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Contracts & Grants - Human Resources - Purchasing - Receiving & Stockroom April 2009 Welcome to RES News, a newsletter from Research Enterprise Services, serving the administrative needs of numerous science units on campus. Look for this update every other month, and please keep an eye on res.berkeley.edu, where you can access all services and information. I want to thank all of our faculty for their patience over the last few weeks while we've worked to handle the stimulus funding requests. In just about a 5 week period, we've submitted a total of 90 proposals and supplement requests. Our staff has been truly amazing through this process, working many, many long nights to ensure that we met the agency deadlines. Their dedication is greatly appreciated. We have also had exceptional support from SPO during this time while they are also struggling with the high number of submissions. Please make sure that you read all communications you receive from RES as we will continue to provide you with updated information regarding the stimulus funding including funding opportunities, changing deadlines and updated processes. A number of agencies have unique procedures for these requests that often can lead to confusion. If you have any questions, please contact your grants analyst, Nick Endsley, Kim Williams, or me and we will help you move forward. REMINDER: Please feel free to share your comments and suggestions through the RES Investigator Feedback page. Postings go directly to me, and can be kept confidential if desired. I appreciate your help in ensuring RES provides exceptional service to our researchers. Sincerely, Diane Leite, Assistant Vice Chancellor, RES CONTRACTS & GRANTS SPO reviews proposals for any mention of collaboration in the research plans with parties outside of UCB, even when there is no sub-award. When they find these they require that we also provide either a letter or e-mail correspondence from the named collaborators committing to provide the support indicated in the proposal. Even if the sponsor does not require/allow these letters, SPO is still requiring copies of these commitments. A few proposals that were submitted by PIs or postdocs directly to sponsors (rather than going through SPO) were recently awarded. Since these proposals never went through SPO there were significant delays in getting the award set up when the notice from the sponsor was received. Please make sure that we are aware of all proposals for your lab that will be administered by RES. We will assist with routing through SPO and will do all that we can to minimize any delays in the process. Recovery Act of 2009: NIH Review Criteria, Scoring System, and Suspension of Appeals Process (NOT-OD-09-054) HUMAN RESOURCES Career Compass Job Titles Go Live! May 1, 2009 As you may know from Vice Chancellor Brostom's message to all employees, http://careercompass.berkeley.edu/newsevents/news/mar09_newjobtitles.html, we have reached a significant milestone in the Career Compass initiative that was launched in 2001. Close to 5,000 non-represented employee positions across campus have been mapped. We are now ready to implement new job titles, grades and salary ranges for all non-represented employees in our department. The new structure helps us align employee job responsibilities with performance evaluation criteria, to identify strengths and areas for professional development. Supervisors and Managers will now be able to better identify potential career paths for staff who are interested in advancing their careers at Berkeley. In addition, although current employee salaries will not change with the new job titles, the new salary structure provides a much better foundation for future salary decisions. Employees and supervisors/managers can learn more about the new structure by attending one of the open informational sessions. Dates and times are on the Career Compass website at the following link: (http://careercompass.berkeley.edu/newsevents/events.html). Keep in mind that neither job responsibilities nor working titles will change as a result of mapping to the new job standards – employees' responsibilities have simply been newly documented and categorized within new job titles. Policy on Summer Research Salary During the summer, eligible academic year faculty may earn up to a maximum of one-third of the nine-month annual salary rate as additional compensation. The summer period is considered to be a total of 57 working days, between the last day of the Spring Semester and the first day of Fall Semester. This year, the summer period runs from May 22 through August 19, 2009. As previously communicated by EVCP Breslauer, federal auditors have been auditing research compliance at universities for several years, and they have directed considerable focus on the payment of summer salary. As a result, effective with summer 2009 earnings, PIs who wish to report more than 2.5 ninths (48 workdays) from federal sources may only do so by indicating in writing the precise number of additional days of compensation they anticipate being paid from federal funds and the congruence between days of effort for this compensation and personal days. The attestation from must be filed with the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. The campus announcement of this requirement can be found at: http://apo.chance.berkeley.edu/ Submit the completed form to your Contracts & Grants Analyst for approval for all funding administered by Research Enterprise Services (RES). The 2009 Summer Salary form can be found at http://res.berkeley.edu/res/forms.cfm. If you have any questions, please contact Anita Bailey at 666-3310, or your Contracts and Grants Analyst. PURCHASING RES Purchasing offers comprehensive support for all procurement activities as well as travel, entertainment, and general reimbursements.You can find information on purchasing processes, procedures, and policies at http://res.berkeley.edu, as well as instructions for using the online purchasing system, http://resaccess.berkeley.edu/news/news.php. All orders must be processed through the online system. If you need access to the RES purchasing site, Dawn Warfield is the new contact. She is located in room 174 or can be reached at 666-2736 or dmwarfield@berkeley.edu. The purchasing office in 174 Stanley now has a convenient drop station for those wishing to drop off reimbursement requests or receipts. After you enter room 174 and turn the corner to the right, look for a hanging rack on the cubicle wall. Feel free to use the extra envelopes and deposit your documents in the hanging rack. Purchasing staff will make sure your materials reach the appropriate RES staff member as quickly as possible. TRAVEL, ENTERTAINMENT, and GENERAL REIMBURSEMENT TIDBITS ++ Meals and incidental expenses are no longer reimbursed for travel less than 24 hours ++ Effective September 1, 2008, the University will not reimburse for meals and incidental expenses such as tips and fees for service when travel is less than 24 hours, unless the trip includes an overnight stay as supported by a lodging receipt. Previously, reimbursement was allowed for trips of more than 12 hours. An exception to the overnight stay requirement may be allowed for a meal expense in connection with a business meeting, recruitment, entertainment, or other meal authorized by Business and Finance Bulletin BUS-79 "Expenditures for Business Meetings, Entertainment, and Other Occasions" (http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/policies/bfb/bus79.pdf). This change is a result of revisions in the IRS Taxable Fringe Benefit Guide and is reflected in the "Policy and Regulations Governing Travel" (UCOP Business and Finance Bulletin G-28) available at http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/policies/bfb/g28.pdf. Section VIII.C and Appendix C of the Bulletin provide further details about reimbursement for travel of less than 24 hours. ++ Internet travel packages are not reimbursable ++ Itemized expenses and supporting documentation are required when requesting reimbursement for University business travel expenses. Travel or "vacation packages" purchased from Internet vendors generally do not itemize expenses. Consequently, no University business travel should be booked through such vendors unless the traveler has confirmed that every aspect of the package will be separately itemized (e.g., explicit room charges, taxes, services, airfare, taxes, fees, etc.). Without this itemization of expenses, such travel cannot be reimbursed regardless of overall cost savings. This requirement is addressed in Section XII, "Reporting Travel Expenses" of the University Travel policy, http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/policies/bfb/g28.pdf. Please help us inform all campus travelers of these changes by distributing copies of this notice to all travelers including students. If you have questions about these changes, please contact the Travel and Entertainment Office at 643-5652 or travel@berkeley.edu. FROM THE OFFICE OF RISK MANAGEMENT Submitting Travel & Entertainment Contracts Effective immediately, please send all Travel & Entertainment contracts requiring approval signature to the Office of Risk Management at offcampusevents@berkeley.edu (fax: 643-5050). Refer to: http://riskmanagement.berkeley.edu/InsuranceCoverage/OutsideOrgOnCampusEvents.htm Useful Information Regarding Travel Insurance, refer to: http://riskmanagement.berkeley.edu/InsuranceCoverage/TravelAssistance.htm EMPLOYEE REIMBURSEMENTS FOR POSTAGE PURCHASES After-the-fact reimbursements for postage purchases, whether to departmental petty cash funds or to employees, will be made only where the postage was required for an urgent mailing, in circumstances where Mail Services was closed for business or otherwise unable to meet the department's urgent need. A request for exceptional approval must be submitted along with the reimbursement request. Campus Policy on Postage Stamp Purchases, refer to: http://mailservices.berkeley.edu/postage_purch_policy.htm RECEIVING & STOCKROOM The Stanley Hall Stockroom is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday to all customers. Stanley Hall occupants can access the stockroom with card key 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Johann Yopp, your Fisher representative, is on site from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday for assistance. Orders placed on fishersci.com by 1:30 p.m. can be delivered within one hour on the same day, or can be picked up in person within 15 minutes of placing the order. All orders placed after 1:30 will be delivered the next morning or can be picked up by the customer until 3:30 on the day of the order. The stockroom has just added 25 new products to fulfill your needs. If you would like to suggest additional products for the stockroom, please send an e-mail to Johann Yopp at Johann.Yopp@fishersci.com or submit a paper request using the request box located in the stockroom. If you still need a username and password come down to 156 to pick it up so you can start using the stockroom.
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