Subaward Frequently Asked Questions

Proposal Manager:

• Ensures that the required documentation for establishment of a subaward is received and complete at the time of proposal review (i.e. SIC form, FDP LOI, scope of work, budget, F&A rate agreement).
• Works with the DBO and PI to obtain missing subaward information required at the time of proposal review.

Award/Contract Manager:

• Reviews award documentation and logs a new subaward agreement/amendment to the Specialist.
• Works with the Subaward Manager to draft special terms and conditions, non-standard language and non-standard reporting requirements, if required.

Subaward Manager:

• Runs IRES activity log to determine need to issue subawards.
• Ensures that all required compliance documentation is complete prior to generating a subaward agreement.
• Works with DBO and PI to obtain budget confirmation and any other missing items.
• Drafts new subaward agreements and amendments funded by grants from federal and private sponsors.
• Conducts subaward risk assessments and audit reviews.
• Determines monitoring activities to ensure a Subrecipient’s compliance with the terms and conditions of the subaward.
• Obtains final business office confirmation of subaward agreement/amendment drafts and sends to the Subrecipient institution for execution.
• Upon receipt of the partially executed subaward agreement/amendment, coordinates OSP signature and returns the fully executed subaward agreement/amendment to the Subrecipient.
• Ensures subaward funding is accurately reflected in the IRES record and Workday.
• Oversees the accurate set up of subaward funding in Workday
• Emails the fully executed subaward to the PI and DBO, including confirmation that the subaward has been activated in Workday.
• Serves as the Administrative Contact on outgoing subawards.

Regardless of the type of recipient, the rate(s) in effect at the beginning of the competitive segment will be used to determine the amount budgeted for F&A costs for each year of the competitive segment. F&A cost reimbursement on grants formerly subject to OMB Circular A-21 (Institutions of Higher Education) is based on the rates used in the award, which are not subject to adjustment in reimbursement except for the establishment of permanent rates when a provisional rate was used for funding. The decision matrix below can be used to determine if rebudgeting to accommodate a higher F&A rate can be permitted.

Under an NIH grant to Yale, can a subrecipient rebudget direct costs to indirect costs to accommodate a higher F&A rate if it provides an updated rate agreement?

Regardless of the type of grant subrecipient, the rate(s) in effect at the beginning of a new or competitive segment grant will be used to determine the amount budgeted for F&A costs for each year of the competitive segment. F&A cost reimbursement is based on the rate(s) used at the beginning of the competitive segment and is not subject to adjustment in reimbursement except for those instances when the subrecipient uses a provisional rate in a proposal and a permanent rate is subsequently negotiated.

If the Subrecipient institution is not listed as a supplier in Workday, the business office must submit a Supplier Request and inform the Subaward Manager when the supplier set up has been completed.

With every new foreign supplier, the business office is responsible for requesting from the subrecipient institution a Form W-8 (W-8BEN-E for foreign business entities). Departments can instruct suppliers to contact the Finance Support Center and send all documentation to askfinance@yale.edu. The Supplier Compliance Unit will maintain these documents in the Supplier Database. An updated W‑8BEN‑E form is required every three years. If the form has expired, the DBO is responsible for obtaining and attaching an updated copy to the invoice. Refer to 1307 PR.01 Establishing Subrecipients Associated with Sponsored Programs Section 4B: Determining Subaward Terms and Conditions for additional information.

Federally funded subaward agreements to foreign entities will be drafted using a special template authorized under the Federal Demonstration Partnership. Foreign subrecipients must also have an active DUNS number.

Check the IRES activity log for the current status and actions taken and contact your Subaward Manager for questions or clarification.

Tips for efficient processing of subawards:

• Send requests for new subawards or amendments to the appropriate GCAT mailbox. All requests are reviewed by the Award Manager and then logged to the Subaward Manager for processing.
• In order to expedite the process, review SIC materials, LOIs, dates, scopes of work and budgets for completeness and accuracy before submitting to OSP. If information is incomplete or incorrect, the business office should contact the Subrecipient.
• Ensure that a Subrecipient’s IRB and/or IACUC approval is in place. Subawards are not issued if IRB or IACUC compliances are pending.
• Provide timely review of subaward drafts and requests for information to the Subaward Manager.
• Become familiar with published subaward policies and procedures and consider an online refresher course in Subrecipient Basics.
• Subawards to high risk entities require extensive OSP review, monitoring plans and customized language. Inform your PI of the risks associated with issuing subawards to organizations with few internal controls or significant audit findings. Doing so could adversely impact study goals and Yale’s compliance with the sponsor’s terms and conditions.
• Consult the IRES activity log for subaward status updates.
• When requesting action on a subaward, concisely provide the pertinent information.

The Subaward Manager may set up new grant lines for subaward funding (subaward GR lines) if the award is new and subaward funding was not included on the Workday Webform, or if the subaward is after the fact. They also set up Supplier Contracts.

A Supplier Contract is the Workday mechanism used to pay subaward invoices. The total dollar amount of the Supplier Contract will be equal to the funding amount obligated in the subaward agreement(s)/amendment(s). The Supplier Contract number is part of the overall Subaward Number and must be referenced on all subaward invoices to facilitate payment.

New Supplier Contracts are created for every new outgoing subaward agreement. New Supplier Contracts are also created for annual amendments on non-SNAP awards. Each annual amendment on a non-SNAP award will have a unique Supplier Contract number.

SMS numbers are paired with a Supplier Contract number on SNAP subaward amendments that were already in place at the time of Workday conversion. The SMS number will be paired with the Supplier Contract number until the competitive cycle is over.

A GR number is paired with a Supplier Contract number for brand new subawards established post-conversion. GR numbers may also be paired with a Supplier Contract on non-SNAP amendments.

In Workday, run the “Find Subawards–Yale” report for your cost center.  This report can be run using many different parameters to obtain the precise population of subawards you are looking for. The search results form a listing of all subawards set up in the Workday accounting system based on the parameters you have selected. The report can be downloaded into Excel and further sorted or filtered to suit your needs.  Any department business office staff member whose responsibilities include the management of subawards (e.g. the review and payment of subaward invoices) should become familiar with this report.

A sample invoice is provided as part of all outgoing subaward agreements for submitting invoices to Yale University. Subrecipients are instructed to email invoices to yss.subcontracts@yale.edu. As invoices are received electronically, subrecipients will receive an auto-response email as evidence the email with the attached invoice was received. Subaward invoices are received and recorded in Yale’s Accounts Payable system where they are assigned a Workday transaction number. They are then promptly routed to the Workday Inboxes of the department business office’s staff members and the PI with the appropriate designated Workday roles. Those with the appropriate Workday roles should review their Workday Inboxes regularly for subaward invoices to ensure a timely review and approval.

Subaward invoice transactions appearing in Workday Inboxes will have attached a PDF of the invoice. Invoice reviewers should review the invoice for a variety of things including compliance with the budget, including the correct charging of F&A, potentially unallowable costs, dates of cost incurrence, subaward reference numbers, cost overruns and accuracy. If the invoice passes this review, the department invoice reviewer should approve the invoice in Workday.

The P.I. will review the invoice for a variety of things as indicated in 1307 PR.01 Managing Subrecipient Activity Associated with Sponsored Programs Section 1: Processing Subrecipient Invoices. The P.I.’s (or delegate’s) approval of the invoice signifies that all deliverables are on track. If one or more of these areas are of concern, the PI should work with the business office staff to contact the subrecipient to make appropriate inquiries. If the invoice passes the P.I.’s review, the P.I. or delegate should approve the invoice by signing it either manually or electronically and notify the business office staff to release it for payment. The business office staff must scan in and upload the fully-approved invoice to the transaction.

If the subrecipient must be contacted regarding an invoice issue, all actions taken should be recorded and dated in Workday.

A Supplier Contract is a Workday tool that is used to pay subaward invoices that are associated with a specific Subaward Grant line in the grant set-up in the Workday system. During processing, the subaward invoice date is validated against the start and end dates of the Supplier Contract which means that the invoice can only be processed for payment if the date of the invoice is within the start and end dates of the Supplier Contract. It displays the current subaward awarded amount and the total dollar amount of all subaward invoices processed against the Supplier Contract, and it calculates and displays the subaward unexpended balance. The calculated unexpended balance is the Subaward Commitment.

These important pieces of information that appear in the Supplier Contract appear on the “Find Subawards–Yale” report. Please note that the Subaward Commitment that appears on the “Find Subawards–Yale” report and which may appear in other reports will be accurate only if the supplier contract number was used during the invoice processing and approval.  If the supplier contract number was not identified and used during the invoice review and approval process, the Supplier Contract balance will not be decremented appropriately and as a result, the unexpended balance will be incorrect.  For subaward invoices that are processed through the Accounts Payable system referencing the supplier contract, the unexpended balance of that subaward is decremented accordingly.  

As subaward funding increases are entered in the Workday system, and recorded in the related supplier contract for that subaward, the unexpended balance or commitment of that subaward is increased.

Uniform Guidance mandates that federally-supported subaward invoices must be paid within “30 calendar days after receipt of the billing, unless the.…pass-through entity reasonably believes the request to be improper.” Subaward invoices not supported by federal funds although not subject to the Uniform Guidance should still be reviewed and released for payment timely. Please refer to 1101 FR.01 Financial Review Checklist.

Invoice Monitoring

Department business office staff members should monitor invoices in progress for their Cost Center by running Workday report “Invoices in Progress by Cost Center–Yale”. The date field “Created On” on this report is the date the invoice was created in Workday and not the date the invoice was received by the University. This aging report like most Workday reports can be downloaded to Excel and further manipulated as needed. This report is intended to be a tool for DBOs so they can meet the 30 calendar day payment requirement of federally-backed subaward invoices.

Final Invoice

The department business office staff is responsible for ensuring that the final invoice is received in accordance with the fully-executed subaward agreement typically within 60 days of subaward expiration.  According to the terms and conditions of the subaward agreement, all final subaward invoices must be marked “FINAL”.

Please refer all subaward invoice Collections inquiries to: askfinance@yale.edu. When collectors write to this email box they get an auto-response email that assigns a case number to their inquiry that can be referred to in subsequent communications with Shared Services. The Shared Services department is responsible for responding to all collection inquiries.