strong record of success in research and education.  ARRA provides an infusion of funding for research at an unprecedented level.  At the same time, there are clear expectations of transparency and accountability in the use of these funds.

The magnitude of funding in ARRA and the speed with which the legislation was enacted caught many Federal agencies by surprise.  Much of the information concerning the ARRA implementation has yet to be announced.  RSP is gathering information from many sources and providing it on our website, https://rsp.wisc.edu/ARRA/index.html.  We will continue to update this material as soon as it becomes available.

Treatment of research funds originating from ARRA will require new management and reporting practices to the federal agencies, which must then report to the public through the website, http://www.recovery.gov.  Highlighted below are some important points regarding UW – Madison’s implementation of ARRA. 

New Applications and Pending Proposals:

1. Please identify new applications in response to solicitations for ARRA funds by entering “ARRA” and then the appropriate solicitation number in the Sponsor Program Reference field in WISPER.
2. For any records previously submitted but selected for funding under ARRA, please notify RSP and your Dean’s office immediately.
3. Please simultaneously submit all protocols to all relevant compliance offices (human subject, animal, biosafety, etc.) when you submit your application or immediately upon notification from the Sponsor that a previously submitted application will be considered for ARRA funding.  The short turn-around time of applications requires protocols to be approved in a timely manner.
4. Ensure that you are up-to-date on all effort reporting tasks and outside activities reporting.  Your departmental administrator can help you verify this status.

Requests for Supplemental Funding:
In addition to Items 1-4, also:

Consider whether a no-cost extension is necessary.  Supplemental funds may be awarded to grants nearing the end date of the original award.  The time period of ARRA support cannot extend beyond the award end date, so a no-cost extension may be required for additional time that extends the end date.  

• Note that NIH recommends that a no-cost extension already be in place before an administrative supplement request is submitted, but that is not a requirement for all administrative supplement requests.
• For NIH no-cost extension requests, please note that the eRA Commons Extension functionality does not allow extensions to be reported to NIH earlier than 90 days before the current end date.  Please prepare the administrative supplement with the expected extension in mind, and note those intentions in the application.  Be sure to discuss your plan to execute the extension through the eRA Commons Extension feature "soon.”

Managing and Accounting for ARRA Funding:

1. All ARRA funding will be set up as separate Awards and Project IDs in SFS.  This practice will be necessary to comply with the ARRA terms and conditions.  ARRA funding cannot be comingled with other funding.  All ARRA funding must be specifically identified because it is subject to special reporting conditions mandated in the Act. 
   • All sub-awards issued under ARRA funding also will be required to be specifically identified.  A new requisition and purchase order will be need to be generated.
2. Guidelines require funds to be spent in a timely manner.  Federal agencies have indicated that they will consider reducing or terminating project funding for those awards not spent in an appropriate period of time.
   • Please work with your departmental payroll and administrative support staff to ensure ARRA funds are spent before other funds. In some cases, payroll funding will need to be changed to the new Project IDs. 
   • Cost transfers are not an appropriate method to expend these funds.  The additional time needed to process a cost transfer could result in an incorrect expenditure level being reported to the federal agency.
   • ARRA funding incorporates strict reporting requirements and deadlines.  For example, NIH and others are requiring expenditure reports 10 days after each calendar quarter.  RSP will work closely with PIs and departments to ensure required reports are filed in a timely manner.

In all cases, the University of Wisconsin – Madison will continue to adhere to existing policies and procedures regarding compliance.   In extraordinary circumstances, exceptions may be necessary.  RSP will work with the Dean’s Offices to ensure that policies are being followed.

As members of the campus research community, our office is excited about the opportunities for scientific research provided through ARRA.  We look forward to working with you to submit proposals promptly, to set up awards quickly, to facilitate expenditures of ARRA funds and to report accurately to federal sponsors.    If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact RSP. 

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