The document summarizes a presentation given by Gail Ryan at the June 2012 Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) meeting, focusing on the challenges of costing and administrative management in sponsored programs at research institutions. It outlines the organizational structure responsible for grant and contract administration, including teams handling grant administration, contract administration, institutional support, billing, accounts receivable, and financial reporting. The teams are tasked with a wide range of functions such as submitting progress and financial reports, subcontract management, cash draws, billing, and compliance with varying federal reporting requirements.
A significant portion of the presentation highlights operational complexities arising from inconsistent and evolving federal reporting requirements, lack of system uniformity, and insufficient automation which lead to redundancies, inefficiencies, and increased staff workload. Specific issues include the need for cross-team coordination, coping with last-minute requirement changes, inconsistent practices among sponsoring agencies, cumbersome payment and invoicing systems, and difficulties introduced by systems like WAWF, VIPERS, and HRSA EHB. The presenter underscores the strain on resources, referencing the administrative burden imposed by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) reporting as an unsustainable model for future federal mandates such as the DATA Act. The document concludes with a call for documenting system challenges, discussions on workload quantification, concerns about staff morale, and a hope that federal sponsors will one day streamline and consolidate reporting systems to alleviate administrative burden.
