Table of Contents

• Overview
• Funding Agency Requirements
• Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
  • MOUs are required for NIH applications that involve VA appointed personnel.
  • How to Route and Process the MOU
• Workday Information
• Research Management System (RMS)
• Grant Application Requirements
• Calculation Guidance

Overview

What is a VA Investigator?

A VA Investigator is a faculty member of WashU who also has an appointment at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA).

Why does WashU support collaborations with the VA?

To help serve Veterans by supporting VA research and education to improve the quality of care that Veterans receive.

WashU Physicians holding joint appointments with the John Cochran VA support our mission of providing the highest level of clinical care within the St. Louis community.

Faculty Appointment Time and Effort

For a full time faculty member who has a joint appointment with the VA, each of their appointments is less than full-time, but their overall Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) equals 1.0.

Their time can be divided between WashU and the VA, and may be comprised of following types of activities:

• Clinical
• Teaching
• Research
• Admin/Service

VA time is tracked by “eighths” (i.e. 8ths, 1/8s)

• Each eighth = 5 hours at the VA
• VA employees are on a 40 hour work week.

WashU time is typically based total professional effort (TPE).

• e.g. % of effort, or Calendar Months (CM)

Funding Agency Requirements

All Agencies

Always refer to agency-specific and/or Federal policies and guidelines for how to handle grant applications and awards for VA Investigators.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Guidance

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A MOU is needed prior to a NIH application being submitted.

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Excerpts from NIH Grants Policy Statement

A VA investigator is in charge of a research project or program. The PI must hold a current paid VA appointment with a set tour of duty (i.e., not an intermittent VA employee, WOC employee, fee-basis physician, or contracted employee).

The PI oversees scientific and technical aspects of a grant or protocol and the day-to-day management of the research.

Investigators with joint appointments at a VAMC (VA hospital) and an affiliated university must have a valid MOU that specifies (at both the university and the VAMC) the title of the investigator’s appointment, distribution of compensation, the responsibilities of the proposed investigator, and the percentage of effort available for research at each institution.

The MOU must be signed by the appropriate officials of the recipient and the VAMC, and must be updated with each significant change and, without a significant change, not less than annually.

The joint VA/university appointment of the investigator constitutes 100 percent of their total professional responsibilities. However, NIH will recognize such a joint appointment only when a university and an affiliated VA hospital are the parties involved.

A grant application from a university may request the university’s share of an investigator’s salary in proportion to the effort devoted to the research project. The institutional base salary as contained in the individual’s university appointment determines the base for computing that request.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

A MOU is a document that reflects the VA/WashU joint appointment, and that there is no dual compensation for the same work activities and no actual or apparent conflict of interest regarding the joint appointment.

An MOU is required for all NIH applications with VA personnel.

Tips for DAs when working on MOU with investigators

• Talk to your VA investigators at your next meeting. Let them know about the requirement to have an MOU (particularly for NIH grant submissions), to disclose in Other Support and Biosketch, to include in budget justification, and the budget implications.
• Make it part of your intake process to find out if someone has a VA appointment.
• To get started, work through the Schedule tab with the PI and talk through as needed.
• Ask the PI to let you know if anything changes on the VA side – either their eighths or their VA research funding or time. If it does change, update MOU, even if it has not been a year since one was signed.
• Have on agenda for quarterly reviews
• Provide a list of things that need review and may need to be updated since the last MOU
  • Is VA time changing?
  • Is WashU time changing?
    • New grants?
    • Changes to clinic time?
• Update MOU and get new signatures at least once a year.
• Check Workday Payroll Cost Allocation (PCA) and FTE
  • PCA: Is the % on NIH grants correct?
  • FTE: Are the WashU and VA FTEs correct in Workday? See “VA Appointments with No MOU – Updating FTE” below.

How to Route & Process the MOU

1. WashU DA/PI completes the MOU
2. DA emails MOU and background documentation/Excel to OSRS for review
3. OSRS reviews and provides feedback and/or approval to route for signatures
4. DA routes MOU only (not background documentation/Excel) for signatures of:
   • PI
   • WashU Department Chair
   • WashU Vice Chancellor for Research (OSRS)
   • VA (send to Todd Kliche for routing at todd.kliche@va.gov)
     • These signatures should be obtained in order. DocuSign can be used for WashU signatures (PI, Chair, OSRS), but not for VA. Email the partially signed document to Todd Kliche for VA signatures.
5. DA to send fully signed MOU to OSRS.

Frequency of the MOU

MOUs must be revised (as needed), processed, and signed:

• Annually

– or –

• More frequently if there have been significant changes on the VA side:
  • Changes to the eighths at the VA
  • If PI’s VA research funding changes
• Changes on the WashU side do not require a revised MOU.

Workday Information

When you go through the MOU you may find that the FTE at WashU needs to change.

In Workday WU and VA FTEs should total 1.0.

• In Workday, WU FTE should match the MOU.
• FTE assigned to VA should represent the remainder so that the total is 1.0.
• In Workday, VA FTE will likely not match the MOU.

Changing FTE in Workday is not typically a function of the Grant Specialist.

Grant Specialist needs to communicate this change to your HR partner.

See the VA Appointments slides (from the RAAD presentation on 9.18.2023) with more detailed information and screenshots from Workday.

Payroll Cost Allocations (PCAs)

Verify or update the PCA in Workday based on the MOU.

The committed and reported effort on a grant is calculated by taking the WashU FTE x the WashU effort on the grant. You may need to update the payroll costing allocation percentages on grants in Workday to adjust for the updated FTE.

For example, if the PI has committed 10% to an NIH grant and she has a WashU FTE of 0.75, her PCA for that grant should be 13.333%.

WashU FTE x WashU effort = Total Effort on grant
0.75 x 13.333% = 10%

Effort Certification

Effort Certification is of 100% of a person’s WashU time. It adds up to 100%, regardless of whether the WashU FTE is 1.0 or lower. From the example in the PCA section above, the PI’s effort certification will show 13.3% for this grant.

VA appointments with No MOU – Updating FTE in Workday

Some faculty with VA appointments do not have effort on pending or active NIH grants, and therefore would not typically have an MOU. It is important for their FTE to also be calculated and updated in Workday. The MOU worksheet can be used as a tool to calculate the FTE in these cases, but would not need to be routed for signature.

After calculating hours and FTE in the MOU worksheet, the WashU FTE should be entered into Workday for the WashU appointment. The difference should be assigned to the VA appointment, so the total between WashU and VA is equal to 1.0 FTE. Note, in Workday the WashU FTE will match the MOU, but the VA FTE will not.

An accurate FTE is particularly important for faculty with clinical effort. It is used to calculate RVUs and clinical productivity.

Research Management System (RMS)

WU Setup Questions tab:

Select on-campus if work will be conducted in WashU space.

• The on-campus F&A rate should be used for the portion of the work that will be conducted in WashU space.

Select off-campus if work will be conducted in VA space. (Very rare!)

• The off-campus F&A rate should be used for the portion of the work that will be conducted in VA space.

Select Both, if work will be conducted in both WashU and VA space. (Very rare!)

• The on-campus F&A rate should be used for the portion of the work that will be conducted in WashU space.
• The off-campus F&A rate should be used for the portion of the work that will be conducted in VA space.
• Note: you will need to use Sub Projects in the Budget tab if the project will be conducted in both WashU and VA space.

Budget tab

A VA Investigator’s WashU FTE is less than 1.0.

Only the WashU FTE pulls into RMS from Workday.

DAs will need to convert the WashU FTE to full time (e.g. annualize the salary) in RMS.

• You need to annualize the salary in RMS to make sure the effort/FTE and fringes calculate correctly.

How to modify FTE that is less than 1.0.

• See RMS User Guide Page 82, section C “Personnel: Budget Detail – Appointments”
  • The base salary is pulled from Workday. RMS does not use FTE to calculate the base salary. You may need to change the base salary to reflect a different FTE from what is pulled in HRMS (currently Workday).

If both WashU and VA effort is devoted to the project, list effort in two separate entries. (Very rare!)

NIH RMS records will automatically calculate the NIH Salary Cap when applicable.

See the VA Appointments slides (from the RAAD presentation on 9.18.2023) with more detailed information and screenshots from RMS.

Personnel tab

The Personnel Tab indicates when someone has a VA appointment.

PD > Personnel tab > Certifications and Training link will open a table.

Performance Sites

Enter a performance site for each site where work will be performed.

• WashU?
• VA? (Very rare!)
• Both? (Very rare!)
• More?

WU Comments tab:

OSRS requests that the DA put a comment in the WU Comments tab regarding VA status, and salary and effort calculations.

Document any additional information that OSRS may need to review the proposal record.

Grant Application Requirements

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Guidance

Excerpts from NIH SF424

Special Instructions for Joint University and Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.) Appointments: Individuals with joint university and V.A. appointments may request the university’s share of their salary in proportion to the effort devoted to the research project.

The individual’s salary with the university determines the base for computing that request.

The signature by the institutional official on the application certifies that:

1. the individual is applying as part of a joint appointment specified by a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the university and the V.A.; and
2. there is no possibility of dual compensation for the same work, or of an actual or apparent conflict of interest regarding such work. Additional information may be requested by the awarding components.

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MOU is needed prior to NIH application being submitted.

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All Agencies

Always refer to agency-specific and/or Federal policies and agency guidelines for special requirements for applications submitted by VA Investigators.

If there are not agency specific guidelines, regarding VA Investigators, follow the guidance below.

Biosketches

Disclose VA Appointment

Other Support / Current and Pending Support

Include VA funding/grants

Disclose VA Appointment

Performance Sites

Performance Sites should describe all locations where work will be performed.

• WashU?
• VA? (Very rare!)
• Both? (Very rare!)
• More?

Budget

You may request WashU salary only.

You can request VA effort, but VA salary may not be requested. (Very rare!)

If both WashU and VA effort is devoted to the project, list effort in two separate lines.

• NIH guidance for calculating person months.

Budget Justification

• Detail information regarding the WashU and VA appointments.
• State whether the effort devoted on the project is WashU and VA effort.
  • If the effort proposed on the grant is VA effort (only or in part), then OSRS needs a letter from the VA to certify the approval of the use of WashU space on a grant for which the PI’s effort and salary is from the VA. (Very rare!)
  • If VA effort, then no salary can be requested from the grant, but the grant can be at WashU if WashU facilities are needed for the project (vs.VA facilities)

Budget Justification Sample Language

Sample 1*: This sample can be used when effort is based on 10% of their WashU appointment.

Ashley Smith, PhD, Principal Investigator, (0.9 CM or 7.5% effort) has significant investigational experience in <topic of proposal>. She has also collaborated with Dr. Smith for approximately 10 years. She will supervise personnel, design experiments, oversee all data analysis and manuscript preparation related to Aims 2 and 3. Her time is split 75% WashU and 25% VA. Dr. Smith is committing 10% of her WashU appointment to this project. The effort on this project is based on her WashU appointment which is 10% of a 75% appointment. This is equal to 7.5% (or .9 CM) of their total professional effort (i.e. of a 100% appointment). 

Sample 2*: This sample can be used when effort is based on 10% of their Total Professional Effort (TPE).

Ashley Smith, PhD, Principal Investigator, (1.2 CM or 10% effort) has significant investigational experience in <topic of proposal>. She has also collaborated with Dr. Smith for approximately 10 years. She will supervise personnel, design experiments, oversee all data analysis and manuscript preparation related to Aims 2 and 3. Her time is split 75% WashU and 25% VA. Dr. Smith is committing 10% of her total professional effort to this project. The effort on this project is based on her WashU appointment which is 13.3% of a 75% appointment. This is equal to 10% (or 1.2 CM) of their total professional effort (i.e. of a 100% appointment).

*Update samples as needed based on the specific proposal.

Calculation Guidance

Effort Clarification for RMS/Budget

Confirm with your PI what the effort will be, exactly.

• When you say 10%, is that 10% of their WashU FTE? Or is it 10% of their TPE?
• Example: PI is 75% WashU and 25% VA.
  • 10% of WashU FTE would be 7.5% of total professional effort (10% x 75) (Effort times WashU FTE)
  • 10% of total professional effort would be 13.3% of WashU FTE (10/75) (Effort divided by WashU FTE)
• If there is a minimum effort required, that is based on TPE.
  • For example, if the PI must have 10% effort and they are 75% WashU / 25% VA, they will need to commit 13.3% of their WashU time to get to 10%/1.2CM of their TPE.

NIH RPPRs – Participants/All Personnel Report

Report their WashU FTE x their WashU effort on the grant.

Example:

• WashU FTE is 0.75
• Effort on a grant is 10% (Pro Forma, PCAs, Effort Certification)
• The calendar months on the RPPR should be 0.9 CM
• Calculations:
  • WashU FTE x WashU effort = X% (0.75 x 10% = 7.5%)X% x 12 months = Y.Y CM (7.5% x 12 months = 0.9 CM)

How to Annualize the Salary

You need to annualize the salary and effort in RMS so that effort/FTE and fringes calculate correctly.

This is why it is important to have an accurate WashU FTE on the MOU and in Workday.

Use the Annualized Salary in RMS

The examples below show the salary will be the same, but you need to use the annualized salary in RMS for the correct effort/FTE and fringe calculations.

Download the VA Appointments slides from the RAAD presentation on 9.18.2023.