Purpose & Responsibilities

Purpose

SPAdmin’s purpose is three-fold:

• To facilitate a principal investigators’ pursuit and management of external funding
  
  
• To protect UNMC as an organization that is subject to the requirements of the Board of Regents; federal, state, and local agencies; and regulatory bodies
  
  
• To support UNMC’s efforts to improve the health of Nebraska through premier educational programs, innovative research, the highest quality patient care, and outreach to underserved populations
  
  

Services

SPAdmin is the official authorized signature authority of UNMC for sponsored program grants and contracts. Responsibilities include:

• Assisting faculty and administrators complete external applications based on the policies and procedures of the university and sponsors
  
  
• Negotiating final terms for government and non-profit grants, contracts, and subcontracts
  
  
• Reviewing and approving budgets and applications to outside sponsors
  
  
• Establishing accounts and set up budgets for all federal, non-profit, and for-profit awarded grants and contracts based on sponsor regulation
  
  
• Processing budget revisions, no-cost extension requests, and grant transfers
  
  
• Maintaining the grant and contract database and tracking pending and funded projects
  
  

Project Management

Effective sponsored project management is a collaborative effort among:

• Principal investigators are responsible for leading and directing the project, intellectually and logistically.
  
  
• Departmental administrators are responsible for assisting principal investigators with the completion of internal and external, paper and electronic forms.
  
  
• Sponsored Programs Administration is responsible for reviewing and submitting applications, agreements, and modifications.
  
  
• Sponsored Programs Accounting is responsible for preparing and submitting to sponsors financial reports and invoices.

Sponsored Programs Administration recognizes that departmental capacity and principal investigator preference for administrative tasks vary, but in general at UNMC, departmental administrators, Sponsored Programs Administration, and Sponsored Programs Accounting focus on the administrative aspects of sponsored projects so that principal investigators can focus on the programmatic aspects.