Award Advances

Use of an award advance allows for spending in the correct Award and Activity Period, minimizing cost transfers. Without an award advance, departments will need to record expenditures on a discretionary fund until the sponsor funds the award/budget period.

Award advances are not allowable for the following award types:

No-Cost Extension Pending – Federal and Federal Flow-Through Awards

During final financial reporting and closeout, departments notify Contracts and Grants Accounting (CGA) that a no-cost extension (NCE) is pending with the sponsor using Section C of the Final Reporting Certification Form. CGA will confirm the pending request via CACTAS with the contracting officer to ensure that there is sponsor intent to issue. If the sponsor intends to issue a NCE, then CGA will extend the processing end date of the current award 90 days. If the NCE is not received within 90 days, then CGA will discuss with OSR whether an extension is still appropriate.

No-Cost Extension Pending – Private Awards

When submitting the Financial Status Report to CGA for review and submission to the sponsor, departments should alert CGA that a no-cost extension is pending with the sponsor in the submission email. CGA will confirm the pending request via CACTAS with the contracting officer to ensure that there is sponsor intent to issue. If the sponsor intends to issue a NCE, then CGA will extend the processing end date for the current budget period 90 days. If the NCE is not received within 90 days, then CGA will discuss with OSR whether an extension is still appropriate.

Clinical Trials 

Award advances will not be processed for clinical trials. The risk of continuing with this type of work is greater than the University is able to assume without the expressed understanding and approval of the sponsor. If you have a clinical trial that has an upcoming end date and the work will continue past the indicated end date, work with OSR to get the award extended.
 

Requesting Advances on New Awards and Renewals

When a new award or a competitive renewal award has not been fully negotiated at the time of the official start date and work cannot be postponed until the award is fully executed, an award advance should be requested from OSR. Use the Award Advance Request Form to request an award advance from OSR.

Award Advances help to minimize workload and reduce risk by recording financial transactions to an appropriate chartstring on the general ledger during final award negotiation and eliminate the need for cost transfers once the award is executed.

The home department is responsible for covering any unreimbursed expenditures on an advance for which the award cannot be executed.

Requesting Automatic Award Advances on Existing Awards

At the department's request, CGA Compliance will establish an advance activity period in RAS for a continuation or supplemental year on a current award, including City and County of San Francisco (CCSF) awards, when:

• The department administrator sends an email to [email protected] requesting the advance
• The Activity Period has not been established for the next budget period
• There are no past-due receivables older than 90 days
  • All milestones have been met, i.e., installments have been billed
• Continuation is in progress
  • Must provide intent to fund from sponsor
  • Exception: All CCSF awards will be confirmed with the UCSF contracting officer;
• Active certifications are in place or in progress and visible in the appropriate certification system
  • IACUC
  • CHR
    • If no evidence in certification system, confirm with Contracting officer

The automatic award advance is not applicable for:

• New awards
• Competitive renewal periods
• Transfer-In awards

Department administrators should identify continuation and supplemental awards, including CCSF awards, which qualify for an automatic advance (see section above), and send a request for an advance by email to [email protected].

CGA will verify that the award meets the required qualifications and:

• Establish a budget/modification at 50% of the expected budget
• Add new Activity Period or extend the existing Activity Period, as appropriate
• Send an email notification to the Principal Investigator, Department RSA, Assigned RSC, and Departmental Financial Administrator using the following Advance Award template:

Subject Line: AUTO ADVANCE; Award Number; Activity Period, PI Last name, First Initial; Sponsor; Reference Number

An advance has been established for the continuation budget period for your award [Award Title] from [Sponsor Name] pending the arrival of the fully executed award agreement. You may continue program progress on this award but remember if for some reason the award agreement is not executed by the sponsor under UCSF policy, you are responsible for financing all expenses incurred during the advance period from discretionary funds.

Notification of advance award number: [A#]
Activity Period: [AP#]
Primary Project: [Primary project #]

For additional projects, contact [email protected] for processing
Additional Information - Information on chart strings

Regards,
CGA Compliance
[email protected]

Requesting Activation of Existing Future Year to Initiate Funding Entry

Many awards are committed through the entire performance period. In these scenarios, awards are set up in RAS with multiple activity periods that correspond to anticipated future years on the Award Modifications page. However, they remain inactive until the executed agreement is finalized.

For awards where future years are set up and the activity period exists for the next budget period, the activity period’s processing begin date will automatically go into effect at the start of the award period. For example, if the award budget period is 1/1/2026 - 12/31/2026, the processing begin date will become active on 1/1/2026. This allows departments to post expenses to the award starting on the beginning date of the activity period, even if the executed agreement is still pending.

It is important to note, however, that while departments may begin spending when the activity period is active, CGA will not be able to bill the sponsor until the agreement is finalized. Therefore:
•    No advance is required for departments to begin spending on the new activity period when it starts.
•    If the budget period is ultimately not funded, any expenses incurred will be the responsibility of the PI and must be covered by a discretionary funding source.

Additionally, if Human Subject or Animal Research protocols are involved, it is important to ensure that these protocols remain active and compliant with institutional and sponsor requirements throughout the performance period.