VP&S Grants Management Services
Available to PIs in select departments, the Grants Management Services work closely with PIs, SPA, and other central university offices to submit grant applications and manage awards.
The VP&S Grants Management Services (GMS) were established with the goal of sharing specialized services to create a better proposal and award management experience, and to reduce the administrative burden on faculty and investigators. The GMS teams work in partnership with select departments, centers and institutes to provide comprehensive administrative expertise and support throughout the grant lifecycle, from proposal preparation through award close out. The GMS teams have extensive knowledge and experience with many sponsors and a strong relationship with central university offices, Sponsored Project Administration and Sponsored Projects Finance.
- Determine whether your department is supported by the GMS teams (opens new window)
- Request Pre- & Post-Award Shared Services Support
- Sign Up for GMS Training Services
Pre-award Services
The Pre-award Team assists faculty, postdocs, and students with proposal and progress report submissions. The team takes the lead in all activities leading to the Notice of Grant Award being released. Once an award is issued, project setup is handled by post-award personnel. Support provided by the Pre-award team includes:
- Reviewing sponsor funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) to confirm eligibility and proposal requirements
- Preparing grant and fellowship applications
- Developing the budget and drafting budget justifications
- Engaging with outside collaborators and establishing subcontracts
- Assisting with writing administrative sections of grants including letters of support, biographical sketches, facilities and resources, and more
- Routing and securing institutional approval, endorsements, and signatures
- Preparing Just-in-Time (JIT) requests
- Assisting PIs with annual progress report preparation
Post-award Services
The Post-award team assists investigators with financial components of managing grants and other funding in a PI’s portfolio. The team’s manager and analysts prepare easily digestible financial reports and meet regularly with PIs and departmental administrative personnel to facilitate financial monitoring and planning. The team also assists departments with matters of financial compliance on sponsored projects. Support provided by Post-award Team includes:
- Preparing monthly PI portfolio reports
- Reviewing expenditures for allowability, allocability, reasonableness, and compliance with University and sponsor policies and guidelines
- Facilitating collection of quarterly expense attestations
- Assisting with annual effort certification process
- Tracking labor schedules and effort commitment for PIs and their personnel
- Supporting financial activities related to the final close out of a sponsored project
- Establishing sub-award agreements and monitor sub-award expenditures
- Assisting PIs with communications to sponsor including no-cost extensions, carry-over of funds and prior approval requests
- Ensuring compliance with all sponsor, federal, and University policies and guidelines
Training Services
The Grants Management Services (GMS), with a team of pre-award and post-award specialists, is one of several services developed to support the VP&S research mission. The GMS team has developed standard operating procedures and training to onboard staff who are new to grants management and new to working at Columbia University to develop skills and capacity of staff to manage more complex grants and offer strategic guidance and support on sponsors, grant requirements and financial management and compliance. Support provided by the Training Team includes:
- One-on-one onboarding training for all new research administrative staff at the department level
- Department Group training aimed to provide information on specific topics, which include:
- Pre-award proposal development
- Post-award grant management
- Understanding Columbia University administrative systems
- Research Compliance
- Award closeout
- Campus-wide training, in partnership with the Office of Learning and Development, focuses on pre- and post-award level-based competencies in research administration and compliance. This training is offered to all VP&S employees.
Contact Us
The Grants Management Services offer a range of pre-award and post-award support, as well as training services, available to VP&S departments, centers and institutes. Please contact us if you would like to learn more.
GMS Leadership
Grants Management Services
[email protected]