October 17, 2025
MRAM Q&A October 2025
Meeting materials are available for your review along with a list of links shared during the session. Q&A from our session are included here for reference and are available in the MRAM announcements.
Within a week or so following every MRAM, an email like this one typically goes out with Q&A from the session and a link to the meeting materials.
- PAFC Hot Topic: Equipment Ownership
- Federal Budget Update
- Foreign Travel Registry
- Other Support Policy & Training
- SAGE Update
- Update your MRAM website bookmarks
PAFC Hot Topic: Equipment Ownership
Q1: How is equipment depreciation tracked in Workday and how is it calculated?
A1: We are looking into this and will provide a response when we know the answer.
Q2: How/what does it look like when sponsor vests full title of equipment to UW? Do they send an official notice?
A2: This can vary by sponsor. Some sponsors will include a term or condition within the Notice of Award vesting full title to the recipient. Other sponsors may vest a “conditional” title and then vest full title after the completion of the award through an official written notice. All federal NOAs must contain a term or condition relating to title of purchased equipment either in the NOA itself or linked to a separate agency resource.
Titles to Federal Award Equipment | Post Award Fiscal Compliance
Q3: Does all capital equip need to be identified in a proposal in order for it to be named in a NOA and have terms surrounding it stated? Is it possible the NOA does not contain those terms?
A3: We strongly recommend that any equipment is identified and itemized within the proposal budget, as many sponsors require prior written approval to purchase equipment with award funds. The description of the equipment should be detailed enough to identify what kind of equipment is needed for the award and how the purchase of the equipment will benefit the objectives.
All federal Notices of Award must contain all applicable terms and conditions relating to the purchase and ownership of equipment, either in the NOA itself, or through a link to additional agency policies, terms and conditions.
Additionally, if the cost of a piece of equipment is split across multiple sponsors and/or funding sources, it is essential to understand the terms and conditions relating to title for each sponsor. UW’s Equipment Inventory Office will set up the equipment with the most restrictive title within Workday. Cost Allocation for Federal Award Equipment | Post Award Fiscal Compliance
Federal Budget Update
Q: Are you aware that some grants managers have been unable to sign into eRA Commons or ASSIST and are unable to reset their password or to access eRA Commons? Is there any work around suggested at this point while eRA service desk is not available?
A: There appears to be a password reset issue that seems to stem from the lack of automated emails from the eRA Commons system. Whether a user tries the “Forgot Password” link or OSP resets the password in the Commons, the reset of the password relies on the user receiving a temporary password via an automated email. Similarly, an automated email with a temporary password is necessary for a new user to log in for the first time. Unfortunately, there is no known workaround at this time. The eRA Commons Help Desk is not operational during the federal government shutdown.
OSP submitted a ticket to the eRA Commons help desk to log this general issue. Unfortunately, we did not receive a confirmation email with a ticket number, so it is unclear whether the ticket went through. Still, we recommend that if you run into these issues with your Commons login, you submit a ticket via the eRA help desk link on the web. Make a note of the day/time you submitted your ticket in case tickets are not going through into a queue.
Users in OSP who had already linked their accounts to Login.gov have been able to log into the Commons. We are still able to manage roles & affiliations and delegate RPPR submission for existing users. We are not receiving confirmation emails, but we can see that those changes have been saved in the system.
Foreign Travel Registry
Q1: Do they need to register each individual trip or only once per destination? i.e. one of my faculty members may make several int’l trips to the same place in the course of a few months related to the same award.
A1: All individual official trips should be registered. Trips are determined by your itinerary parameters and the assumption that a traveler is returning to the US, their home country, or taking time off in between.
For example, a faculty member that travels to Bangkok every month for a week, returning to the US for the other three weeks of the month, they would need to register each of those trips separately.
Conversely, if a faculty member is traveling to Nairobi for a meeting with research partners and then immediately flying to Geneva to present at a conference, that should be registered under the same trip with multiple destinations.
The individual trips are not defined by the parameters of an award or grant but based on the specific “round-trip” itinerary dates.
Q2: Are student employees still required to pay $25 for the international insurance coverage when they register international travel?
A2: Yes. Students, even if they are traveling as part of their employment, will have a $25 insurance fee charged to their student account as part of their registration. This applies to all student registrations under TRIP (Travel Registration Insurance Purchase), which is designed for short-term travel for things like conferences or symposiums.
This fee does not apply to faculty, staff, or academic personnel. It does not apply to non-matriculated students. It also does not apply to UW medical residents. These individuals should register as faculty/staff.
Student status overrides employment status with international travel registration.
If students are traveling for a longer period of time related to Fieldwork, Research, and Independent Learning Abroad – FRILA, they will need to register with the UW Study Abroad Office and will have additional costs related to their application and insurance.
Q3: I have a faculty who has had to travel internationally to take care of his ailing parents for the entirety of Autumn quarter. He was approved for paid sick leave/FMLA during this time. Is he required to register?
A3: If the primary purpose of travel is personal then the travel does not need to be registered. However, if a traveler knows that as part of their personal travel they will be working as part of their faculty/staff appointment for a predetermined period then just those dates can be registered. Working abroad for more than thirty days, that is working internationally while receiving UW payroll funds, including for personal reasons, falls into a different category than just travel registration. Temporary remote work abroad for periods exceeding 30 days require additional review.
Q4: When the 1460 form is submitted and references foreign travel, are they told about being a covered individual and reporting requirements?
A4: Form 1460 does not include a question about international travel, so this guidance is not given as a matter of course. However, to the extent it is apparent to the Outside Work Compliance team that the proposed activity involves international travel, the team will include an approval condition indicating that the person may be required to register the international travel associated with the activity. It is then up to the faculty member to understand whether they are a Covered Individual, thereby triggering a requirement to register.
Q5: The funding source doesn’t matter then? i.e. if a faculty member travels to an international conference but is funding the travel out of their own pocket, they’d still have to register the international travel?
A5: Yes, this travel would need to be registered unless it is for non-official business by someone who is not a Covered Individual.
Q6: Could you please provide more details about travel including personal time during UW business travel?
A6: Personal travel does not need to be registered unless the traveler is a Covered Individual, in which case certain types of personal travel will need to be registered.
The definition of covered individual varies depending on the federal agency. Generally, however, it is: An individual who (A) contributes in a substantive, meaningful way to the scientific development or execution of an R&D project proposed to be carried out with an…award from a Federal research agency; and (B) is designated as a covered individual by the Federal research agency concerned.”
Note that personal travel is not covered under UW global insurance.
Q7: If the costs of travel are paid by another party for conference, do they report?
A7: Yes, this travel would need to be registered unless it is for non-official business by someone who is not a Covered Individual.
Q8: What are the consequences of not registering?
A8: It is up to each unit or department to determine any individual consequences for not registering. Your individual unit manages your requests and approvals process and may withhold travel reimbursements without proof of confirmation of registration.
There are also possible institutional consequences for not registering travel, particularly for covered individuals or longer-term travel that poses tax, export control, or cybersecurity risks and regulations.
For retroactive travel, if the travel dates have already passed, the travel does not need to be registered.
Q9: Re: $25 fee for student employees registering international travel. Are units expected or permitted to reimburse that fee? In particular, using grant funds?
A9: The UW Travel Office determines what is considered a reimbursable travel expense. In the case of specifically UW Student Abroad Insurance, it is required under the Official International Student Travel policy and therefore reimbursable.
The fee is an allowable cost since it’s a standard University fee that is charged to everyone, regardless of the source of funding. If grant funds have been designated for incidental expenses related to international travel then insurance should fall within that. However, a unit should defer to the grant administrator for specific guidance.
UW Global Travel Health and Safety would like to emphasize that the $25 fee is not an administrative fee but rather the student traveler’s insurance premium.
Other Support Policy & Training
Q1: How can staff check if key personnel has taken the Other support training? Will the ASR be updated so that it checks FIDS for key personnel meeting this new training?
A1: There are two ways to check completion of the FCOI and Other Support Training:
- Per eGC1, on the PI, Personnel & Organizations page, under the personnel listings, check that each individual with the Role of Investigator has completed the training on or after 10/9. This is accomplished by subtracting four years from the “expiration” date.
- Completion records in MyResearch Training Transcript (MRTT) may also be used to verify.
Q2: Does this training requirement apply to non-NIH funding sources?
A2: The Other Support training requirement is unique to NIH at this time (direct NIH and NIH flow-through funding).
Q3: Can you confirm that Other support training or the new FCOI training is not required at proposal stage? For example, if a proposal is due mid October, no one needs to retake the FCOI training. This is required at JIT?
A3: The UW’s policy is that the FCOI and Other Support Training does not need to be taken by the proposal stage. It should be taken as soon as possible and we are recommending by JIT stage and if senior/key personnel added to the project, they take by RPPR stage. OSP is verifying that it is taken by all senior/key personnel by the award stage. FCOI training requirements remain the same (by award stage and every four years).
Q4: Will the Other Support for NIH migrate to an online platform (like NCBI or PubMed)?
A4: Per NIH, NIH’s adoption of the Common Form for Current and Pending (Other) Support originally scheduled for May 25, 2025 is postponed. Continue to use the NIH-specific format page until further notice.
Q5: Please confirm that subs are responsible for confirming their people have done the training?
A5: Subrecipients are responsible for complying with NOT-OD-25-133. As is true for many areas, we rely on the subrecipient’s Letter of Intent (LOI) to confirm their people have completed the training. We also include terms and conditions regarding compliance with prime sponsor policies in outgoing subawards.
SAGE Update
Q1: Sage to seem be slower and slower every day, is there any fix to this issue? it keeps freezing, asking to refresh, and does not retain the information entered in Sage budget-so it is adding an enormous amount of time to building budgets and we have to recheck the information to make sure that entries are correctly saved and reflected on our final numbers.
A1: The new “Manual Budget Calculation” feature should help improve performance across SAGE Budget when turned on. Please give it a try and provide feedback on whether the feature successfully improves performance for you.
Q2: Does this SAGE budget resolve the rounding between SAGE budget and the auto population in the grant runner budget form (and discrepancies between SAGE Budget and ASSIST budgets)?
A2: This update does not resolve the rounding discrepancies between SAGE Budget and Grant Runner. We hope to address the rounding issue in either Q2 or Q3, pending prioritization.
Q3: How does it [the manual budget calculation setting] impact multiple users going into a budget?
A3: The manual budget calculation feature is either ON or OFF for the entire budget, no matter which user is in the budget. This means that if one user toggles the manual calculation setting on, any other users who view or edit the worksheet will also see the manual calculation feature as active. Similarly, turning off the feature on a budget also turns it off for all users.
Q4: Is there a longer-term plan to make the automatic calculating run faster? Or is that impossible?
A4: We are going to see if this new “Manual Budget Calculation” feature can address most issue for awhile, so that we can pivot to other planned priorities in the coming year. User feedback will inform the outcome here.
Q5: Where is that SAGE Health & Status page linked from?
A5: The SAGE Health & Status page is currently linked from the SAGE login page in the right-hand sidebar under the “Get Help” header.
Q6: Is there a plan to make it so that clicking on a MOD or ASR automatically opens in a new tab?
A6: This work is in the SAGE Team’s backlog but is not currently prioritized for release in the near future. Users can, however, open items in a new tab by “right-clicking” on the ASR or MOD link and choosing “Open In a New Tab“.
Update your MRAM website bookmarks!
On 10/15, our MRAM website moved. Please update your bookmarks:
The link to join our monthly meeting remains the same. Viewing the meeting material now requires UW Net ID to access.
Questions? email MRAMques@uw.edu