• Prior to issuing a new subaward from Tufts, the Risk Assessment Questionnaire (RAQ) is completed by the OVPR and a copy is uploaded into the Research Administration System (RAS) award record. Input from PIs and Local Research Administrator (LRA) is sought when appropriate. The scores from the RAQ are used to assess risk of the specific subaward and to determine whether any additional award conditions need to be included in the subaward agreement.
• Prior to issuing a subaward amendment, a risk assessment is completed by the OVPR to assess whether any changes are needed in the subaward terms and conditions. Amendments that are issued in the middle of the budget year, including no cost extensions, do not require a continued risk assessment as long as no considerations exist for reevaluation of the risk level of the subrecipient.
• As part of completing the RAQ, the OVPR will request audit information from entities that are not subject to single audit (those are non-federal entities that expend less than $750,000 in Federal awards during their fiscal year).
• Verification that the subrecipient and the Principal Investigator (PI) of the subrecipient have not been debarred or suspended from receiving federal funds is part of completion of RAQ.
• For subrecipients deemed to require closer monitoring, Tufts may impose additional award conditions as needed. The award conditions may include the following requirements:
  • Submission of a brief technical report with each invoice to confirm acceptable performance.
  • Requests of supporting documentation prior to or subsequent to approving the invoice to enable additional project monitoring.
  • For subawards with advance payments, reconciliation of advanced amounts prior to issuing subsequent payments is required. Projected expenditures for the next payment period must include a list of expected purchases.
  • For subawards with animal and/or human subjects work, copies of IACUC and IRB approvals are requested before execution of the subaward for elevated risk subawards.

Note: Detailed budgets are always required for elevated risk subawards.

When a subaward agreement is fully executed, it must be submitted in the electronic requisitioning system and routed to Post-Award for approval. Once all approvals are obtained, a purchase order is created in PeopleSoft. The account number(s) on the requisition/purchase order should correspond with the budget that was entered into the appropriate grant, using the range of accounts (5151-5164) set aside for subcontracts.

Helpful Hint: when an “Under $25K” and “Over $25K” accounts are used, the requisition should contain two ‘items’ rather than a split.  This will ensure that Accounts Payable uses the first $25,000 of the purchase order from the “Under $25K” to pay invoices, before using the funds in the “Over $25K” line.