Form:
1. Objective
The budget revision procedure is intended to improve administrative efficiencies, reduce processing time, and provide increased flexibility to Principal Investigators (PIs) to react to the evolving needs of their project. By employing the federal budgeting authority (2CFR§200.308), the procedure will require significantly fewer requests for budget revisions and speed up the processing of expenditure requests.
2. Background
Grant applications generally require a detailed budget plan, which is usually the basis for the approved budget of the awarded grant. Since there is a time lag between the application for and the actual execution of the grant, need for the application of funds may have shifted to different cost categories.
Prior to the current procedure, any change to the awarded budget required submission of a budget revision request by the PI, approval by Pre-award, and processing by TUC. Taking advantage of the federal rebudgeting authority, this process will streamline federal projects by simply allowing requests for expenditures to exceed the approved budgets, within the limits set by the respective granting agency.
3. Responsibility
Responsibility for processing budget revisions will be transferred from the Pre-Award office (formerly OSRP) at CSUN to Post-Award office (TUC-SP) at TUC.
All other non-budget issues will continue to be handled by Pre-Award, in particular:
- No-Cost Extensions
- Absence of PI (>3 months) or a 25% reduction in the time devoted to the project by the project director or Principal Investigator
- Change of PI
4. Federal Projects
4.1 Rebudgeting Authority
Some Federal agencies provide grant recipients with the authority to deviate from the originally awarded budget, either within certain restrictions or with no restrictions at all. Rebudgeting authorities vary from agency to agency and are governed by regulations of the granting agency and/or restrictions listed on the award documents.
4.2 Applicability
The federal rebudgeting authority applies to:
- all grant awards from federal sources;
- subawards funded from federal sources and awarded through a non-federal agency (pass-through).
The federal rebudgeting authority does not apply to:
- federal contracts
4.3 Definition of Significant Rebudgeting/Change of Scope
Significant rebudgeting occurs when expenditures in a single direct cost budget category deviate (increase or decrease) from the categorical commitment level established for the budget period by 25 percent or more of the total cost awarded.
Example:
Personnel Cost: $50,000
Travel: $25,000
Direct Cost $75,000
IDC $25,000
Total Cost* $100,000
Significant rebudgeting limit: $100,000 x 25% = $25,000
Personnel Cost: $50,000 +/- $25,000
Travel: $25,000 +/- $25,000
*Prior year carryover balances cannot be included in total cost.
Please note: A ‘change in scope’ generally occurs, when the ‘significant rebudgeting threshold’ (25%) is exceeded. However, other ‘changes in scope’ may also occur and will require granting agency approval, even if budgetary changes are below the 25% significant rebudgeting threshold.
5. Non-Federal Projects
Due to the multitude and complexity of grant regulations of non-federal grantors, budget revisions in these projects will be handled on a case-by-case basis. The Principal Investigator will work with the respective TUC-SP liaison to determine the process on budget revisions for each individual non-federal project.
6. Procedure
6.1 Submission of Expenditure Requests
The Principal Investigator will submit the expenditure request (Check Requests, Purchase Orders, Timesheets, etc.) to TUC for processing.
6.2 Review & Approval
TUC-SP will review the expenditure requests and determine if it is within the limits of the approved budget and the rebudgeting authority of the respective granting agency.
6.3 Request for Budget Revision
If the expenditure request exceeds the limits of the approved budget and the rebudgeting authority, the TUC-SP-Liaison will contact the Principal Investigator to discuss the need for a budget revision.
The Principal Investigator will then submit a ‘Request for Budget Revision’ form to TUC-Sponsored Programs.
Once the TUC-SP-Liaison obtains the official approval from the granting agency, the expenditure request will be processed and the budget will be updated in the system.
6.4 Internal Project Reports (BBA-Report / Detail Trial Balance)
Budgets in internal project reports (BBA-Report; Detail Trial Balance (DTB)) will list the originally awarded budget, unless an official budget revision has been approved by the granting agency.
The BBA column in the reports will show the deviation from the originally awarded budget, or from the officially approved budget by the granting agency.
7. Implementation
This procedure is valid as of March 1, 2017
8. Procedure Information:
Date of Last Revision: 02/28/17
Responsible for Content:
The University Corporation – Research & Sponsored Programs, Post-Award
Contact Information:
Grace Slavik
Associate Director, Post-Award
Phone: 818-677-3498
Email: