Faculty & Staff

Requirements under USG Regulations

USG regulations (Section J.10 of Federal OMB Circular A-21) require that the effort devoted to USG-funded projects is appropriately documented, including certification that the salaries charged are reasonable in relation to the effort devoted to those projects. Accordingly, it is University policy that:

• While salary charges to projects are made initially based upon the planned or estimated workload of faculty and others, the actual effort of each individual working on projects must be monitored, with charges modified as necessary based on variances between the estimated and actual effort.
• The required effort reports must be certified by either the individual him/herself (in the case of PIs) or by a responsible official who has exercised suitable means of verification of the activities of the individual(s) for whom he or she is certifying.

The full text of the policy as well as effort-reporting guidance, tools, training information, and other resources are available at the University’s effort reporting website.

Principal Investigator Responsibilities

Principal investigators are responsible for:

• Monitoring their own effort and that of others working on their projects
• Notifying the Department Administrator and the funding agency of significant changes in effort throughout the year
• Reviewing appropriate documentation to ensure that charges to projects are consistent with the effort devoted to those projects
• Certifying their own effort and that of staff working on the project using the University’s Effort Certification and Reporting Technology (ECRT) system