The University provides Principal Investigators with the opportunity to receive temporary funding for sponsored projects that have not yet been awarded. The purpose of this program is to enable new time-sensitive projects to begin and existing projects to continue by extending the expiration date while award documents are being processed by the sponsor. The Office of Contracts and Grants is committed to supporting faculty research and has established the interim funding process to ensure that faculty members have access to the resources necessary to perform research on sponsored projects in a timely manner.

What is interim funding?

Interim funding is temporary funding provided by the university to mitigate delays in the receipt of sponsor funds. An interim-funded award provides the Principal Investigator (PI) with short-term funding in the same cost center that will be used when the official award is received. Interim funding is available for

• Interim Funding: Used to incur project-related expenses on a sponsored project prior to the completion of negotiations &/or acceptance of an executed award document from the Sponsor.
• Pre-Award Spending: Used to incur pre-award costs up to 90 calendar days prior to the award start date. This applies only to federal sponsors that allow pre-award spending.
• Pre-IRB Spending: Used to incur costs and effort dedicated to protocol development and project set-up exclusively prior to IRB approvals.
• Pre-IACUC Spending: Used to incur costs and effort dedicated to protocol development and project set-up exclusively prior to IACUC approvals.
• Pre-Compliance Spending: Used to incur costs and effort dedicated to project set-up exclusively prior to CUI/Research Security approvals.

How do I request interim funding?

Before you start, make sure you have a completed Transmittal for the proposal/award you are requesting interim funding for.

To request Interim Funding, submit a request through the PI Work Center to the Office of Contracts and Grants. To do this, log into your PI Work Center. Click on “My Inbox” on the left-hand side, then click on the button “Create New Request.” Choose “Award” or “Proposal” based on what the request is related to, i.e., if the award has not been set up yet, choose “Proposal.” This will open the Function box, and you can select “Interim Funding” by clicking on the magnifying glass next to the Function box and selecting “Interim Funding” from the menu.

Enter the Proposal or Award ID, which can be found on the Transmittal or you can click on the magnifying glass next to the “Proposal/Award ID” box and search for your proposals/awards. Enter the name of the OCG RA that is assigned to you, and click on “Continue with Request Detail.” Complete the form “Interim Funding Request” on the bottom of the page (this is the step where you choose the type of request), and upload documentation about the award, such as the Notice of Award. Then click the “Submit” button.

The request must include supporting documents from the sponsor showing that the grant will be awarded, as well as the detailed budget for the project. The Department or College must guarantee that any charges posted to the interim-funded cost center will be reallocated to a non-sponsored project research cost center in the event that the award does not materialize.

Additionally, if an award is received and there are charges on the interim funded cost center that pre-date the actual start date, these costs must also be reallocated unless they are covered by pre-award costs.

Are there exceptions to interim funding?

Projects that involve human subjects or animals may not be interim funded until approval has been issued by the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects or the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

How do I use an interim-funded cost center?

Once the request is approved, the Office of Contracts and Grants will set up the appropriate cost center and issue a notice of the interim funding. The notice will specify the cost center values so that expenditures to support the research being performed may be charged. Indirect cost will be neither budgeted nor charged. The sponsor will not be billed for charges incurred until we have received an official award and the notice of award has been issued. Once the award agreement is finalized, the interim funding is reversed, and the award budget is established in the same cost center, ensuring a smooth transition in cost accounting as the research project moves forward.