Uniform Guidance
On December 26, 2013, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published, in the Federal Register, the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards; Final Rule, 2 CFR Chapter I, Chapter II, Part 200 ("Uniform Guidance") . The Uniform Guidance was part of a major reform initiative of the federal government to streamline the process for making and monitoring assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements), and to reduce the administrative burden while increasing accountability and transparency in federal awards management.
Such guidance consolidated and replaced eight (8) separate OMB Circulars, including A-110 (Administrative Requirements), A-21 (Cost Principles), and A-133 (Audit Requirements), into a single document and has changed some fundamental concepts underlying the management of sponsored programs.
Federal agencies (e.g., DOE, NIH, NSF, USDA, etc.) were required to develop their own agency-specific policies that conform to the Uniform Guidance while non-federal institutions (including the University of California), had to assess their policies and processes to ensure compliance with the Uniform Guidance and agency-specific policies.
The Research Policy Analysis and Coordination office in the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) has launched a new web page to centralize information on the OMB Uniform Guidance. A UC system-wide working group, comprised of Office of the President and campus experts from the functional areas affected by the implementation of the Uniform Guidance, actively assessed the impact of the new regulations on existing UC policies and processes, and issued the Uniform Guidance Workgroup Assessment Report to the campuses on December 5, 2014. Such report provides an outline of actions that UCOP and the campuses will need to take to comply with the new standards. As that working group continues with its implementation of the UCOP action items identified in the assessment report, information and resources will be posted to their site.
UCR also established a campus-wide working group to assess the impact of the new regulations on existing UCR policies and processes. An overview of their assessment was presented at the UCR C&G User's Group Meeting on January 29, 2015 focusing on What the PI Needs to Know. It is anticipated that a subsequent town hall meeting for faculty will be scheduled in Spring 2015. Questions and comments may be emailed to ug@ucr.edu. The UCR working group may utilize some of those inquiries in the development of a campus-wide Frequently Asked Questions webpage.
Timeline
- December 26, 2013 - OMB issued the final rule of the Uniform Guidance
- June 26, 2014 - Due date for Federal agencies to submit proposed implementation plans to OMB (allowing for public review and comment)
- December 26, 2014 - Effective date of the Uniform Guidance (except Subpart F). It applies to new awards and to additional funding increments to existing awards made after this date.
- July 1, 2015 - Effective date in which the audit requirement (Subpart F) of the Uniform Guidance will apply to UCR awards.