Our A-133 auditors just asked me for the NSF backup on this.  The NSF GPG
says:

Effective/Expiration Dates and Preaward Costs.The grant period begins on the
 effective date specified in the award letter or, in its
absence, the date of the award
 letter and runs until the expiration date indicated.
Expenditures incurred within the
 90-day period preceding the effective date of the grant may
be authorized by the
 grantee organization. Such expenditures, however, are made
at the grantee's risk.
 Expenditures after the scheduled expiration date of the
grant only may be made to
 honor documented commitments made on or before the
expiration date. PIs should
 consult their business offices for details.
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf022/nsf0202_5.html

As an institution, we don't like to allow retroactive preaward charges
unless the PI can give some sort of backup or formal declaration that the
expenses were for this project only.  We recently allowed retroactive
preaward costs (5 days prior to official start date) for supplies because
the PI had verbal confirmation of the award from the program officer several
weeks prior to the receipt of the official notice.

I'd be worried about retroactive salary, though.  I'd want to know if this
was a project he was planning to do regardless of whether or not he received
the award, or if he had unofficial notice of the award prior to the award
letter.  Something like that might make it more acceptable.

Amy Hibbard
Grants Administrator
Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences
535 Watson Drive, Claremont, CA 91711
T: (909) 607-9313 / 607-7855
F: (909) 607-8086
xxxxxx@kgi.edu
www.kgi.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Averick [mailto:xxxxxx@CIMS.NYU.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2002 8:40 AM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: [RESADM-L] Pre-Award Costs

What are other institutions policies about retroactive pre-award
costs?  That is, let's say you had an NSF award that had a start date of
6/1/02, and now--on June 27th--the PI comes and says he wants to charge his
May 2002 salary to that grant.  What do you do?

Thanks,

Fred Averick
Sponsored Research Administrator
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
New York University
ph: (212) 998-3372
fax: (212) 995-4125

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