Grants and Contracts

The Office of Resource Development (ORD) is the single point of contact for all Federal grant related communications between the colleges and funding agencies. The Director of Resource Development heads this office and is the sole responsible individual, but may designate specific duties to others within the ORD.

Some of the Colleges have a designated person called the College Resource Development Associate, who will serve as a liaison between the College and the ORD.

Colleges are authorized to make applications to Private or Non-federal governmental agencies for external funding, and shall submit a copy to the ORD on a timely basis. Each College must report to the Board, not less than quarterly, any such applications submitted and received by the College. The College Presidents are authorized to sign these non-federal grant contracts unless prohibited from doing so by law or agency regulations. Lone Star College System Board Policy CAP (Local).

A Grants Manager will be assigned by the College to direct and maintain the spending of the grant funds. This is often the individual who originally proposed the grant.

Assisting the efforts of the ORD and the Grants Manager is the Grants Accountant within the Accounting Department. While these two Departments will coordinate their efforts, the Grants Accountant is solely under the direction of the Accounting Department and the duties assigned thereunder are solely the duties of the Grants Accountant.

The purpose of the Office of Resource Development is to facilitate, coordinate, and assist the District and colleges to seek and secure external funds from federal, state, and local agencies by:

• Serving as point of contact for grant documents and correspondence with Federal funding agencies.
• Researching funding opportunities
• Publishing funding opportunities
• Consulting on planning/writing
• Interpreting criteria and regulations
• Editing proposals
• Obtaining signatures and submitting all Federal proposals
• Assisting in the negotiation of awards
• Reporting grants to the Board of Trustees
• Processing awards for start-up
• Approving internal operating budget set-up and revision
• Training grants managers
• Monitoring project performance and general expenditures
• Submitting performance/fiscal reports
• Tracking federal/state legislation
• Coordinate the monitoring and site visits of funding agencies

The Office of Resource Development maintains the legal (contract) and audit files for all grant awards including federal monies as well as current copies of pertinent laws, regulations and agency rules for reference by college staff.

The Office of Resource Development has created a comprehensive and informative Home Page on the District’s Web Page that is designed to allow all interested seekers of grant funds to educate themselves as to available funding sources and to provide proposal writing aids. Please contact the ORD at "http://www.lonestar.edu/groups/rd".

14.3.3 Grant Funding Sources

Federal, Foundation, State & Local Grant-related Web on-line links are available in addition to numerous Grant Directories in print. Please consult the ORD or College Resource Development Associate for further information.

1. Construction Projects - Prior approval of the Board shall be required for any grant application in support of construction of new facilities.

2. Matching Funds - Applications that require college matching support must be approved by the college president or appropriate Vice Chancellor.

3. Policy Conflicts - If there are differences between District policy and an agency’s contractual policy, District policy will prevail.

14.4 Specific Guidelines

14.4.1 Procedures to implement Grants

1. Grant proposals may be initiated by any District or college employee who has the support of the administration. This would involve the approval of a Vice President or higher.

2. Applications -
   1. All Federal grants applications must be filed through the ORD. The Chancellor, or in his absence, the Vice Chancellor for District Services, will sign all federal contracts on behalf of the Board of Trustees. Included are the standard assurances for lobbying, debarment, legal authority, etc.

   2. Colleges are authorized to make applications to Private or Non-federal governmental agencies, and will provide a Formal Notice of Award to ORD when projects are awarded. The College Presidents are authorized to sign non-federal grant contracts unless prohibited from doing so by law or agency regulations.

      Please watch out for State grants that use "flow through" federal funds. These must be treated as Federal grants.

3. Each individual grant awarded will designate a Grants Manager for its governance and maintenance. This is often the individual who originally proposed the grant.

4. Points of Contact
   1. All grants involving Federal funds and District-wide applications will designate the ORD with its address as the point of contact for documents and correspondence. Additionally, a college contact will be named for operations and management.

   2. For Private or Non-Federal grants, individual Colleges will name a college contact for operations and negotiation on all grant documents and correspondence. Often, this will be the Grants Manager.

5. After notification of the award of a grant, the Grants Manager must initiate the budget for the Grant in the General Ledger system on a New Account Set-up/Budget Revision Request worksheet (an example is located at the end of this section). The last four digits of the account number must be filled out by the Grants Manager with the appropriate account ‘Object Codes’ (a list can be found at the end of this section) and an allocation of grant dollars among each account. Additionally, a beginning and ending date for the grant award must be entered.

6. Salaries and appropriate coordinating benefits must be allowed for.

7. When allowable by the grantor, it is advisable to add an amount for indirect costs (costs of administering the Grant, not included elsewhere). A schedule to follow for this can be found at the end of this section.

8. The New Account Set-up Form is then sent to the Director of ORD for approval and then forwarded to the Grants Accountant, who will, after matching it to an approved copy of the proposal, assign the appropriate fund to be used and set the accounts up in the General Ledger system. This will allow for interfaces with the Accounts Payable , Purchasing and Payroll systems. Please note: The last number of the five (5) digit "Unit" number will always be the year in which the grant will end (i.e. 1997 will be XXXX7). A copy of this form will then be returned to the Grants Manager with the account codes to be used for future purchases.

9. After account code set-up, the Grants Accountant will input the actual budget dollar amounts.

10. Personnel Action Requests need to be completed with appropriate account numbers. All full-time PAR’s for Federal grants must be signed by the Director of RD.

11. Purchase requisitions need to be completed for those items of equipment and supplies, according to the Purchasing procedures set forth in this manual. Account numbers will need to be known at this time. Capital equipment purchased under a Grant must receive a special red "Grant Equip" tag along with its bar code (Refer to the Fixed Assets section for an example of this). Equipment requisitions for purchases over $1000 must be approved by the Director of RD.

    Please Note: Every effort must be made to requisition items allowing for ample time for receipt and payment of the invoice before the close of the Grant.

14.4.2 Normal Monthly Processing

1. Payment of Expenses
   1. The Grants Manager will initiate either a purchase requisition or a check request for items purchased, processed through the College Business Office, and send them to the Grants Accountant. As a rule of thumb, the Director of RD will be asked to approve any purchase over $500. However, the Director of RD must approve, in advance, all out of state travel or Perkins funded travel.

   2. The Grants Accountant will review and process all grant requisitions and check requests to insure compliance with the contract budget and then forwards them to Accounts Payable or Purchasing for processing. No grant requisitions are to be entered into the computer before the Grants Accountant reviews them.

2. Requests for Funds
   1. As noted below under Reporting Requirements, reports of expenses incurred are filed with the various grantor agencies requesting funds to be released to the District.

   2. These funds may be wired to the District bank accounts by means of a wire transfer (school cards are sent to the Grants Accountant for notification of the wire transfer) or may be sent in the form of a check or warrant. The funds are deposited by the Finance and Treasury Department after receiving the correct account coding from the Grants Accountant.

   3. Additionally, the Grants Accountant will put a copy of the fund receipt into the individual grant file.

3. On a monthly basis, an Account Availability Report (an example is located at the end of this section) is generated by the Grants Accountant, which will show the current status of each Grant in process. This report is generated from the General Ledger system and interfaces with all other systems. The report will show all funds expended and all funds received to date on the Grant with comparisons to the budget. For grants extending beyond the Lone Star College System fiscal year (prior to Sept. 1), add the August 31 Account Availability Report to the Current month report (actual column) to review total year-to-date activity.

4. This report is disseminated as follows: (a) a complete report to the Director of RD, (b) a complete report to the Grants Accountant and (c) individual reports to each respective Grants Manager.

5. Additionally, on a monthly basis, the Grants Manager will be given, by the Grants Accountant, a General Ledger Detail Trial Balance (an example is located at the end of this section) detailing all activity to the grant.

14.4.3 Budget Revisions, Changes and Overages

1. Whenever a monetary disparity occurs within a Grant, this may signal that a Budget Revision will have to be performed. However, the Grants Manager should contact the Grants Accountant for possible correction of negative balances due to misclassification of expenses.

2. For overages and underages within a given major category (see object codes at the end of this section), the Grants Manager will need to fill out a Budget Revision Request, transferring monies from one object code to another.

3. For overages and underages between major categories (see object codes at the end of this section),again, the Grants Manager will need to fill out a Budget Revision Request, transferring monies from one object code to another. However, these transfers also require prior approval from the Grantor, unless a provision has been made for this in the original Grant Contract.

4. All Federal grant Budget Revision Requests must be forwarded to the College Business Office and then to the Director of RD to confirm funding agency approval before they can be entered into the system.

5. ORD will forward them to the Grants Accountant for input of the revision as approved/allowed by the funding agent.

6. When a Grant exceeds the authorized budget, the funds must be covered by other funds allocated to the College and will not be recoverable by the Grantor. Therefore, every effort must be made to ensure that the expenditures are adequately covered by the funds authorized by the Grant.

14.4.4 Reporting Requirements

1. Reporting requirements are necessary to show completion of performance and/or for funding needs.

2. Reports are filed according to the instructions enclosed in each contract and a Grant Report Schedule (an example can be found at the end of this section) is maintained by the ORD detailing each grant and the timing of required reports.

3. Fiscal Reports (examples are located at the end of this section) are completed by the Grants Accountant and sent to the Director of RD. These will initiate the funding of the grants.

4. Other reports (Quarterly, Labor Market, Final Evaluation, Final Progress, Interim, Plan of Approach S-T-W, Final Activity, etc.) may be completed by the Grants Manager or the ORD.

5. As noted above, on a monthly basis, an Account Availability Report (an example is located at the end of this section) is generated by the Grants Accountant, which will show the current status of each Grant in process.

6. On a quarterly basis, the Director of RD will prepare and submit a Summary Report on the Status of Funding Proposals (an example can be found at the end of this section) to the Board of Trustees. This report will detail all action on funding proposals submitted or awarded for the quarter.

7. Final grant reporting is dealt with below, under Grants Closure.

14.4.5 Grants Closure

1. At the end of a Grant, the equipment purchased by Grant funds may have to be returned to the grantor or may continue to be used by the college. If the item is ever disposed of, the funds generated must be segregated and deposited back into the fund account from which it originated. In all cases, the original Grant contract must be consulted to determine the proper mode of disposal and any resulting fund disbursement.

2. The Grants Manager is responsible for follow-up on outstanding purchase orders/open encumbrances to insure receipt of goods prior to close.

3. The Grants Manager must review the budget accounts each month on the Account Availability Report to expend all funds before close.

4. The Grants Accountant will begin a review of each Grant 30 to 45 days prior to the close of the Grant. Expenses recorded on behalf of a Grant, after the Grant has been closed, will be covered by other funds allocated to the College and is not recoverable by the Grantor.

5. Final financial reports for funding are prepared by the Grants Accountant and sent to the Director of RD. Other required final reports may be prepared by the Grants Manager or the ORD but will need to be forwarded to the Director of RD to be attached to a Closure cover letter.

14.4.6 Year End Accounting

1. In general, a Receivable for grant funds owing but not received is recorded at the end of the fiscal year. This will ensure that grant funds expended are completely offset by grants income.

2. When an individual grant’s fiscal year differs or overlaps from the District’s fiscal year end, accounts with negative balances must be revised by the Grants Manager before August 31, as no negative balances will be carried into the new fiscal year. If budget changes are not made to resolve negative balances, the Grants Accountant will determine what positive accounts will be debited to cover the negative grant budget accounts. See Item 4, Grants Closure, above.

14.4.7 Grants Auditing

Grants will be subject to audit from internal and external auditors, and from the funding agency. Audits may vary from annual to every three to four (3 to 4) years. Files are kept in ORD, Accounting and at the Colleges, according to responsibility.

14.5 Process Map

14.6 Forms

1. New Account Set-Up/Budget Revision Request

2. Object Codes for Grants

3. Indirect Costs Rate Agreement

4. Lone Star College System Code Numbers

5. Account Availability Report (example)

6. General Ledger Detail Trial Balance (example)

7. Grant Report Schedule (example)

8. Grants Summary Schedule 1995-96 (example)

9. Board Meeting - Summary Report on the Status of Funding Proposals (example)

10. Notice of Non-Continuation of Grant Funds (example)

11. Carl Perkins - Time and Effort Percentage Report (example)