Post Award – First Steps

Congratulations on receiving your award! Here are some tips to help plan for your project and make sure that you meet your sponsor’s expectations for your award.

Review All Award Materials Thoroughly

You will receive a copy of your sponsor’s award when you receive your NIU Notice of Award (NOA) with your grant account number. You will receive this information through InfoEd via your NIU email address. The NOA will also include the name of the SPA Grants and Contracts Associate (GCA) assigned to your award.

Review the award materials thoroughly and contact your GCA right away with any questions.

You will also want to notify your department administrator of your award to establish payroll and purchasing necessary for your project. If you are unsure who your department administrator is, check with your chair or unit head.

In your award materials, be sure to look for:

• Any special requirements or noteworthy items associated with the award, such as unallowable costs, items requiring sponsor prior approvals (e.g., foreign travel, change in participant support costs, etc.), data management requirements, annual directors’ conferences, etc.
• Record progress reporting due dates as well as internal dates to start progress report preparation, human or animal protections protocol submission dates for annual approvals, or other key dates in personal calendars. Remember that some actions requiring university approvals, such as IRB and progress reports requiring SPA signature, can take time to process through SPA or other NIU offices. Be sure to plan in advance. See Progress Reporting for more information.

Review the Awarded Budget and Budget Justification for Any Unusual or Major Items of Expense

• Plan purchases to ensure that items are available when needed to facilitate the project’s work and objectives.
• Reminder: items purchased at the end of an award will receive extra scrutiny, as their benefit to an award’s objectives may not be obvious. All items charged to an award must be received at NIU prior to the end of the award period. Otherwise, allowable items that cannot be received by the end of the award will be unallowable. See End of Award Expenditures for more information.