Post Award Management

The role of the Office of Post-award Management (OPM) is to assist departments in monitoring grant expenditures. In a case of over expenditure, OPM not only brings the problem to the attention of the responsible people, but can also help by reviewing and interpreting the information on financial reports and troubleshooting problems that may contributing factors. In cases of over expenditure, the PI and department administrator should take immediate steps to eliminate the shortfall within the month after it appears on the Financial Summary Reports. In practice, over expenditures should not continue beyond a three-month period.

How OPM manages over expended grants:

	Month #1: OPM will notify the Principal Investigator and/or department if an over expenditure occurred. If OPM is advised that additional funds are forthcoming within ninety days (either through continuation, renewal, or incremental funding of the award), then the over expenditure can remain in place. If additional funds are not expected, then action should be taken to clear the over expenditure before month end. It is a normal course of action for the department to transfer expenses off the grant to another grant as allowable (IDT or PAF).
	Month #2: If the PI is unable to resolve or propose a plan to remedy the over expenditure by the second month, a notice will be sent to the SFO specifying the project/grant and amount overspent, requesting assistance to clear the over expenditure.
	Month #3: If the over expenditure is not cleared by the third month, an unrestricted department account will be requested by OPM from the School Fiscal Officers to absorb the over-expended balance.