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In DER, we are often asked, “Who are the university-level offices responsible for pre and post award at MSU, and how do they differ from each other?” Though the answer seems complicated, here are a few useful details to help differentiate these important offices within your MSU Team. In addition to the information below, definitions and descriptions regarding roles and responsibilities related to your funded proposal can be found at “Roles and Responsibilities.”
Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP)
Mission Statement: OSP’s mission is to provide superior pre-award support to faculty, staff, and the Contract & Grant Administration.
OSP has two primary types of teams, who provide pre-award support for all federal funding (direct funding or pass-through), as well as other not-for-profit sponsors.
- Proposal Teams
- Advise faculty and staff about external funding agencies
- Review and approve budgets
- Review & approve proposals
- Assist with Just in Time activities, when a sponsor needs clarification or additional information
- Contract Teams
- Negotiate agreements and accept awards through authorized signatures
- Either Proposal Team or Contract Team may:
- Liaison with funding agency prior to award/contract
- Act as MSU’s Authorized Representative for sponsored projects
Business Connect
Mission Statement: Business Connect serves as MSU’s front door for corporations, directing business to the right MSU resources – from recruiting students to finding a researcher for a specific project – and enabling two-way strategic communications and planning for business customers. The Business Connect team also supports entrepreneurial and regional economic development efforts. We, as well as MSU Technologies and Spartan Innovations, are part of the MSU Innovation Center.
- Facilitates rapid, high-quality customer connections with Michigan State University’s research and service knowledge base and to provide support to entrepreneurs.
- Ensures alignment of customer business goals and needs with MSU’s intellectual capacity and ability to deliver.
- Coordinates the timely completion of contractual negotiations and other business agreements between MSU and partner organizations.
Contract & Grant Administration (CGA)
Mission Statement: CGA is a unit dedicated to superior post-award administration. CGA’s mission is to support MSU's research and creative endeavors by providing timely, accurate, and courteous assistance to faculty and support staff with the financial and contractual administration of their grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts.
CGA has four teams that function to address all your post-award needs, monitoring awards from account set-up through close-out and even audits. CGA is the post award/compliance office once a grant/agreement/contract is signed in OSP.
- Awards Group
- Sets up accounts
- Completes effort Reporting
- Manages no Cost Extensions
- Transactions Group
- Processes expenses, and monitors allowability
- Reports Group
- Performs financial and technical reporting, as well as account close-out
- Cash Management Group
- Submits reporting for LOC accounts, and deals with check deposits.
- Depending on the specific issue, individual teams
- Advise faculty and staff about external agency regulations
- Liaison with sponsors for post award transactions including amendments, prior approval requirements, progress reports, and other inquiries
Though you can often have questions regarding “who” is responsible for the next step in your proposal process, “don’t wing it.” DER is here to help answer your questions and enlist the appropriate support from your MSU Team. If you have questions regarding these offices and more, please send an email to proposals@egr.msu.edu.
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