CENTERS, INSTITUTES, CONSORTIA

Membership in a Nutshell

Larisa Slark, CRA

Office of Research and Innovation

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Kathleen Bradley-Lockhart, CRA

Office of Contracts and Grants

North Carolina State University

Main Objectives

1. Introduction to Centers, Institutes and Consortia (C/I/c)
2. Managing memberships in C/I/c
3. Financial overview

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Membership Units at NC State

Reflect the university’s commitment to interdisciplinary scholarly pursuit, including research, instruction and public service.

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• 45 established, multi-disciplinary units - Centers and Institutes

UNC-GA Regulation 400.5[R] and NC State Regulation 10.10.04

• 13 Centers and Institutes engage industry partners who participate in the activities by joining as a Member
• 280 companies and other entities are active Members

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Membership Units at NC State

•NC State guidelines allow for the formation of a consortium:

an association of a university unit with industrial companies, organizations or local governments to pool resources in order to achieve a common goal in research, instruction and public service

•Consortia can be an integral part of a Center/Institute, others are created at the departmental level

• Currently NC State has 70 industry members in 9 active consortia (3 in COE, 2 in ORI/WRRI, 2 in CNR, 1 in CALS and 1 in COT)

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Establishing a C/I/c

1. Planning and establishing a Center or Institute requires multiple approvals, including Board Of Trustees (BOT).

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1. Establishment of a consortium is formed at the Departmental level and requires approval only by the appropriate college and Office of Research and Innovation (ORI).

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1. PI at NC State receives NSF grant under Engineering Research Centers (ERC) or Industry University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) programs requiring industry membership component.

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Establishing a C/I/c

Every membership C/I/c must have a set of governing documents: membership agreement and bylaws.

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A membership agreement defines:

• membership categories
• annual cycle
• amount of dues
• payment terms
• other T&C (terms and conditions)

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Bylaws describe:

• C/I/c structure and operations
• handling of Intellectual Property (IP)
• publication policy, etc.

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Every C/I/c must have an Industry Advisory Board (IAB) formed of representatives from each member.

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Fun Facts About I/UCRCs:

• When NC State acts as the Lead institution in an I/UCRC, a formal University level Center may be established (e.g., Center for Dielectrics and Piezoelectrics or CDP in the College of Engineering). If NC State plays a role as a Research Site in an I/UCRC led by another university, there is no need to establish a formal Center.

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• NSF require that membership dues collected from industry members are treated as Program Income.

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• Membership certification must be submitted to the agency by a Sponsored Research Office (SRO) on an annual basis - by ORI at NC STATE

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• Each of the 3 Phases of the I/UCRC Program requires a minimum number of members and amount of dues collected in a year:

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• Membership requirements are spelled out in NSF solicitation under which a certain IUCRC has been proposed and awarded. Example solicitation17516

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Managing Membership Agreements in Centers/Institutes/Industrial Consortia

New C/I/c

Once a new membership Center is established or consortium is approved, a “dummy” record is assigned in RADAR (RED):

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SPS 20XX-XXXX for ABC Center

Example SPS#2013-1245 for CDP membership pool

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No PINS record is required to set up the “dummy”.

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The award notice is sent to the Office on Contracts and Grants for project ID set up (membership pool account).

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Award notice received in CNG

Reviewed by Fiscal Assistants for accuracy

OUC verified with College

Project ID set up for membership pool

Zero budget

Zero F&A

Folder set to hold award notice, bylaws, blank membership agreement, signed agreements and invoices/payments.

Establishing a pool project ID

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Once the C/I/c is approved and awarded, the “Notice of Sponsored Project Award” is sent to the Office of Contracts and Grants to establish a project ID for the membership pool.

1. No direct spending against the pool
2. Sole purpose of a pool project ID:
1. Hold/track payments
2. Fund projects
3. Maintain clear accounting of funds received
4. Facilitate financial reporting
3. Set up with Zero F&A and Zero budget
4. Budget/Project periods is determined by the signed membership agreements. No PMR.
5. A new OUC (Organizational Unit Code) may be needed.
6. A customer ID# (for invoicing purposes) is set up for the pool project ID.

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Types of C/I/c award actions

1. New
2. In-Kind
3. Renewal
4. Termination

PINS (RED): To Add a New Member to an Existing C/I/c

• Title (do not include the name of the company in the title)

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• Direct and Prime Sponsor

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• Category

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• Membership in ABC Center, Full Member
• Membership in XWZ consortium, Associate Member
• Membership in PERFECT Institute, Affiliate Member

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• Name of the company joining as member

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• Membership

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PINS (RED): To Add a New Member to an Existing C/I/c -cont.

• Period of Performance = period of membership

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• Amount = Total $$ for complete period of membership

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• (a) January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2021 (2 calendar years)
• (b) July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2023 (3 fiscal years)
• (c) March 1, 2020 – December 31,2021 (2 years, incomplete 1^st year)

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• If annual dues are $20K:

(a) $20K x 2 years = $40K

(b) $20K x 3 years = $60K

(c) $16,667K + $20K = $36,667K

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PINS (RED): Proposal for membership (New)

• Facilities & Administration (F&A) rate

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• F&A underrecovery justification

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• F&A justification code

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• “Center” field

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• Organizational Unit Code (OUC)

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• Principal Investigator (PI)

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10% applicable to Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC)

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D-Center membership

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XXCM-14-000-MTDC

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Choose your Center/Institute from the drop-down list

Consortia are not on the drop-down list

Use Center/Institute’s OUC

Consortia operate under Departmental OUC

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Center/Institute/consortium’s Director, no Co-I

Proposal for membership (New)- cont.

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• Backup documents

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• Contact information

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• Comment

• Standard membership agreement with correct company name and address
• If agreement has been already signed by the company – a copy of partially executed document
• Copy of the current version of C/I/c bylaws

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• Name and email of the person at the company to send signed agreement to along with Billing information.

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• Request to assign proposal to Larisa Slark after it is imported into RADAR (RED)

Proposal for “in-kind” membership

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• Title
• Period of membership
• Amount

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• Back-up documents

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• Membership in ABC Center, Full Member in-kind
• 1 year

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• “0” ( no money attached)

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• Standard membership agreement with correct company name and address
• If agreement has been already signed by the company – a copy of partially executed document
• Copy of of bylaws
• Formal Letter: detailed description of the in-kind contribution and its monetary value
• Copy of (IAB) meeting minutes showing vote to approve an in-kind status

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Proposal for membership (Renewal)

- Only members in good standing can renew membership

- Enter at least 30 days before the end of the current membership cycle

- Clone from original PINS with the start and end dates updated

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Backup documents

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If a former member wants to re-join after a gap in time membership is treated as New rather than Renewal

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November-December for membership based on calendar year and May-June for fiscal year

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Amendment to the original agreement or New agreement (if there were any recent revisions)

Bylaws (if current version is different from the original set uploaded with New proposal)

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A cross-reference to the original membership record will be added in RADAR (RED) after proposal is imported from PINS

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Locate List of Memberships for Renewal

• Run Query in RADAR by entering “Membership pool agreement” under Title/Abstract/Subject Area Keyword and by selecting Currently Active Awards Only under Status

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• Find your Center on the list and click on Details

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• You will see all memberships recorded for this Center as a list.

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• Check the end date of each listed membership agreement

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Proposal for Membership

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New or Renewal proposal is imported into RADAR (RED)

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Agreement signed on behalf of NC State and forwarded to the Sponsor for execution

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C/I/c must follow up to assure that the document is counter-signed and returned to the University

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Award for Membership

• Fully executed Agreement/Amendment is processed for award with copy returned to the member for their records

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• Award package issued and sent to SPARCS QC

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• Award package forwarded to CnG and to the college

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• Billing for annual dues is performed by CnG (Kathleen Bradley)

Termination of membership

No action is required in PINS

• Member sends a termination notice (email, letter)

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• Member has not paid annual dues, does not respond to any follow-up and does not participate in any activities of C/I/c

• Forward it to Larisa Slark and confirm what was the last year that member paid the annual dues in full
• Deobligation is processed in RADAR (RED)

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• Notify Larisa Slark – Deobligation is processed in RADAR (RED)

Financial Management of C/I/c Membership Agreements

Managing agreements

(Types: New/Renewal/in-kind/Termination)

Once an agreement is fully executed, the award notice is sent to CNG to be reviewed and processed. Action required depends on the award notice type.

• Award periods (prorated, etc.)
• Comments (special instruction, installment, PO, email, etc.)
• Contact Information (billing, etc.)
• Termination (cancel any outstanding invoices, Center action needed?)

Individual Membership agreements do not get assigned a project ID #. Membership agreements are housed in the pool folder

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Invoicing - When?

1. When do we invoice?

1. New and renewed (renewal) agreements are invoiced immediately, upon receipt of the award package in Contracts and Grants.

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Invoicing - When?

2. Active members

• 90 - A member may terminate the agreement by giving the University 90 days written notice prior to the termination date or prior to start of new membership/billing period.

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• 60 - CNG will send a reminder email to the C/I/c 60 days prior start of new membership period

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Invoicing - When?

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Greetings,

In preparation for Annual/FY membership billing, please ensure that the following actions are completed:

1. Follow up on all past due invoices/payments for prior Year

2. Provide updated contact and billing information to CNG.

3. Secure and provide PO# as needed for billing to CNG.

4. Start the renewal process for expiring agreements. Notify ORI and CNG of any official changes to the company’s name.

5. Start termination process for canceled or expiring agreements. Provide ORI (Larisa Slark) and CNG with any notice of membership cancellation (email, letter, etc.).

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Invoicing - Who?

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Centers can view all members in RADAR via the pool project ID or RADAR/SPS#

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To view all members associated to center:

Enter SPS # or project ID for pool

Invoicing - Cont.

• 30 - Based on information provided by C/I/c or current billing information, CNG will manually generate invoices for all active members of the center.

Copies of the invoices are sent to the center (admin, director, etc.) for:

• Final review for accuracy, add PO # (if applicable), etc.
• To be emailed to members by the center (optional)
• Monthly Accounts Receivables (A/R) follow up
• Payment tracking
• Financial and yearly reporting (NSF, IAB, etc.)

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Invoicing - Review (Where?)

1. Billing and contact
2. RADAR #
3. Infor. In body
4. Invoice period
5. Amount
6. Duplicate invoice #

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Memberships Handled Outside of Ledger 5

• It is common for C/I/c where membership does not support research projects to deposit membership dues into ledger other than 5 (usually ledger 3)
• Membership agreement (if pre-approved in advance) may be signed by an authorized person at College Research Office (CRO)
• New or Renewal proposal for such membership follows the same guidelines (described above) except for:

a) enter “0” under F&A rate

b) enter “Other” under F&A basis

c) enter Non-ledger 5 membership under “Under-recovery Description”

• Proposal is imported into RADAR (RED) and is recorded as “File Only” rather than “Awarded”
• No paperwork is sent to CnG
• Billing is handled by college/department or C/I/c

Example: The Ergonomics Center of North Carolina (TECNC) in Engineering (provides public service)

Types of projects/accounts

funded from pool

Core Project (CP)

Admin. Account (AA)

Marketing Account (MA)

Managing Core Research Projects in the C/I/c

Core Projects

• PINS record is required. Proposal category is Research.
• Project title should include a designation as a C/I/c Core project.
• Appropriate “Center” must be selected from the drop-down list.
• Appropriate Center/consortium must be selected as Direct and Prime Sponsor.
• F&A rate is 10% MTDC, Select “D-Center project” under F&A underrecovery justification and “XXCM-14-000-MTDC” as justification code.
• Period of performance (PoP) must match the membership cycle, can be for multiple years.

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Core Projects - cont.

Proposal/PINS backup documents

• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Budget/budget justification
• Copy of IAB meeting minutes
• Signed PI acknowledgement

form

Award is initiated by a RIFD

(Request for Internal Funds

Distribution) entered by CRO

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Pool (source) Core Project (target)

Core Projects - Cont.

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• Maps to Pool project ID
• Assigned to Fiscal Manager Code “V”
• NCE and/or change in PI require a PMR to be approved by C/I/c Director followed by a RIFD to complete the request
• Additional funding requires a Supplemental PINS

record

• Residual funds upon completion are returned to

the Pool

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Administrative Account

• PINS record is required. Proposal category is Membership.
• Project title is “XYZ Center Administrative Cost”.
• Appropriate “Center” must be selected from the drop-down list.
• Appropriate Center must be selected as Direct and Prime Sponsor.
• No overhead.
• Up to 16.5% of annual dues can be allocated
• PoP must match the annual membership cycle.
• Valid costs to be allocated to Admin Account:
• salary of admin personnel
• office supplies
• travel to the IAB meetings

Administrative Account - cont.

Proposal/PINS backup documents

• Budget/budget justification
• Copy of IAB meeting minutes

Award is initiated by a RIFD

(Request for Internal Funds

Distribution) entered by CRO

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Pool (source) Admin Account (target)

Administrative Account - cont.

• Maps to Pool project ID
• Assigned to Fiscal Manager Code “V”
• NCE (to match extension of the Pool) requires a RIFD
• Additional funding requires a Supplement PINS
• Residual funds upon completion returned to Pool

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Marketing Account

Unanimous IAB vote is required. No PINS record is needed.

Request to transfer funds to ledger 7 is emailed to ORI (CI specialist).

Must be approved by Vice Chancellor for Research (VCR).

Marketing Account is set up via chartfield request

Submitted to the Office of Cost Analysis (OCA).

Funds are used to support:

• students
• organize IAB meetings
• advertise Center

Transfer of funds is performed by CnG.

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Marketing Account Transfer

What information is needed

1. Email request from C/I/c requesting the transfer.
2. Approved IAB meeting minutes and VCR approval.
3. Spreadsheet showing payments received (member’s name, amount paid, etc.)
4. Percentage/amount to be transferred (up to 10%)
5. Ledger 7 project ID

Where is the Money?

Accounts Receivable

Payments

Who paid?

Receipt of payments:

1. Payments received are applied to outstanding invoices within 24hrs. 2. Payments received without a fully executed agreement on file will be

placed in CNG’s suspense account. 3. Payments received without reference to an invoice number may

result in a delay in posting to the correct project ID. 4. Payments will be posted less any fees (wire/credit card) short pay,

etc.

5. Early pay discounts should not be offered to members by the center

6. Payment terms is net 30

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******A/R follow up is the responsibility of the C/I/c.*****

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Invoicing - A/R - tracking

1. Research PI Portal - Enter Project ID and search

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2a. Click C&G invoices tab to view paid and pending invoices

Invoicing - A/R

2b. Click invoice # hyperlink to view invoice activity summary

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2c. For more detail (Who, what, when, etc.) click on the hypeline next to ”Item”

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Invoicing - A/R

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2d. From the express billing system click the line-notes tab to get who, what when, etc.

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Invoicing - Viewing deposits

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Payments received by the University are deposited within 24hrs of receipt. Payments from members are posted as receivables on the pool project ID.

Viewing receivables (payments): 1. Log into Peoplesoft WRS P1

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2. Type in Pool project ID. Leave “select a date” field blank to view all payments to date

Invoicing - Viewing deposits - cont.

3. Drill down on cumulative amount (received to date) under PTD Activity for other receivables (description)

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Payments received by month

Drilldown on total for month to see details

Invoicing - Viewing deposits - cont.

Payments received - Now what?

Once a month, CNG reconciles the membership pool project ID. Payments received for the month are reviewed, confirmed for accuracy and posted to the pool budget via a Journal Voucher by Contracts and Grants.

Monthly receivables for April:

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Monthly budget load by CNG:

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Monthly budget load includes payment amount, member year payment is for, and member’s name. This information can be downloaded from WRS PS as needed.

Tracking

Tracking and A/R follow up

Invoice numbers are generated using a generic customer ID assigned to the pool project ID. As a result, the member’s name will not show up on the aging report.

It is recommended that the center use a spreadsheet to log/track payments and budgeting.

Example:

Payments

Two main methods of payment

1. Check
1. Check - Check #, Date, Amount, Address, Name (NCSU and Company) was it cashed, etc.
2. Wire
• Wire - Routing number, date, amount, etc.

Note: Credit card payments are not encouraged because there is a 2.5 - 3.5% fee applied per transaction.

Lost and Misapplied payments

1. No reference information (Invoice #, C/I/c, RADAR #, etc.)
2. Amount (less or more - split payment, etc.)
3. Sent to wrong address on campus
4. Paid by a subsidiary company (wire/check)
5. NSF - Non-Sufficient Funds

Subawards from the Membership Pool

IAB selects proposal submitted by partnering institution or another external entity for funding with membership dues.

PINS record is not required.

PMR to issue a subaward must be submitted accompanied by the following:

- Copy of IAB meeting minutes demonstrating approval to fund

- SOW, budget (subject to 10% MTDC), budget justification

- PoP should match annual membership cycle

- PI acknowledgement form signed by the Subrecipient

Funding is authorized in annual increments issued via Amendments to the original subaward agreement (a PMR to add annual funding is required).

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Enhancement Project (EP)

• A member in good standing willing to “enhance” research on the ongoing Core project may provide additional funds and sign a non-negotiable Enhancement project agreement. Results of the project are shared with all members.
• PINS record is required. Proposal category is “Research”.
• Project title should include a designation as an Enhancement project.
• Appropriate “Center” must be selected from the drop-down list.
• Sponsoring company-member must be selected as Direct and Prime Sponsor.

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Enhancement Project (EP)-cont.

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• F&A rate is 10% MTDC
• “D-Center project” under F&A underrecovery justification
• “XXCM-14-000-MTDC” justification code.
• Period of performance (PoP) cannot overlap the end of Sponsor’s membership cycle, can be for multiple years but is funded in annual increments.
• Awarded in the same manner as any externally funded project (not via RIFD).
• Maps to self (not the Pool)
• Assigned to various Fiscal Manager Code.
• CnG invoices Sponsoring member for funding (per payment terms included in the EP agreement)

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Enhancement Project (EP) - cont.

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• No Cost Extension (NCE) and/or change in PI must be requested via PMR and approved by the Sponsoring member via signing an Amendment to the original EP agreement.
• Amendment is processed for award.
• EP agreement has no financial reporting requirements.
• Additional funding requires Supplement PINS record.
• Any residual funds left upon project completion are transferred into the Center/consortium Pool account and can be used to fund Core research or admin cost.

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Non-Core Projects

Carried out for and funded by a member outside of the pooled membership dues, Core or Enhancement projects.

• Executed using a separate Sponsored Project Agreement (SPA)
• Terms negotiated by the Office of Sponsored Programs and Regulatory Compliance Services (SPARCS)
• The IAB should be apprised of the existence of such agreements on a periodic basis
• Results are not shared with other members
• Maps to self
• Subject to fully negotiated F&A rate
• PMR system used for all post award actions (i.e., NCE, rebudget, change in PI etc.)
• Any residual upon completion will be handled per the terms and conditions of the SPA
• May have financial reporting requirements

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Disestablishment of C/I/c with industry membership

• Should a C/I be disestablished or consortium terminated it will have one year (12 months) to complete any ongoing Core or Enhancement projects and to spend funds remaining in the membership Pool account

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• Any residual funds left in the Pool account upon expiration of a granted extended period will be transferred (net of 10% overhead) outside of ledger 5 (usually into ledger 7 account) as instructed by the

appropriate dept/college/unit

performing the oversight of a C/I/c

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Resources

https://research.ncsu.edu/centers/