Fiscal and Administrative Management

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is the primary recipient of grant award notices and is responsible for establishing a university account number for all grants and contracts. In addition, OSP provides general guidance and training for department administrators on post-award administration and are responsible for reviewing and approving requests to sponsors for post-award changes.

Principal Investigators and the Department Administrators are responsible for the day-to-day management of sponsored projects, including monitoring and projecting expenses on a regular basis and assuring that expenses are allowable in accordance with sponsor guidelines.

Setting Up Account Numbers

Once an award notice has been issued by the Sponsor and received by OSP, the process of establishing a UMass account number will begin. The OSP staff reviews the Sponsor's award notice for accuracy and contacts the Sponsor to request any needed corrections or to clarify the Sponsor's policies. Occasionally, sponsors will send an award notice and/or payment directly to the Principal Investigator without sending a copy to OSP. A copy of the award notice should be forwarded to OSP to facilitate setting up an account in a timely manner.

Award notices that have been reviewed and approved by OSP are signed and forwarded to Grant Accounting, along with a copy of the transmittal form, request for new account form and other pertinent award documents and an account number is established.

Provisional/Pre-Award Account Numbers

Account Numbers can be obtained prior to a Sponsor's award notice when there is a delay in receiving the award or for purposes of pre-award costs on new or continuing grants when allowable under the Sponsor's regulations. Please call OSP if you have questions about the allowability of pre-award costs for a specific sponsor. Requests for pre-award costs and preliminary accounts can be made using the New Award Provisional Sponsored Account Request (NAPSAR) form. The form should be signed by the PI, Department Administrator, and Department Chair prior to submission to OSP.  The form indicates that the Department Chair agrees to assume expenses charged to the preliminary account in the event the grant is not funded.

For additional information on post-award functions visit  FINANCIAL SERVICES/GRANT ACCOUNTING