Award Administration

Award Finalization

Award Finalization Deadline

Institutions must provide CFI with award finalization documents within nine months of CFI's notice of decision.

A finalized budget must be submitted to research services for review and submission to CFI. Your Research Administrative Services CFI contact will review all quotes, revised budgets, and justifications for submission to CFI. Please note that the revised budget must be approved by the CFI prior to the release of funds.

The final stages after submission of the award finalization documents are as follows:

• Award Agreement: Once all award finalization documentation has been submitted to CFI they will review and if found satisfactory, will provide an award agreement for sign-off. This can take approximately 6-8 weeks from the submission of the finalization documentation.

• Release of Funding: CFI releases funding to the recipient institution once the award agreement has been signed and returned to CFI.

When there is a construction or renovation component in the budget, all equipment funding will be held back until the construction or renovation component that will house this equipment is completed.

Construction or Renovation Deadline

CFI expects institutions to start the construction or renovation component of a funded project within 18 months of the CFI notice of the decision. 

The following steps must be completed to receive the funding:

1. All conditions attached to the Notice of Decision (if applicable) must be met.
2. All partner funding contributions must be secured. Partner funding is considered secure when it is received as cash or committed in writing from the eligible matching partner (speed code must be provided for confirmation).
3. Updated cost estimates (quotes) AND a timeline for acquisition for infrastructure purchases must be obtained. Upon Notice of Decision from the CFI, updated budget figures are required.
   • Contact Supply Management Services (SMS) to solicit new quotes for items over $75,000. There are no exceptions. The University of Alberta Policies and Procedures Online (UAPPOL) Competitive Bid Procedure (PDF) provides details about threshold dollar amounts.
4. The Project Management Office (Facilities and Operations) must be contacted if your project has construction or renovation costs included in the budget. The CFI requires updated construction/renovation costing and timelines for completion. Please contact the PMO at 492-5525 to obtain this information.

Post-Award Management

FI funds are awarded to institutions and therefore it is the University of Alberta's responsibility to ensure the timely implementation of all CFI-funded projects and to ensure the infrastructure is operated and maintained over its useful life. CFI projects must be managed in a way that complies with CFI guidelines which are outlined in CFI's Policy and Program Guide. 

Once a CFI award has been approved, Research Services will work with the project leaders to help them with purchasing eligible infrastructure for their project.

Purchasing Infrastructure

Purchasing of infrastructure is often done in SupplyNet (PDF) and these purchases must be approved by the appropriate person. The approval chain (PDF) on a purchase is determined by the Purchase Requisition amount.

Purchasing Scenarios (PDF)

If you pre-purchase infrastructure, use a P-card (credit card), or use an Expenses Reimbursement Form, your assigned Finance Analyst (FA) will work with you to assess eligibility and the transfer of these expenses to CFI projects.

There are multiple steps a purchase goes through and therefore some documentation requirements. The documentation required for each purchase includes:

Quote (PDF) - Uploaded by PI

You will have obtained a quote during the application stage of your project, however; you will be required to request an updated quote from the vendor as the prior quote may have expired.

It is important to ensure that the quote clearly identifies the following:

• List Price (price before any normal and/or educational discounts are applied
• Discounts
  • IMPORTANT: Any discounts applied should be clearly identified as a normal discount, educational discount, and CFI discount/contribution
• Net Selling Price (the final cost before taxes)

Once the quote has been received and verified that all prices and discounts are clearly stated, create a purchase requisition in SupplyNet and attach your quote.

Purchase Requisition (PR) (PDF) - Initiated by PI

As described in the purchasing scenarios above, the PR amount will automatically generate the approval chain.

For successful purchase requisition approval:

• Attach CFI quote
• Add internal reference comments using the following format: "PL's name, CFI #, and line item #" (e.g. CFI 12345 Smith LI# 2)
  • IMPORTANT: Your purchase requisition may be rejected if these details are not included in the internal reference field. This information is required for RAS reporting purposes.
• Select the appropriate "Commodity"
• If shipping is included on the quote, add it as a separate line in SupplyNet. If the shipping cost is not included, do not add shipping estimates
• The final price on the PR should not include taxes.
• Extended warranties can be purchased concurrently with the associated infrastructure or purchased through your IOF after your application is approved. If you do not wish to purchase an extended warranty, note this in the "comments" section in SupplyNet.
• RAS will review the PR and confirm the following details: correct speed codes and account codes, percentage breakdown of speed codes, item descriptions and quantities, as well as price and currency.
  • IMPORTANT: If your project requires matching funds as per your budget, please ensure to include these matching funds on your first CFI infrastructure purchase. Your purchase requisition may be rejected if matching funds are not included.

Competitive Bid (if applicable) - Led by Supply Management Services (SMS)

The University of Alberta must competitively bid and advertise purchases greater than:

• Goods and services $75,000 CDN and above, and
• Construction services $200,000 CDN and above.

This process may vary depending on the requirements, dollar value or complexity of the proposed purchase.

The two most common competitive bid processes are:

• Request for Bid
• Request for Proposal

Contact SMS to discuss procurement strategy and timelines at procure@ualberta.ca.

In-Kind Evaluation (PDF) - Completed by Research Services

CFI allows in-kind support from vendors if they wish to provide this as a contribution towards the CFI project. This contribution comes to the project not only as a discount but also contributes towards the matching funds. 

Vendors are not required to offer normal or educational discounts.

IMPORTANT: You may ask for an in-kind contribution from suppliers but should not ask for a specific amount or percentage. 

For information on how to communicate with vendors about in-kind contributions to ensure the validity of them, please reference this CFI document (PDF).

All In-kind received from vendors, regardless of the amount, will need to be validated by Research Services. An eligible in-kind contribution is a non-monetary resource, provided by the vendor that may include the full or partial value of an item (i.e. a discount or free item/service) that is needed to bring the infrastructure into service.

In-kind can be calculated by the fair market value of an item minus the net selling price (final cost before taxes). The fair market value is the price after normal and/or educational discounts. 

Further details on how RAS determines the Fair Market Value (PDF).

Purchase Order (PO) - Issued by SMS

Once the purchase requisition has been approved by all members in the approval chain, a purchase order is generated. At this time, the vendor is notified of the purchase.

Packing Slip (retain for auditing) - PI responsibility

A packing slip will be provided with your purchase when it arrives at UAlberta. Research Services does not require a copy of the packing slip but we recommend you retain it with your records for auditing purposes.

Receiving and Invoicing (PDF) - Completed by PI and SMS

Online Receiving (3 Way Match) has been implemented in SupplyNet. Requesters are now required to receive goods and services online before an invoice can be approved for payment (3-way match = PO to Receipt to Invoice). Most invoices keyed or entered into the system will have to be received in SupplyNet prior to payment.

IMPORTANT: Equipment must be received, installed and in good working order before the item is marked received in SupplyNet and before the invoice is approved for payment. For items under $25,000, the invoice will automatically be paid once the item is marked as received.

For detailed instructions on how to receive in SupplyNet, refer to the Online Receiving User Guide (Doc).

Expense Monitoring

Expenses for CFI projects are monitored and reviewed quarterly for eligibility by the FA's to ensure compliance with the CFI Policy and Program Guide (PDF). Project leaders will be asked to identify any missing CFI line numbers for their expenses and to transfer out any ineligible expenses. 

More information on Expenditure Monitoring (PDF).

Reporting

Each year the university must submit a final financial report to the CFI for all projects by June 15. Your FA will contact you if clarification on line items is necessary and it is important to reply back to them within 5 business days. 

The FA will also work with you on forecasting your budget for the upcoming year and confirm other details for your project (i.e. if significant changes occurred and if the location of CFI purchased infrastructure remains the same).

More information on Reporting (PDF).

Acknowledgment of Sponsors

CFI and Government of Alberta expect institutions, communications staff and project leaders to acknowledge the support given by both sponsors to the project in all public communications activities that are associated with funded projects, including publications, presentations, media relations activities, op-eds, and facility or lab openings.