If a grant-funded project is to include a subcontractor, the Principal Investigator must first receive the subcontractor’s Statement of Work and Budget and then incorporate this information into the funding proposal. The proposal is then reviewed by the appropriate Dean or supervisor before it is routed to the Grants Development Office and Business Office for submission to the funding agency.

When an award is accepted from the funding agency, the Grants Development Office electronically notifies the Business Office and an account number is assigned to the project. Both the Grants Development Office and the Principal Investigator are notified upon the assignment of the account numbers. The Principal Investigator must initiate a request to issue a subcontract using the Sub-Award Request Form. Once the subcontract has been signed by both the College and the subcontractor, the subcontract amount is encumbered in the project’s account.

In order for subcontractors to be paid, purchase orders are to be issued to encumber grant funds. Invoices from the subcontractor must be reviewed and approved by the Principal Investigator and Dean or supervisor first, and then forwarded to the Business Office for payment. It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator to ensure that subcontractors establish a consistent mechanism for documenting and reporting the time and effort of their employees working on the project during the specified period of the subcontract and for attaining copies of these records to be filed with invoices. Federal auditors have rendered large disallowances to grant recipients during audits because time and effort reports were not maintained by subcontractors of grant-funded projects.