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Drexel is committed to complying with all applicable export controls, as established by the federal regulations.  It is critical that everyone in the Drexel Community understands these rules and complies with them fully.  This information is intended to be used by faculty, staff and students as a reference. Go to the Export Control Page to find educational materials and supplemental documents.



The University has finalized new sponsored project employee benefit rates for Drexel University and the Drexel University College of Medicine. The actual cost of benefits has risen steadily since the last rate increase and there are now two years of significant under-recovery to carry forward and add to the employee benefit rate in future years. The carry forward rate component is new and is due to a change the federal government made with the last rate agreement, dated November 1, 2005, when the employee benefit rate was changed from predetermined (no change to the rate no matter what) to fixed with carry forward (over/under recovery is carried forward as a rate component in the next year). This methodology ensures that the University eventually recovers only the actual cost of employee benefits, no more and no less.

Effective July 1, 2008 employee benefit rates will be:

 

Full Time Regular:  30.2%

Clinical Faculty:  15.8%

Part Time:  9.7%


While it is not possible to know today the exact amount of future rate increases, further increases will likely occur in each of the next several years and this is important to know for budget purposes and new grant submissions. We estimate that the rate will continue to increase for several more years, perhaps by as much as 2 points a year.

 

We hope that planning for rate increases will minimize budget hardship. Our analysis indicates the majority of grants will be able to absorb the current increase, but we recognize there still may be overall budget shortfalls, and on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the dean, we will consider assisting with these. Faculty should work with department staff and Office of Research program administrators to rebudget as soon as possible.


  • Name of traveler (each traveler must file a report)
  • Purpose of the travel and the reason why it is allocable to the project (describe briefly)
  • Proof of attendance (evidenced by agenda or similar document and transportation boarding documents)
  • Itemization of all costs incurred for the trip (including those prepaid & charged to a credit card)
  • Receipts to document all costs
  
Effort Reporting
  • The on-line effort reporting system, ERS, is now available for department coordinators to begin the review and certification process.
  • The paperless on-line ERS facilitates distribution and collection and provides improved tracking and reporting.
  • The ERS log-in can be found along with training documents and additional guidance at the effort reporting webpage.
  • Contact the ERS help desk for assistance at ershelp@drexel.edu or 215-895-0349.

  • All completed proposal applications are due at ORCA 5 business days prior to the sponsor deadline. Why?
  • If a Subcontract is involved ORCA recommends a 10 business day notification. Required Items
Department Training Checklist
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02/13/2008
Grant.gov Transition to Adobe Forms:

Grants.gov in conjunction with federal agencies has started transitioning from PureEdge to Adobe forms within grants.gov application packages. This transition to the news forms will be taking place over the next six months. Grants.gov plans to be 100% Adobe format by 6/30/2008. To make the transition a smooth one for users, the new Adobe forms will have the look and feel of the PureEdge. Some improvements have been made to the forms as well. Date fields will have calendars that can be pulled down, mandatory fields will be highlighted in yellow, and the overall functionality of them forms has been improved.  
When will it all take place:             
      Right now: 
          o  Agency Specific Timelines are Being Identified 
          o  Agencies Have Started Posting in Adobe Upon Successful  Testing     
      Coming Up: 
          o  April 1, 2008: New PureEdge Opportunity Cut-off 
          o  April 1, 2008: Open PureEdge Opportunities will be migrated to Adobe
          o  June 30, 2008: PureEdge Application Submission Cut Off 
          o  July 1, 2008: All grants.gov submissions will be in Adobe 
          o  July 3-5, 2008: Remaining Open PureEdge Opportunities Migrated to Adobe by grants.gov 
          o  December 30, 2008: PureEdge System Retired
To date:
5 Agencies are posting 100% in Adobe
11 Agencies are posting in PureEdge and Adobe
9 Agencies have not yet started posting in Adobe    
What this means for you: Since not all applications will be PureEdge or Adobe, it is best to ensure that you have both installed on your computer.
Go Here to Install PureEdgeViewer: Grants.gov  
Go Here to Install Adobe 8.1.1 Reader: Adobe  
Note: You MUST use Adobe 8.1.1 when submitting an application to grants.gov using the adobe forms. They will not work properly with another version of Reader or with Adobe Professional.
After you Install Reader: You aren’t done! To make sure Adobe doesn’t upgrade past 8.1.1 you need to take the following steps: 
    1.      Open up Reader 
    2.      Go to Help, then “Check for Updates” 
    3.      This will show you what updates are available. 
    4.      Select “Preferences” 
    5.      Uncheck “Automatically check for Adobe Updates” 
    6.      Press “OK”    
How does it work:
Go here for grants.gov’s tutorial on how to complete a grant application using Adobe Reader: Adobe Tutorial  
Other Resources:  
From Grants.gov:
Adobe and PureEdge FAQs: Adobe PureEdge FAQ  
From NIH:
Information on their transition: NIH Transition Information

01/16/2008
CHANGE IN NIH SALARY CAP

01/15/2008
Change in Grants.gov forms coming soon.

01/03/2008
CHANGE IN MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT RATES

12/21/2007
NIH REDUCES THE ERROR CORRECTION WINDOW TO 2 BUSINESS DAYS.

11/29/2007
GRANTS.GOV GOOF-UP. Always expect last minute problems.