If I were in your situation, I would advise the PI to explain in the annual
progress report the delays in getting all of your personnel on board and
then see how things go.  The mention of this in your annual progress report
informs USED that things are off to a slow start, but I believe it's
premature to deal with a no-cost extension in Year 1 of a three-year
project.  It's possible your PI and staff may be able to "catch up", and if
not, you can approve a one-time extension when the end of the project period
is closer.  By the time your PI is entering Year 3, he/she should have a
pretty good idea of how work's progressing, etc., and you could exercise
your institution's authority to approve a no-cost extension during that
third year.  Of course, delays in getting program personnel hired and on
board is one of the more common reasons for needing a no-cost time
extension.

You do need to prepare a notification that you've done this.  You need to
tell USED that you've extended it and you also have to provide them with the
justification for your extension.  Based on our experience with USED, they
do issue an award amendment to note they've recorded your new project end
date.

------------
Patricia A. Hawk
Sponsored Projects Administrator
5219 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR  97403-5219
tel: 541/346-2504
fax: 541/346-5138
e-mail:  xxxxxx@orsa.uoregon.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Laura Hartley [mailto:xxxxxx@MAIL.LESLEY.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 7:47 AM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: time extensions

Please excuse what I'm sure is a simple question from a pre-award
specialist who has been asked to look into a post-award issue.

We have a three-year Dept of Ed award which began this past September.  Due
to some internal issues, we have not yet been able to hire the needed
personnel to get the project going, and in fact won't likely have these
individuals on board until summer.  I've been asked to look into whether
there's anything in particular we need to do to get a 9-month to 1-year
time extension on the grant, so that we can adequately complete the project.

In the documents we got from Dept of Ed, I found the following instructions
about time extensions:
* One-time extension of the project period for up to one year without prior
approval;
* Grantee sends written notification of planned extension to assigned ED
program officer no later than 10 days before end of project period;
* Cannot be merely for the purpose of exhausting unexpended funds;
* Cannot require the need for additional Federal funds;
* Cannot change the scope or objectives of the project.

Assuming our case meets these criteria, is there anything I need to know
before informing the PI that we will be ok with the time extension?  Also,
given that this is the first year of a three-year project, should we let
the program officer know now that this time extension will likely be
needed, or is it best to just wait until the end of the third year to
submit written notification?

Thanks in advance.
*************************************************************
 Lesley College is now LESLEY UNIVERSITY
*************************************************************

Laura C. Hartley, Ph.D.
Grants Officer/Staff Writer
Office of the Provost
Lesley University
29 Everett Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-2790
Phone: 617-349-8795
Fax: 617-349-8974
email: xxxxxx@mail.lesley.edu

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