Instruction for Completing the UNMC/VAMC MOU

Section A: Faculty Information

Date
The date will be based on the purpose the MOU will serve. The menu lists four options. After selecting the appropriate option based on the descriptions below, enter the relevant date:

  • Annual Update = July 1, 200_ (insert current year)

Federalpolicy requiresMOUs to be updated not less than annually.

Per institutional policy, annual reviews are to be completed by July of each year.

To meet the July timeline, MOUs are to be generated by the institution prior to July 1.

  • Significant Change = Date of change

MOUs are to be modified when a faculty member’s effort changes significantly.

Because federal policy requires that the MOU document the percentage of effort available for research, significant change as it relates to MOUs will be defined as any change that reduces a faculty member’s effort available for research by an amount equal to or greater than five percent.

Examples of changes in effort include

an increase in research effort due to a newly awarded grant,

a modification of non-research effort (i.e., clinical, administrative/teaching).

  • New Hire = Date of hire

Institutional policy requires an MOU be generated for all dual appointees receiving federal funds.

Examples for using New Hire would include when

transferring a funded federal award to UNMC,

transferring a funded federal award to the Omaha VAMC.

  • Other = Date the MOU was initiated

Use “Other” when neither Annual Review, nor Significant Change, nor New Hire applies.

Federal policy requires that the MOU be on file at the time of application.

An example for using Other would include when

an employee with no recent history of federal funding, and therefore with no recently generated MOU, applies for federal funding

Name of Faculty Member

  • Use legal name (i.e., as used in UNMC Human Resources).
  • External auditors will expect the name to match grant applications and appointment documents.

Title of VAMC Appointment

  • Self explanatory

VAMC Service

  • Select the appropriate VAMC Service unit to whom the faculty member reports:

Clinical Care

Medicine

Pathology

Research

Surgery

Title of UNMC Appointment

  • Self explanatory

UNMC Department

  • Self explanatory

FTE at UNMC

  • Self explanatory

Section B: Allocation of Professional Activities

To complete Section B: Allocation of Professional Activities, you may benefit from understanding the federal perspective, the spreadsheet functions, and definitions for the terms above the individual columns.

Federal Perspective: NIH recognizes that collaborative research partnerships, such as relationships between VAMCsand universities, function differently than inter-institutional relationships. In preparing procedures for completing MOUs, UNMC received these recommendations from the NIH Division of Grants Management:

Total professional effort must be reasonable; NIH institutes and centers may vary on how they define reasonable.

UNMC, in partnership with the VAMC, has established a 60-hour work week as a reasonable levelof effort for dual appointments. Although NIH policy does not define reasonable total professional effort, NIH officials do monitor the protected time for research.

In working with total professional effort(i.e., a combination of UNMC and VA effort), the NIH Division of Grants Management recommends we avoid converting effort to person months.

Spreadsheet Functions: The VAMC/UNMC MOU, created as an Excel spreadsheet, contains formulas to automatically calculate percentages.

Definition of Terms

  • Eighths: VAMC effort is defined in eighths(one-eighth of a 40 hour week = 5 hours)
  • Hours: By federal policy, VAMC effort is based on a 40-hour work week (eight/eighths = 40 hours)
  • FTE or Full Time Equivalent numerically describes the appointment;
  • 1 FTE = full-timeappointment ; 0.5FTE = half-timeappointment
  • Note: Although both Effort and FTE are described as a percentage, an individual’s FTE and effort may not be the same.
  • % VAMC or % UNMCdescribes the faculty member’s effort as it is proportioned among individual professional activities of administration and teaching, clinical and research. Cells within the % VAMC column auto-populate based oninformation referenced in other cells. Total percent effort for each institution must equal 100% whether the appointee is full- or part-time.
  • Total Institutional Effort (TIE): Institutional effort refers to a faculty member’s total effort at one but not bothentities (i.e., VAMC or UNMC). These columns will calculate automatically.
  • Total Professional Effort (TPE): Professional effort refers to a faculty member’s total effort at both the VAMC and UNMC. This column will calculate automatically.

Resources for Determining Commitments

  • VAMC Research Services can provide the committed effort on VAMCresearch awards.
  • VAMC Clinical Servicescan provide the effort for a faculty member’s clinical responsibilities.
  • UNMC Sponsored Programs Administration can provide the committed effort on sponsored projects.
  • University Department or Unit can provide the faculty member’s effort on UNMC responsibilities for the teaching, administration and services component. In addition, they are responsible for tracking changes in committed effort on sponsored projects (i.e., managed effort).

VAMC

  • Enter Eighths for the individual activity categories (i.e., administration/teaching, clinical, research) and the spread sheet will calculate the appropriate percentages.

Total Institutional Effort (TIE) describes VAMCeffort, whether full or part time, as the percentage of Total Professional Effort (TPE) that corresponds to their VAMCresponsibilities.

UNMC

  • Enter % UNMC for the individual activity categories (i.e., administration/teaching, clinical, research) and the spread sheet will calculate the appropriate percentages.

Total Institutional Effort (TIE) describes UNMC effort, whether full or part time, as the percentage of Total Professional Effort (TPE) that corresponds tothe faculty member’s UNMC responsibilities.

Total

  • Total Professional Effort (TPE) will be automatically calculated as the details for VAMC and UNMC are entered.
  • Total Professional Effort describes the combination of UNMC and VAMC effort as 100% of the faculty member’s dual responsibilities.

Section C: Verification

The NIH Policy Statement (12-01-03) requires that MOUs be signed by the appropriate officials of the University and the VAMC. Signatures on the MOU verify that no dual compensation exists for the same work, and that there is no actual or apparent conflict of commitment regarding such work.

Faculty Member: Faculty signatures document their acknowledgement of effort assigned under their dual appointment as well as their responsibility to ensure their MOU is updated at the time of significant change or, at a minimum, not less than annually. The printed name auto-populates from the entry in section A.2.

Department Chair: Department chairs are responsible for maintaining systems that support the generation of MOUs on an annual basis. Department chairs (or their designee) are to ensure MOUs are prepared at the appropriate time for dual appointees (e.g., with a grant transfer at the time of hire, due to significant change, annually). The chair’s signature verifies that the faculty member’s effort described in the MOU accurately estimatesthe available effort for research.

VAMC Institutional Officials: The NIH Policy Statement (12-01-03) requires that the MOU be signed by the appropriate officials of the university and the VAMC.

  • VAMC ACOS/Chief: Select the appropriate service unit from the drop down options.
  • VAMC Chief of Staff and VAMC Institutional Official: The VAMC Chief of Staff and Institutional Official will sign based on the endorsement of the VAMC ACOS/Chief.

UNMC Institutional Official: The Director for Sponsor Programs Administration will sign on behalf of UNMC. As the institution submitting the grant application, this signature on the grant application certifies that the individual whose salary is included in the application serves under a joint appointment documented in a formal MOU between the university and the VAMC, and there is no possibility of dual compensation for the same work or of an actual or apparent conflict of interest.

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Last update July 2, 2007