Grant Administrator
The Grant Administrator should be the Dean or Director, supervising the institutional area for which the grant is designed to support and promote. The Grant Administrator is designated by the President of the institution for any grant and is responsible for overall management of the grant from the time the grant is awarded until all grant activities and requirements are accomplished. The Grant Administrator is the primary institutional contact for all grant-related activities with the awarding authority and is responsible for all reporting to the awarding authority during the life of the grant.
Organization of Materials
Grant documents will be maintained in the office of the Grant Administrator for a period of three years after the grant requirements are completed. After this three-year period, all grant documents must be archived in the institution’s area for storing documents for a period of ten years or the length of time designated by the awarding authority.
All documents should be maintained as a unit in a folder in paper or electronic media, sufficient to contain the documents in an easily identifiable and accessible fashion. The folder should contain the following materials in a separate section within the folder for review by the Grant Administrator and federal and state auditors:
- copies of executed grant agreement (one copy to the Business Office);
- grant budget (one copy to the Business Office)
- correspondence concerning the grant
- financial reports
- program progress reports and
- audit and project closeout documentation
Task Management Plan
Upon receiving the grant award, the Grant Administrator will plan the activities associated with accomplishing the tasks to be supported by grant funds. The plan should identify the specific program areas targeted by the grant, based upon the grant application from which it was awarded. Specific institutional departments to benefit from the grant funds should be identified, as well as the type of expenditures allowed by the approved grant budget for each department. The plan should include time frames for completing specific tasks within the term of the grant. Specific dates should be identified to complete the required progress and financial reports to the awarding authority for the term of the grant.
Specific attention should be given to closeout procedures required by the grant. The closeout of the grant will generally coincide with the fiscal year-end activities of the institution and will require final grant expenditures to be completed by the year-end date. All grant expenditures should be completed prior to the year-end date in order for final reporting and closeout procedures to be completed in a timely manner.
While the Task Management Plan is not necessarily meant to be detailed, it should generally encompass activities already identified in the institution’s formal Institutional Management Plan and augment those activities. Overall, activities and expenditures of the grant will fall within the normal institutional activities and expenditures and will follow the same procedures and policies for approval.
Financial Management System
Grant financial management is incorporated within the institution’s general financial accounting system. Grants are uniquely identified by a fund code within the accounting Chart of Accounts specific to each grant.
Upon receipt of the grant award letter and completed agreement, the Business Office will manage the financial transactions of the grant in the following manner:
- Account Setup
The Business Office will assign a fund code, to the grant. This code is used to track all revenues and expenditures of the grant by program code and organizational code. A complete set of grant accounts will be established in the institutional accounting system using this fund code for revenues, expenditures, and general ledger accounts. Access to the fund code will be provided by the Business Office.
- Grant Revenues
As grant revenues are received, they will be identified by the Business Office and receipted by the Accounts Receivable Specialist or personnel assigned to restricted accounting into the grant’s revenue accounts. Grant revenues may be received by one of three methods. One, an online federal drawdown process is completed for funds, such as Financial Aid’s Pell grants. Two, a check, or EFT, may be received after a scheduled progress and billing report required by the grant. Three, a monthly appropriation of grant funds may be received over the term of the grant, such as some state grants.
- Grant Expenditures
Grant expenditures are accomplished through the institution’s normal purchasing procedures, see Purchasing Procedures. Expenditures are charged to the grant accounts as purchases are made. A purchase order will be initiated by the department approved to utilize the grant funds.
Personnel paid from grant funds will be assigned specific grant pay codes in the individual’s contract in the accounting system. As payroll checks are made, the system will charge the pay amount to the grant’s expense codes assigned by the Business Office.
- Financial Reports
Grant financial reports will be produced from the institution’s accounting system using data contained in the grant’s set of accounts. The data necessary for the reports will be provided by the Business Office to the Grant Administrator who will submit the report to the awarding authority. These reports may accompany a progress and status report on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. If the report is simply a billing, the Business Office will submit the billing directly to the awarding authority. Copies of the financial reports will be maintained in the Business Office grant file for review by auditors and awarding authority as well as in the Grant Administrator’s grant file. Some grants may be invoiced by the Grant Administrator with copies sent to the Business Office.
Purchasing System
NACC requires a Purchase Order prior to the purchasing of goods and services with institutional funds, including restricted grant funds. The Purchasing Procedures should be followed during the execution of all grants when no grant specific procedure exists. The Grant Administrator has the responsibility to determine if the requested items on the requisition form are within the allowable expenditure guidelines of the grant and are budgeted item(s) or within an allowable budget category.
In addition to items costing $5,000 or more listed in the Inventory Control section of the Purchasing Procedures, items purchased by federal grants that are considered to be of a “personal nature” and more liable to be stolen or misused or are to be inventoried per grant requirements are uniquely decaled and maintained on separate inventory control lists. These grant specific items may or may not be capitalized but are subject to all control functions in place for capitalized items. The inventory control of these items is the responsibility of the campus unit for which the grant was awarded.
Personnel Policies
Personnel funded by any federal grant are recruited, compensated, and managed according to the Board Policy Series 600: Personnel. Grant-funded individuals must adhere to the same guidelines and policies as all other institutional personnel under the control of the Alabama Community College System.
Quality Review and Control
In cooperation with the dean or division director of the program area receiving the grant, the Grant Administrator is responsible for development of a system of quality review and control of the grant objectives. The system should consist of documentation of steps to achieve the grant objectives, timeframes for completion, and periodic progress reports addressing each objective. Coordination with the Business Office in securing grant funds, approving grant expenditures, and the close-out procedures required by the grant awarding agency is essential for each grant, as each has unique requirements and objectives.