Principal Investigator Effort Training

Created 07/2010 by Sponsored Projects Administration

What are Effort Certification Statements?

Effort Certification Statements are documentation of effort (the amount of personnel work) expended on federally sponsored projects.

Statements include:

Information about who the

statement is for and the effort

period (the dates) it covers.

What is on an Effort Statements?

Statements include:The accounts listed on a statement are

in relation to the covered

individual’s payroll distributions during

the time period of the statement

covers.

GL and OGA related accounts

are included.

Statements include:

Oracle divides the “effort related”

payroll paid during the period for each

account by the total effort related

payroll the individual received.

This is then represented as a

percentage on the statement.

It is worth noting, that a projects startand end date in relation to the startand end date of the effort period caneffect how the covered individual’s %of payroll distribution is represented.

Statements include:

Cost sharing activities (that are not already being represented by a

cost sharing companion

account) are accounted for by

being written in on the statement in

this column.

Statements include:

The covered individual’s total

effort for each account is

written in here and must equal

a 100% when added together.

Statements include:

The actual statement on the

form that a the signer is

certifying to.

The statement again, this time in a

readable size font:

“I certify that I have reasonable means of

verifying the activities performed by the above

mentioned employee and that the distribution of

effort represents a reasonable estimate of the

actual work performed by the employee during

the period covered by this report.”

What Does “Reasonable” Mean?

Reasonable means OHSU allows for a 5% variance per line on an effort statement when it is certified.

For example, if a statement is certified with 10% on a particular project, this implies that the covered individual’s effort for that project was between 5-15%.

Statements include:

A person who is able to agree that

statement and sign the form are:

• The covered individual

• The Principal Investigator for the

project’s represented.

• A supervisor who has direct

knowledge of the covered individual’s

activities

Why Do We Certify Effort?

OHSU’s Effort Certification system was developed in direct response to the Federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-21 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a021_2004/).

What is A-21?A-21 aims to ensure that the Federal

Government bears its fair share of total costs.

A-21 recognizes that in an academic setting, teaching, research, service, and administration are often inextricably intermingled. A precise assessment of factors that contribute to costs is not always feasible nor is it expected. Reliance therefore is placed on estimates in which a degree of tolerance is appropriate.

What is A-21?

Effort is auditable and failure to comply with A-21 can have very serious consequences.

Who needs to have their effort certified?

An employee is required to complete an Effort Certification Statement if they have:Activity that is partially or totally devoted to a

federally sponsored agreement.

AND, pay that is partially or totally paid from such an agreement, OR is represented as cost sharing

When Do We Certify Effort?

OHSU certifies effort on a semi-annual basis.

OHSU effort periods are from:Jan 1-Jun 30 July 1-Dec 31

Statements are generated and distributed approximately 30 business days after the end of an effort period.

The delay is to provide Departments

additional time to work with PI’s to ensure that the payroll distributions for a project in Oracle are correct.

What are a PI’s Responsibilities at OHSU for Effort Reporting?

As a PI you are responsible for:Understanding Effort Certification Policies and

Procedures. This information is posted on the Sponsored Projects Administration website at http://www.ohsu.edu/research/rda/spa/effortcert.shtml.

Working with your Department Effort Coordinators to review, understand, and certify your own statement and when appropriate your project staff’s statements.

Review, Understand, and Certify

As a PI you are also responsible for ensuring that the charges on your sponsored accounts are accurate and appropriate.This includes being aware if you are affected by a

federal salary cap and working with your department to ensure that your salary over the cap is being supported as cost share by a non-sponsored account.

Ensuring Payroll Charges are Appropriate

At times a rounding error in the Payroll Distribution % column can occur within Oracle. This can cause the Payroll Distribution % to show slightly more or less than 100%.

This rounding error falls within the 5% variance allowed for statements and is acceptable.

Keeping Track of Your Committed Effort

Principal Investigators are responsible for making sure that your total effort commitment does not exceed 100%.

All Research?All the Time?

If you have100% of your effort charged to sponsored agreement(s) than you must have a letter that has been signed by your Dean or Director that specifies that you are dedicated 100% to research and not responsible for any administrative, teaching, or clinical duties at OHSU.

Getting Sponsor Approval for Changes

As a PI you must obtain prior approval from the appropriate institutional and agency authority to make a change to the committed effort(s) to a project award.

Also, you need to be aware if there are special effort related terms and conditions to a particular project award.

Contacts for Effort Related Questions?

Your first resource for effort related questions is your Department Effort Coordinator.

Your second resource is the Sponsored Project Administration’s Institutional Effort Coordinator who can be reached at spaeffrt@ohsu.edu or ext 4-6984.