Robert M. Hamm, PhD PI, 1998-2001 ATPM/CDC Project

1. Keeping Track of Your Money in an ATPM/CDC Cooperative Agreement ProjectWhat I Think Every PI Should Know Robert M. Hamm, PhD PI, 1998-2001 ATPM/CDC Project University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City Presentation at 2001 Partnering Meeting, February 27, 2001, Atlanta Georgia (revised March 22, 2001)

2. Caveats • This advice is anecdotal, idiosyncratic • It is based on one project, one university, one cooperating agreement • Our project involves giving a 2 hour educational experience to men, on the topic of prostate cancer, and then a follow-up interview 6 months later. • It also involves cooperation with another university, another site for interviewing patients.

3. What every PI needs to do: • Project your labor needs (you, colleagues, research assistants) and other expenses • Keep track month by month as money gets spent. • Keep track of progress month by month. • E.g., number of subjects enrolled. • Project whether the work will get done with the time and money available. • Adjust expenditures in response to the unexpected • Report on progress, and results

4. Some Projects are Easy to Budget (Some are Not) • You have the choice: make it simple or make it hard. • The simple approach • Faculty salaries, same every month • Graduate research assistants, same every month • Delegate the accounting – what is that 46% indirect for?

5. The difficult approach • Variable wages month to month. • Part time research assistants • time sheets • To change your colleague’s % FTE, to keep within budget, requires • Sweet talk your colleague • Colleague’s chair needs to come up with alternative sources • Give plenty of fore-notice. • Your departmental business manager = your best friend? • Do the accounting yourself

6. ATPM/CDC Cooperative agreements add complications • Requirement of reapplication each year (May or June) • The process is not difficult • (unless a change in scope requires redoing budget) • You still will need to get originally promised work done, with originally promised budget. • Carryover of unspent funds after September 29 • Why September 29? • Federal fiscal year ends two days later • At this point, it is clear how much money is left from the year, and if they use it (by giving it to your project) they won’t lose it. • Requirement of justification by May 30 if more than 25% of that Grant Year’s funds will not be spent by September 29.

7. What year is it, anyway? • Mismatch between calendar year, university’s fiscal year and ATPM/CDC year. • Calendar University ATPM/CDC • Oct-Dec 1998 Univ FY 1999 Grant Year 1 • Jan-Jun 1999 Univ FY 1999 Grant Year 1 • Jul-Sep 1999 Univ FY 2000 Grant Year 1 • Oct-Dec 1999 Univ FY 2000 Grant Year 2 Make sure you are aware of which year your money is held in, and spent in!

8. Carry Over • If you did not spend the money by Sept 29, • ATPM does not want you to give it back • CDC does not want you to give it back • They want you to use the money to do the project • The university does not want you to give it back • They are, as they keep telling you, desperate for external funding. • But, unless you take some steps the university will send it back. • You need to request to carry over the amount that has not been spent. • Your university will not know how much was not spent, for months • This is why you need your own parallel budget system • You have to send a letter to ATPM, and talk with your CDC advisor • The ATPM staff are helpful and understanding, talk with them.

9. Tools needed for a budget The big green ledger: A spreadsheet for projecting expenditures. • Does your department or university provide the spreadsheet templates? • Do they provide the labor to keep the spreadsheets up to date? • Do they provide the information needed for such a spreadsheet? • (They have to do at least this) • Ideally, you will have help. Work closely with that person. • Often, you have to create some or all of the tools yourself, and do some or all of the work.

10. Projections and records • There are three sets of salary and expense records in my university and department. • The university’s payroll and accounts. • The department’s parallel record. They are not allowed to read some fields in the university’s, so they have to do it all over. • My parallel record. • Why this unnecessary triplication? • I can understand my version • I can use it for planning, projecting changes • (E.g., if I cut my own FTE by 10%, I could hire one more part time research assistant.)

11. The researcher’s budget spreadsheet • Same tool for proposal writing, in-process planning, and accounting. • Every month • Every category • Total • Breakdown, e.g., for every worker • The past is fixed • What has been spent • The present and future are changeable • Use for “what if” projections and “How are we doing” checks.

12. What to project and record besides labor expenses? • Spreadsheet for planning and recording subjects run. • This can be used for • Planning (how many workers will we need in Dec?) • Progress monitoring (what is our shortfall) • Final reports (what we did)

13. Cooperative Agreement Reports • Quarterly • Your university sends the financial report • You send the progress report • Your technical advisor and the ATPM/CDC staff will give guidance on what to include in this. • Provides opportunity for your own periodic review. • Annual • Part of the May application for next year’s funds. • Therefore, it does not have the last four months’ progress! • Final

14. Subcontracts Add Complexity • Universities: • Each university has a different contract writing, billing system. • A new subcontract has to be signed every year. • Your subcontractor colleagues will manage differently. Learn from them. • Nonuniversities. • Different level of trustworthiness. • Get it in writing, including a holdback. • Pay later

15. Message from the Sponsored Programs Administrator in our Office of Research Administration. • February 12, 2001. • "Good morning Dr. Hamm, • In order for me to complete the subcontract / consulting agreements I need a detailed scope of work for the third year for each of your consultants.” • When the third year started: Sept 30, 2000. • How much the subcontractor has billed OUHSC since Sept 2000: $12,000. • How much money has been paid from the University of Oklahoma to the subcontractor: $0.

16. We had a completely adequate relation between OU and the subcontractor, up until Sept 29, 2000. • Then everything falls apart and has to be reconstructed. • New subcontract must be sign, but not until • Contract with ATPM and OU is signed, but not until • Complete accounting of all expenditures from previous year is made(?) • Paper sits on people’s desk • The subcontractor has to be coached, to find the new employees in his university’s Office of Research Administration to get a new subcontract letter written. • We had already been through this transition once before, in the transition from year 1 to year 2. • The bureaucracy has no memory. Therefore, the PI needs to remember. • Lesson: It is easier to do the work at one institution. • Unfortunately, this lesson contradicts CDC’s aim to promote collaboration among institutions, and with community organizations.

17. Relations with research administration and business office staff. • Relations with the finance and administration people in your department and your university. • You will have to explain the unusual requirements of an ATPM/CDC Cooperative Agreement to them. Do not expect them to understand it, just from receiving the inch of documentation that you send them. • You have a moral and fiduciary responsibility to manage this money well. It is their job to provide you with information so you can keep track of whether you are doing this. • But they have many other jobs.

18. Relations with administration staff. • Explain repeatedly what information you need. • Draw on authority. • Make sure that your chair and the director of the university’s research administration agree that you need to have this information, and that the staff person knows this. • Expect to deal with a variety of lame excuses. • Don’t blow up. • They are not stupid • They have just learned to sit still until people like you go away. • Visit in person when there is a problem. • Email or phone are not so effective • (except, to make sure they are there before you go over)

19. Relations with administration staff. • What you have to do • Be polite • Be consistent, insistent, and persistent. • Acknowledge your mistakes • Be clear about what you need, but you don’t need to blame. • Keep in a good mood, and help the others you have to deal with to stay, or get, in a good mood. • Plan ahead and start early, so you don’t need to wield your power gracelessly or unpleasantly.

20. In sum • The CDC Cooperative Agreements are a useful funding source. • The funding arrangement is different from NIH grants and foundation grants. • Due to the yearly contract, you need a complete and up-to-date budget, both for accounting and planning. • With the miracle of modern spreadsheets, you can do it. • Still you will need to communicate clearly with all involved parties. • Enjoy!