Compliance Digest: April 2018

Beginning Monday, April 2, Department of Health and Human Services - DHHS WBSE codes (currently 203xxxx) will be assigned with the prefix “A03.” These codes will work the same as 203xxxx codes. As a reminder, you should be careful to update your variants to include A03xxxx codes as needed, and be sure to include them in any ranges where you are selecting DHHS codes.

We strongly encourage you to share this information widely throughout your department or unit, taking care to inform every faculty and staff member of this change. Consider all academic, administrative, and research staff members, even if they have limited access to financial systems.

Your considerations should include:

• Salary (iForm) or other functions that involve Current Restricted codes.
• Financial report variants or templates that include Current Restricted codes. (Note that all future Axx codes will be assigned to the appropriate Organizational Unit (BFR) without any action on your part.)
• Financial feeder and internal "shadow" systems, especially those that were developed and are used specifically by your department, that interact with SAP and support departmental business operations. Confirm these systems will recognize an alpha-character.

If you have any questions about this change, please contact Accounting Systems Administration or Treasury Billing Services (TBS).

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently released the new salary cap levels applicable to all grants and cooperative agreements issued by Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) agencies, with the exception of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and Indian Health Service (IHS).  Effective January 7, 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) salary cap increased to $189,600. This increase is the result of the recent passing of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018, which restricts the direct salary amount allowed to the Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale.

Salaries on current awards, including competing awards already issued in FY2018, may be rebudgeted to accommodate the new salary cap level, if adequate funds are available.  Additional funds will not be issued for grants already awarded.  Please review the below NIH Notice for further details.

NIH Notice:  NOT-OD-18-137, Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements FY2018

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently published a notice regarding harassment of any kind within the agency, at grantee institutions, field sites, or anywhere NSF-funded work is conducted. As NSF’s commitment to safe, productive research and education environments, a new award term and condition will require grantee organizations to report findings of sexual harassment, or any other kind of harassment regarding a PI or co-PI or any other grant personnel. This includes reporting the placement of a PI or co-PI on administrative leave for reasons related to a harassment investigation or finding. NSF is also expecting all awardee institutions to establish standards for maintaining a harassment-free work environment for personnel and students on NSF-funded awards. Finally, the NSF Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) launched a web portal dedicated to providing policies and procedures and frequently asked questions regarding sexual harassment and other forms of harassment to the research community.

NSF Important Notice No. 144 - Harassment