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Financial Status Reporting and Invoicing
Progress Reports
NIH Research Performance Progress Reports
Patent/Invention Reporting
Property Reporting
Small Business Reporting
Reporting requirements vary in frequency, format, and content depending on the sponsor requirements. Principal investigators and research administrator support staff should take responsibility for understanding the reporting requirements of their particular sponsor. The following provides general reporting guidelines.
Failure to fulfill reporting requirements may result in:
- Delay or termination of current awards
- Delay or cancellation of continuation and new awards
- Disallowance of costs
- University may be debarred from future awards
Financial Status Reporting and Invoicing
Sponsored Projects Services generally prepares financial status reports and invoices for the sponsor as a separation of duties measure. Certain projects may have reporting or invoicing delegated directly to the department with Sponsored Projects approval.
Before sending a financial status report to the sponsor that will prompt a budget deobligation, Sponsored Projects will obtain written concurrence from the fiscal officer and principal investigator. The fiscal officer and principal investigator should review the financial report to ensure that the costs are allowable and accurately reported.
Progress Reports
The principal investigator (PI) is responsible for tracking and submitting required progress reports to the sponsor, and should work with the fiscal officer on the administrative sections, including effort reports and proposed budgets. Progress reports that do not require institutional signature may be submitted directly by the investigator to the sponsoring agency. Progress reports requiring signature should be submitted to sponsor@arizona.edu in accordance with the Three-Day Deadline Policy with a reference to the UA account number.
The sponsor may specific a format in the award notice or incorporated terms and conditions. If no format is indicated, the principal investigator is advised to use a format that addresses the following:
- A review of accomplishments to-date as compared with schedule and objectives as outlined in the approved project.
- A review of the challenges faced by the project in attempting to meet the schedule and objectives.
- Supporting statistical data or documentation on project health.
Overdue reports may result in disallowed costs or terminations. The lead unit is financially liable for performance repayments. Please reference this
from the Senior Vice President for Research Office regarding tracking and follow up requirements. Departments/Colleges may withhold proposal approvals for PIs with overdue reports as an corrective action measure.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)
The Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) is a format used by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to report progress on funded projects. Submission of the RPPR is done through the NIH’s electronic Research Administration (eRA) Commons, ensuring secure and streamlined management of research progress documentation.
- Three-Day Deadline policy:
- RPPRs should be submitted in accordance with the Three-Day Deadline Policy.
- RPPR Cover Page:
- Please set the administrative official to Marcel Villalobos, and the signing official to the postaward team manager that partners with your unit (Ashley Taylor, Yohana Orduño, or Carmen Raffensparger). You can locate the SPS postaward team manager by college from our directory.
- Please route the RPPR in eRA Commons to the postaward manager – signing official.
- Notify SPS the report is ready for review:
- The PI or research administrator should send an email to sponsor@arizona.edu to request submission after the RPPR is routed to the signing official. This is necessary in case the signing official is out of office. Please reference the UA account number.
- If the RPPR has warnings, your email should indicate SPS may submit despite them.
- If the RPPR has a significant unobligated balance, include the internal UA unobligated balance worksheet, as NIH will ask about the balances.
- For the corresponding reports regarding Human Subjects in ASSIST: If you need a corresponding ASSIST record updated to “work in progress” for updates, or returned to “submitted” status, please include that information.
- Any changes requiring prior approval, please submit to your postaward team in advance of the submission report.
- The PI or research administrator should send an email to sponsor@arizona.edu to request submission after the RPPR is routed to the signing official. This is necessary in case the signing official is out of office. Please reference the UA account number.
Resources:
- UAccess Analytics RPPR Dashboard: This is a tool for guidance, but requires careful review, particularly the effort calculations. Access requires provisioning for UAccess Research.
- NIH RPPR Website
- NIH Data Management Plan and Sharing Resources:
- NIH guidance on DMSP in RPPRs (https://www.era.nih.gov/news/era-information-new-data-management-and-sharing-dms-policy-questions-rppr-october-1-2024-and), states that “The system will automatically determine if the DMS Policy is applicable or not to the award; the questions appear only for applicable awards.”
- UA Libraries’ Data Cooperative resources: (https://data.library.arizona.edu/data-management). They provide consulting on data management plans, data workflows, data policies, etc. They have quick start resources and manage and maintain data management infrastructure and resources such as the Data Management Plan Tool (DMP Tool) to actually help write a Data Management Plan, usually prior to/at time of proposal. The DMP page has funding agency requirements and examples.
NIH requirement: https://data.library.arizona.edu/data-management/nih-data-management-sharing-policy-2023.
Public Access Requirement
The NIH requires that all peer reviewed journal articles arising from NIH-funded research and accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008 must be deposited in PubMed Central.
As of July 1, 2013 the NIH will delay processing of non-competing continuation grant awards if publications arising from them are not in compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
The Arizona Health Sciences Library maintains a webpage with step by step compliance information on the NIH Public Access Policy.
Patent/Invention Reporting
The principal investigator is responsible for disclosing all inventions, discoveries and new technology to Tech Launch Arizona throughout the life of the award. The University of Arizona is responsible for announcing inventions, discoveries and new technologies to the sponsor. The process for disclosing and reporting new inventions, patents, etc. is as follows:
- Sponsored Projects & Contracting Services completes the patent form and obtains the Principal Investigator’s signature. The signed report is returned to Sponsored Projects.
- Sponsored Projects & Contracting Services forwards the report to Tech Launch Arizona for signature. The signed report is returned to Sponsored Projects.
- Sponsored Projects & Contracting Services mails the report to the sponsor.
If you have any questions, please contact your Sponsored Projects & Contracting Services fund accountant.
Property Reporting
Sponsored Projects & Contracting Services prepares interim, annual and final property reports as stipulated in the agreement and submits them to the sponsor. Annual reports must be filed within sixty (60) days of the project-year end. Final reports must be filed within ninety (90) days of the project close date.
Sponsored Projects & Contracting Services will determine if the title to the property resides with the sponsor or the University of Arizona based on the Title and Equipment Clauses in the agreement.
Any questions regarding the acquisition or title to equipment acquired on the sponsored agreement may be directed to Sponsored Projects & Contracting Services.
Small Business Reporting
Some sponsors require periodic reporting to show that the principal investigator or the institution is making an effort to purchase/subcontract small businesses. If your sponsor requires such a report, contact Procurement and Contracting Services. Procurement will generate the report and send it to the appropriate sponsor.