OPM Rebudgeting

Summary

This article explains the re-budgeting process before meeting project objectives.

Body

Purpose

After a project gets underway, a Principal Investigator (PI) may determine that funds are in need to be re-budgeted in order to meet project objectives.

There are two types of re-budgets:

Re-budgets that require Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) review, Sponsor approval and as required by OMB 2 CFR 200.308 Federal guidelines.
- See opm:sponsor_approval_guidelines Sponsor Approval Guidelines for further information and Prior Approval Guide.
Re-budgets for Budget Line Item checking(Budget Realignment) - Non Sponsor approval

Re-budgets that require OSP and/or Sponsor approval:

Change of any named personnel
Reduction of salary/effort
Change in equipment costs (C8000)
Addition of foreign travel (C6240)
Change greater than 25% of budget item
Change in Participant Support (C7010)

OPM reviews any of the above revisions for compliance with the respective terms and conditions.

If the revision is within the guidelines of the grant/contract, OPM will process and approve the sponsored project budget adjustment.
If the revision requires sponsor approval, OPM will notify the PI and department the revision cannot be processed without sponsor approval.
- If the sponsor approves, OPM notifies the department and PI that the request has approved.
- If sponsor denies request, OPM forwards notification to PI and department and deny the sponsored project budget adjustment request.

OPM will retain the rebudget documention in the Office of Post Award Management (OPM) files.
Re-budgets for Budget Line item (Budget Realignment) checking:
The Department will request a Budget Realignment request if any of the following:

If not, sufficient funds to cover that expense on the Budget Line item to where expense will occur
It does not require OSP review and/or sponsor approval as stated in the “Re-budgets that require Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) review, Sponsor approval and as required by OMB 2 CFR 200.308 guidelines” section above

NOTE: No written justification and retaining of documentation is required for Budget Realignments not requiring sponsor approvals.One of the roles of the OPM is to assist departments in monitoring grant expenditures. OPM reviews all expenditures and ensures that budget exists on the Budget Line item for that expense (Budget Line Item control).This budget line item checking procedure was put into effect due to the change, effective December 2014, of the OMB Circulars to a more Uniformed Guidance – <a class="wiki external" 2 CFR 200. One of the most significant changes is in which is the time frame of award closeouts that the non-federal must submit, no later than 90 calendar days after the end date of the period performance, all financial, performance and other reports as required by the terms and conditions of the federal award (CFR 200.343 Closeout). It has been stated by OMB that there will be a stricter adherence to this guideline.

This budget line item checking will better enable OPM, the Office of Finance, and Departments to ensure compliance with the proposed budget award terms, new Uniform Guidance requirements, ease of financial management throughout the life cycle of the award, and the above mentioned award close-out process/45 day policy.The Department will request a Budget Realignment request (NOTE: No justification or Sponsor approval is required) if the following:

If not sufficient funds to cover that expense
It does not require OSP and/or Sponsor Approval as stated in the “Re-budgets that require OSP and/or Sponsor approval” section above

Procedure

All revisions process in the order received. Please allow 3 business days. Please see the Sponsored Project Budget Adjustment form End User Guide.

Explanation

Step 1	Principal Investigator/Department determines a re-budget is required.
Step 2	Department submits Sponsored Project Budget Adjustment form in PeopleSoft. Justification for why the budget is not being spent in the original category. Adjustment amounts for the budget categories
Step 3	The cost center manager or alternate approve the sponsored project budget adjustment.
Step 4	OPM approves so the sponsored project budget adjustment can be assigned to OPM specialist for review and processing.
Step 5	OPM will review and notify the department or OSP if sponsor approval is needed.
Step 6	If no issues, OPM will process the request and approval the final step.
Step 7	If form cannot be processed, OPM will deny the sponsored project budget adjustment. Notification is automatically sent to the submitter and approvers.

Facilities and Administration cost on re-budgeting:

Facilities and Administration (F&A) costs are those costs associated with providing and maintaining the infrastructure that supports the research enterprise (buildings and their maintenance, libraries, etc.) and which cannot easily be identified with a specific project.Certain budget categories do not generate F&A:

Capital Equipment ≥ $5000
Tuition/Scholarships/Fellowships
Subcontracts over the first $25,000
Participant Support
Rental costs of off-site facility

If the re-budget transfers money from a non-F&A bearing budget item(such as equipment) to an F&A bearing item (such as materials), the F&A dollar amount //increases// to maintain the contracted F&A percentage.

Re-Budgeting Example - Moving funds from non F&A account into F&A account