The Office of Research Compliance and Administration (ORCA) has responsibility for
administering all externally funded projects. The ORCA submits proposals to sponsors,
negotiates awards on behalf of the University, performs post-award administration
and ensures financial compliance. Financial compliance includes adherence to federal regulations,
sponsor guidelines and restrictions and University policies and procedures. Awards
administered by ORCA are commonly referred to as
sponsored
projects.
The ORCA provides complete project life cycle support (sometimes known as pre-award
and post-award services) to faculty and staff engaging in sponsored projects. The
ORCA program administrator (PA) serves as the primary single point-of-contact for
all aspects of project administration. The program administrator assigned to each
investigator can be found by searching the “
Contacts”
list.
ORCA Responsibility Areas:
- Assist in project conceptualization and planning.
- Provide general guidelines and assistance for proposal preparation and award administration.
- Review, approve and submit all sponsored project proposals on behalf
of the University.
- Negotiate and accept sponsored awards. Negotiate subcontracts to other institutions.
-
Establish sponsored project cost centers, monitor performance, assist in compliance
review of spending in accordance with University and sponsor policies and procedures
and OMB Circulars A-21 and A-110, and assist PI’s in the financial closeout of the
project.
- Interpret federal, University and sponsor regulations, policies and
guidelines.
- Prepare invoices and financial reports. Collect cash.
- Maintain proposal and award database and prepare management reports. Provide training
and support for faculty and staff during the sponsored project life cycle.
- Coordinate and facilitate audits.
- Monitor programmatic and financial compliance.