The System for Award Management was designed to streamline the process of both obtaining and procuring federal contracts by integrating the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance and all federal procurement systems into one. In order to receive funding from contracts or grants, Dalton State maintains a SAMS registration.
Dalton State College
Accounting Department
Policy & Procedure
Effective Date: 06/30/2022
Revision Date: 05/30/2024
Section: Grants
Policy Title: Grant (Non-Finanial Aid) Operating “Post-Award”
Procedures
Step 1: Depending on the guidelines for the grant, the principal investigator (Pl) or Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) applies for grant by submitting a proposal to the grantor. Melissa Whitesell (mwhitesell@daltonstate.edu) is the current AOR for Dalton State College.
Step 2: The PI and/or the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) will receive an award letter and grant contract from the grantor. The PI should submit the grant contract to the VPFA for signature, either before or after awarded, depending on the grant process.
Step 3: Once contract is approved, the PI must email award letter/contract and the Request for Grant Account Number form to the Grant Accountant, Heather Brumlow, (hbrumlow@daltonstate.edu). NOTE: If the grant funds must be awarded to a 501(c)3, then the PI must also contact David Elrod (delrod@daltonstate.edu) with the Dalton State Foundation.
Step 4: The Grant Accountant will provide the award letter/contract and the Request for Grant Account Number form to the Director of Accounting to assign a grant number based on where funds awarded by the grantee (federal, state, local or private), then a chartstring will be setup for making purchases for allowable expenditures. The Director of Accounting will provide the full chartstring to the Grant Accountant, who will communicate back to the PI to setup a meeting (in person or virtual) to discuss the guidelines (federal, state, private) and the process of the contract along with other key people, for instance, Budget and Payroll, Procurement, etc. depending on grant.
Step 6: Once PI has the grant number and meets with Grant Accountant, he/she can begin spending funds on allowable expenditures.
The Pl's are responsible for managing their grants and making sure spending the grant funds properly and not overspending the awarded budget for the grant. P I is responsible for any reporting needs for the grant. The PI’s should request access to budget reports through the Budget Office to assist in monitoring expenditures.
Step 7: The Grant Accountant is responsible for billing (or working with PI to bill depending on need of grant). For federal grants requiring drawdown of funds, the Grant Accountant will be responsible for drawing down funds based on the expenditures, as needed, and
communicating with PI.
The Grant Accountant is responsible for the reconciliation of all Dalton State (non-financial aid) operating grants as well as providing monthly (or quarterly) reports to the PI’s that show the activity for the grant spending.
For Principal Investigators (PI’s):
Purchases follow state and college guidelines if not stated in the award/contract. For example, if a grant allows for purchase of food unless it states a per diem rate or an amount, then subject to GA state per diem meal rates.
Note: We recommend if applying for the grant to include food, you must be more specific in the allowable amount for grant to cover.
If PI (or authorized users for grant) pay for allowable grant expenditures, he/she would request reimbursement through the EX-Self-Service system and change the accounting details to use the grant chartstring, so expenditures will be charged to the grant.
For salary and/or fringes, these expenditures would go through the payroll department, please communicate with the payroll department to use the proper form needed for reimbursement if allowed by the grant.
Employee stipends, these types of expenditures would go through the payroll department, please communicate with the payroll department to use the proper form needed for reimbursement.
Student stipends, these types of expenditures could either go through the payroll department or Accounts Payable (AP), it depends if student is already paid through payroll. First, check with the payroll department to make the determination. If it is determined that the expenditure should be through AP, then these can be processed through the AP payment request using the stipend account 783100 with the full grant chartstring. Or the PI can complete manual payment requests for AP to enter.
o If less than 15 students in a given month, send a manual AP payment request for each student with the amount and send to the Accountant I, Karen England to process include the grant chartstring and stipend account 783100 with the proper approvals.
o If 15 or more students in a given month, use the excel spreadsheet to list all the necessary information, and email the spreadsheet to the Accountant I, Karen England to handle via voucher upload in AP (BU6900B) or she will manually enter. Please make sure contains approval.
Note: If a student receives $600 during the calendar year, he/she should receive 1099 around January/February for tax return.
Requesting payments to suppliers/non-employee other than students (i.e. equipment, supplies, service, etc.), as follows:
o If the supplier does exist in GAFirst PeopleSoft (SHARE Supplier Database), a payment request can be submitted if the expense does not require a purchase order (PO).
Note: If unsure PO required or not, please check with Procurement.
o If the supplier does exist in GAFirst PeopleSoft (SHARE Supplier Database), but the supplier record is listed as Inactive or otherwise needs to be updated, the supplier will need to complete a Supplier Information From (SIF) packet, which Procurement (the Current Approver/“Initiator”) will submit to USG Shared Services to approve and make the necessary updates. The Supplier Information Form packet is located on the Procurement website. Once the supplier has been updated by Shared Services, the invoice/payment request can be entered.
Note: Since we are on the shared suppliers the process can take up to 10-15 business days before the supplier is updated by Shared Services.
o If the supplier does not exist in GAFirst PeopleSoft (SHARE Supplier Database), a copy of the supplier’s W-9 and an email address for the point of contact needs to be emailed to Procurement (the Current Approver/“Initiator”) to initiate a Supplier Registration Invitation so that the supplier contact may register their company with the USG Shared Services Supplier Database. Once the supplier successfully registers with Shared Services and the setup is complete, the invoice/payment request can be entered.
Note: Since we are on the shared suppliers, the process can take up to 10-15 business days before the supplier is created by Shared Services.
Other purchasing options for allowable expenditures not previously mentioned, p-card,ePro requisitions, manual purchase requisition for PO.
Grant Accountant Contact Information:
Heather Brumlow
hbrumlow@daltonstate.edu
Primary: 706-272-2547
Westcott Room 156
University Policies Impacting Research and Sponsored Programs
From the Policy Manual of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. For the full text of these policies go here.