American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
Jan 20, 2016
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
Faculty and Staff PresentationsSeptember, 2009Sue Ross Bruce ElliottDirector Director Office for Sponsored Research, Office for Sponsored Research,Evanston Campus Chicago Campus
Mike Daniels Jennifer WeiSenior Associate Controller/Executive Director Effort Reporting Research
ManagerOffice of Financial Operations Office of Financial Operations
Jane Roy-SinghAssociate DirectorAccounting Services for Research and Sponsored Programs
I. ARRA Overview
II. PI and Department Admin. Responsibilities
III. Reporting Requirements and Timelines
ARRA Overview
ARRA enacted 2/17/09 $Billions investment to science ($10.4B NIH,
$3B NSF, $5.5B DOE) Stimulus funding – looking for impact on
employment $68M ARRA awards to date, more expected Rigorous accountability and reporting
requirements Audit risk is high
ARRA Proposal Data
Strong Northwestern response to ARRA funding opportunities
Proposals submitted specifically for ARRA601 for a total of $386.6 mil
350 ARRA proposals in April 2009 alone
ARRA Award Data
$68M awarded through 9/11 (125 awards) Sponsors: NIH, NSF, DOE(nergy) Northwestern has exceptionally high volume
(per CIC [Big Ten] data) Award profiles on Office for Research web
site (http://www.research.northwestern.edu/stimulus/)
ARRA Recipient Reporting Process
ARRA funds are separate from other agency funds Distinct CFDA Numbers Set up in separate chart strings Drawn down separately from non-ARRA funds Accounting for ARRA funds a rigorous and frequent
processWho is required to report under ARRA? Prime Recipients who receive Recovery Act funds. Prime recipients may delegate certain reporting
responsibilities to sub-recipients (NU will report subrecipient’s data)
ARRA Recipient Reporting Process
What reporting is required under ARRA? Total amount of funds received; and of that, the
amount spent on projects and activities A list of projects and activities funded by name to
include– Description– Completion status– Estimates on jobs created or retained
Details on sub-awards and other payments
ARRA Reporting Requirements
Quarterly (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct) 10 calendar day deadline Transparent – full public view New portal (FederalReporting.gov) New data elements
ARRA Reporting Timeline
Days 1-10 – NU uploads data to FederalReporting.gov
Days 11-21 – data is public, data validation and corrections begin (phase I)
Days 22-29 – data validation & corrections (phase II)
NOTE: If an award is missing from initial report, penalties include risk of award being suspended
Contextual View of Reporting
ARRA New Data Elements
Jobs created/retained (prime recipient, subrecipients, vendors)
Research progress (not started, < 50%, >50%, complete)
Project description (abstracts) Project activity codes (need PI input) Aggregate and individual subawards issued Vendor purchases > $25,000 (item description
and purpose) Demographic data (DUNS, Cong. Districts, etc.)
PI and Department Responsibilities
Begin work, spend ARRA funds right away Charge payroll ASAP to reflect jobs
created/retained For NIH ARRA supplements, give the
supplement priority Be prepared to provide descriptions of
products or services provided by large (> $25,000) vendor purchases
ARRA Reporting Specs
Must submit first report by 10/10 Drawing data from several NU systems May submit web, Excel, or XML OMB provides data definitions, format Potential 99 fields for each award Each report submitted individually
Current Status of NU Reporting
Northwestern registration in FederalReporting.gov complete
Data mapping complete Database design complete XML coding in process Subcontracts issued ASAP OSR gathering abstracts Process for PI data review complete
ARRA Key Info
Quarterly Reports IN ADDITION TO existing reports
Funds 611 and 621 identify ARRA funding 1st Report includes all awards issued through
9/30 Northwestern reporting jobs and expenditures
through prior month close to ensure data is as complete as possible
Example – 10/10 report to cover jobs and expenditures through August close
ARRA Data Review Process
1) Stimulus report review with link to spreadsheet distributed
2) Spreadsheet has pre-populated data of all ARRA awards
3) PI (or designate) locates individual project data on spreadsheet
4) Confirm data or provide specific feedback via stimulus report review
5) Stimulus report review release 9/21 ( and 12/21, 3/22, 6/21)
6) Responses due by 9/25 (and 12/29, 3/26, 6/25)7) If no response, pre-populated data will be reported
ARRA Data Elements
ARRA Jobs Created and Retained
Formula dictated by the Office of Management and Budget and interpreted by NIH, NSF
One combined number reported for jobs created and retained
Report requires description of positions
ARRA Jobs Created and Retained
Example #1 - Exempt (e.g. faculty)– # of jobs created or retained is calculated based on
the paid effort charged to the ARRA grant divided by the total salary on a quarterly basis
ARRA Jobs Created and Retained
Example #2 – Non-exempt (e.g. Biweekly Paid)– 1 Full-time FTE is based on 489 hours per quarter– Default hours for hourly paid employees (biweekly regular or biweekly
temporaries)
*Note: Two weeks constitute 1 pay period
ARRA Jobs Created and Retained
Example #3 – Non-exempt (Biweekly Paid)
PI Responsibilities
Begin work, spend ARRA funds right away For NIH ARRA supplements, give the
supplement priority Complete the Stimulus Report Review 9/21-25 Be prepared to provide descriptions of
products or services provided by large (> $25,000) vendor purchases
Department Responsibilities
Establish payroll ASAP to reflect jobs created/retained
Serve as a back up for the Stimulus Review Report 9/21-25
Be prepared to provide descriptions of products or services provided by large (> $25,000) vendor purchases
ARRA Assistance
We are here to help you!
Northwestern ARRA [email protected]
Northwestern ARRA web sitehttp://www.research.northwestern.edu/stimulus/
Questions?