Effort Report Escalation Process

This page describes the escalation process to ensure that effort reports generated from the Effort Reporting System (ERS) are certified timely. Contracts & Grants Accounting (CGA) retired ERS on June 30, 2022. The last effort reporting certification cycle at UCSF was completed in August 2020 for the period of January 1 through May 2, 2020. All effort reports, including related certification activity through June 30, 2022, have been archived.

Key Concepts

As set forth in UCSF Policy 300-19 Expenditures of Sponsored Projects, UCSF is committed to ensuring that effort reports made in connection with federally sponsored agreements are:

  • accurate and timely,
  • reasonably reflect the actual level of effort expended, and
  • comply with all federal requirements.

UCSF is further committed to ensuring that effort reports are certified within 120 days of the end of the reporting period. Effort reports that are not certified within 120 days may result in action being taken by the campus to reverse the charges on the award, may jeopardize submission of future proposals, cause a proposal to be withdrawn, and/or jeopardize the acceptance of future awards.

Roles and Responsibilities

Principal Investigators are responsible for all aspects of fiscal management of a sponsored research project including managing work effort and assigning oversight, when necessary, to a responsible official who has direct knowledge of the work performed and suitable means of verification that the salary reasonably reflects the work performed. This responsibility includes certification of effort reports in a timely manner.

Each department is responsible for establishing a business process to certify effort reports on a timely basis. If certification is past due, departments must follow up with their Principal Investigators (PIs) and other certifiers to ensure that the delinquent effort reports are certified as quickly as possible but no later than 120 days from the end of the reporting period.

CGA will provide the following notifications to PIs, departments, and executive managers of effort reports that are out of compliance with federal regulations:

Timeframe Recipient(s)
10 days past due
  • Email notification to the department Effort Reporting Coordinator (ERC) listing all outstanding open effort reports in their departments(s) with a link to ERS system
60 days past due
  • Email notification to PIs and PI’s home department ERC listing all outstanding open effort reports for their awards with a link to ERS system
  • Email notification to department financial administrator (DFA) with a listing of all outstanding effort reports for their department by ERC
  • DFA will assist the ERC in contacting PIs to obtain commitment for completion and gain understanding from the PIs why the certification could not have been completed within the normal certification period
100 days past due
  • Email notification to DFA and Chair, or equivalent, with a listing of all outstanding effort reports for a department by ERC
  • DFA and Chair will assist the ERC in contacting PIs to obtain commitment for completion and notifying the PIs that charges to Federal awards will be moved to the department’s discretionary funds if certifications are not completed within 110 days of the end of the reporting period
120 days past due

*CGA will include the PI, RSA, ERC, DFA, and Chair of the department in these cases.

Uncertified Report Extensions

According to the UCOP Contract and Grant Manual (opens in new window), certification after 120 days may be allowed under certain circumstances, but must be fully explained and justified by the Principal Investigator and approved by Contracts & Grants Accounting (CGA). After the June 30, 2022 retirement of ERS, uncertified reports beyond 120 days past due with approved extensions must be completed manually.

Related Topics

Refer to the Award Verification section of the Controller's Office website for the current procedure used by UCSF to meet federal guidelines under Uniform Guidance and UCSF Campus Administrative Policy 300-19, including escalations for late verifications.