UIC Disposition of Unexpended Balance on Fixed Price Agreements

Overview

The purpose of this section is to establish the criteria for disposition of funds remaining when a sponsored project has been completed and the funding for the project is in the form of a fixed price award. This policy applies to the disposition of unexpended cash balances on sponsored programs—contracts and grants, and applies to fixed price/fixed rate contracts and non-refundable grants that do not include a designation from the sponsor as to the use of the remaining unexpended balance of funds. The principal investigator (PI) and the unit business office must ensure that the applicable personnel efforts referenced in the award proposal budget and used to determine the rate of reimbursement are appropriately charged to the contract or grant. Once the award is accepted, the PI is obligated to perform the work, whether or not the funding provided is adequate, but is not obligated to return any unused funds.

Process

Unrestricted residual funds remaining on fixed price type awards as described above will be transferred by the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), Post-Award to a departmental unrestricted residual fund type C-FOAP to facilitate timely project close-out, within 120 days of Banner coded project end date.

• When a fixed price or non-refundable award has reached the Banner indicated project end date, the responsible grant specialist prepares and sends a Report of Expenditures (ROE) worksheet and Notice of Unexpended Funds Disposition form to the departmental grants administrator for review and approval. The Notice of Unexpended Funds Disposition form indicates the residual cash balance. Once the ROE is reviewed and approved by the department, no additional charges or transfers can be applied to the terminating grant or contract.
• OSP requests the required program code segment of the allowance type C-FOAP from the Accounting C-FOAP maintenance group. Once the program code has been established, OSP sends notification of the unrestricted residual fund C-FOAP to the department. The residual funds are unrestricted and will be available to the department for expenditure until funds are exhausted. Fiscal year ending balances roll forward and become next fiscal year’s beginning balance.
• The direct cost portion of the residual cash balance is transferred to the department’s unrestricted residual fund established as described above and the applicable Facilities and Administrative (F&A) portion is transferred to the appropriate Indirect Costs Recovered (ICR) C-FOAP based on the distribution code reflected on (see form FZMRFND) the terminating fund, unless the PI working through the Office of Sponsored Programs, Pre-Award has requested and been granted a project extension from the sponsoring agency.
• Fixed price and fixed rate contracts, and non-refundable grants with zero or negative balances are closed out on the same schedule as other sponsored programs.

Responsibilities

• The PI and the department receiving the award are responsible for ensuring that all expenses charged are appropriate for the award grant and fund code(s).
• The PI and the department ensure that all expenses related to the project have been properly charged to the award grant and fund code(s).
• The PI and the department certify the completion of all required project work and that all required reports and deliverables have been submitted to sponsor.
• The PI will be responsible and held accountable for ensuring that sponsor funds requested accurately reflect the cost of completing the fixed price award. All awards with residual cash balances will be subject to post audit reviews.
• OSP calculates the applicable direct and F&A portion of the residual cash balance and transfers the direct cash balances to the unrestricted residual fund, distributes the F&A to the appropriate ICR fund and terminates the award grant and fund code(s). All entries will be made within 120 days of award project end date.

For additional information, contact the Office of Sponsored Programs at 312-996-3373.

First Published: March 2007 | Last Updated: March 2024 | Last Reviewed: March 2024