Advance spending (sometimes referred to as pre-award spending or advance accounts) can be a necessary part of sponsored funding to manage unavoidable delays with receiving a sponsored award and the need to keep the funded project on schedule.
Most federal agencies allow advance spending, or the ability for NIU to authorize pre-award costs up to 90 days before the agency-authorized award start date.
Advance spending involves SPA’s release and use of the grant account to incur expenses before the award is fully executed. Advance spending is most often used to initiate payroll or hiring actions and purchases that may require a long lead time for delivery.
Benefits of an Advance Spending
- Permits PIs to incur expenses necessary for the project to keep research plans on schedule. This helps the PI and NIU be more competitive when pursuing future funding, which is critical to the university’s research mission.
- Minimizes the need for cost transfers during award, reducing the risk of audit findings and saving SPA and local units valuable time in enacting these transactions.
- Ensures the university is reimbursed more quickly for grant-related expenses because billing can proceed accurately and on time. This also allows NIU to receive reimbursement of indirect costs that are critical for maintaining the infrastructure supporting sponsored activities and future research growth.
When You Need Approval
- Spending is necessary before the official start date of the project (federal pre-award spending – generally up to 90 days before the start date) when an award has not been received.
- Spending is necessary for costs that will be incurred within the anticipated period of performance of an award and the award has not been received or is under negotiation in SPA.
- Spending is necessary for an established award, but NIU is waiting on receipt of the incremental funding award notice (e.g., additional year funding).
- Spending is necessary for an established award that has requested a no-cost and NIU is waiting for sponsor approval.
Thoughtful assessment to determine when to proceed with an Advance Spending is critical because NIU assumes all the financial risk when spending before an award is fully executed. To manage this risk, departments pledge a backup account (aka contingency account) to pay for any expenses not covered by the final award or in the event the sponsor fails to make an award at all.
Initial requests should only be authorized for up to 120 calendar days. Additional time requires AVP approval.
Advances >$100,000 require AVP approval
Advances >$250,000 require VPR approval
If the Advance Account is exhausted before an award comes in and needs to be extended, department and SPA approval are required.
Procedure to Initiate Advance Spending
To request an Advance Account email asosp@niu.edu and the SPA will assist with routing the request through InfoEd. You may also initiate your request directly in InfoEd following the instructions for How to Submit an IPAS Form.
Please allow at least 5-10 business days for SPA to approve spending and to receive your grant account.
The following is necessary to receive approval for Advance Spending
- Fully routed proposal through SPA - including detailed budget and scope and any applicable approved waivers (e.g., F&A, tuition). Exceptions to this requirement require approval by the AVP before initiating a request.
- Documentation from the agency that an award is likely. SPA may ask the PI to produce this as part of SPA’s review.
- All required compliance approvals are in place.
- IRB (Per NIU policy - grant accounts can be established for expenses that are not for human subjects research; no research involving human subjects can occur without IRB approval. See XI. Projects With External Funding of NIU IRB Approval policy.)
- IACUC (Per NIU policy - no grant account may be established unless the PI has obtained IACUC approval. If this is not possible given the nature of the project, the IACUC must issue provisional approval. See E. Procedures for Approval of Externally Funded Research of NIU IACUC policy.)
- PHS FCOI (Per NIU policy – PIs must complete FCOI training before expending funds. FCOI training is recorded in each PI’s profile and appears on the Personnel page of records.)
- NIH Human Subjects Training (Per NIH policy - on human subjects training, the Institute/Center that would be funding the project will request documentation that all Key Personnel have received the required education before issuing the award. The information should be submitted to your Grants Management Official with other Just-In-Time requirements and must contain the signature of an authorized institutional official. SPA must confirm training before approving an advance account via the Personnel page of the advance record.)
- Research Security Training (NSF, DOE, USDA, and NIH require research security training for all individuals identified as senior/key personnel. Key personnel must complete training prior to submitting a proposal and every 12 months thereafter when pursuing or receiving funding under a covered award. (See ORCIS Research Security Training.)