Grants and contracts provide approximately 90% of the funds for CIBMTR activities that improve HCT outcomes and quality of life for HCT recipients. This chapter describes the processes for handling federal funding. See Chapter 17 for information about non-federal funding.
The CIBMTR facilitates all day-to-day management of financial, personnel, and operational activities for its research activities. In addition to the CIBMTR Business Office, MCW provides oversight of grants and contracts at the Milwaukee Campus and NMDP/Be The Match Office of General Counsel, Contracts and Procurement provides oversight of grants and contracts at the Minneapolis office.
Budget approval for the CIBMTR rests with the Joint Affiliation Board (Chapter 2), but systems to create and administer that budget must also address the procedures and processes of the two host institutions: MCW in Milwaukee and the NMDP/Be The Match in Minneapolis. In some cases, this creates a higher level of complexity when creating budgets and expenditure reports for various entities that require an accounting, including granting organizations. This section describes how the CIBMTR manages these finances.
The CIBMTR receives funding from a wide variety of sources. The primary sources are Federal grants and contracts that are awarded to both MCW and NMDP/Be The Match. Additional sources include corporate contracts, corporate and individual gifts, service agreements, endowments, meeting revenue, and institutional support.
Because all Federal grants or contracts must be received by a legal entity, CIBMTR leadership determines which entity (MCW or NMDP/Be The Match) will apply for each funding
opportunity. This decision is based on several factors, including relevance to the core business, likelihood of receiving the award, and availability of appropriate leadership and project
personnel. The awarded organization is the “Prime Contractor” and the other organization is the “Subcontractor.”
If MCW is the Prime Contractor, all proposals and funds are received under the umbrella of MCW on behalf of the CIBMTR and must be managed within MCW’s financial
guidelines. CIBMTR staff members assigned to the contract are responsible for the contract deliverables.
If NMDP/Be The Match is the Prime Contractor, all proposals and funds are received by NMDP/Be The Match. NMDP/Be The Match Contracts and Procurement Department staff are responsible for contract deliverables. Three-week and six-week notices are issued to the responsible parties, and all submissions are given to the NMDP/Be The Match Contracts Representative for submission.
18.1 BI-CAMPUS MANAGEMENT 18.1.1 Milwaukee Campus – MCW
MCW is a private, not-for-profit, academic institution dedicated to leadership and excellence in education, research, patient care, and service. MCW is a nationally recognized research center,
CIBMTR Manual of Operations Chapter 18: Finance Management – Federal Funding
the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metropolitan area, and the second largest in Wisconsin. The CIBMTR is an academic division of the MCW Department of Medicine.
Financial management for CIBMTR Milwaukee is shared between the Department of Medicine and the CIBMTR. The MCW Department of Medicine also provides administrative support if needed to the CIBMTR for grants and accounts management, and it collaborates on the annual budgeting process.
The MCW Office of Grants and Contracts provides pre-award services including information regarding budget preparation, the proposal submission process, and federal policies and procedures relating to grant / contract applications. It assists in contract preparation and negotiation, reviews agency budgets prior to submission of grants for processing, and accepts subcontracts from and issues subcontracts to collaborating institutions. It also serves as a liaison between granting agencies and MCW faculty.
The MCW Office of Sponsored Programs provides post-award services to include financial oversight of projects supported by internal and external funding sources. The terms specified by the sponsor determine the level of restriction placed on the sponsored project. Grants and contracts funded on a cost-reimbursement basis are assigned a unique project number to segregate financial data in the grant accounting system. For each project, the system tracks a budget, revenue, expenditures, open commitments, and the budget balance. Reports on each project are generated monthly and sent to the PI’s department. These reports include overall account status, transaction details, open commitment details, and a labor distribution listing. The MCW Office of Sponsored Programs also generates monthly or quarterly invoices, periodic Financial Status Reports, and any other financial reports required by the sponsoring agency.
18.1.2 Minneapolis Campus – NMDP/Be The Match
The NMDP/Be The Match was established in 1986 to create and maintain a registry of volunteer donors who would consider donating hematopoietic stem cells for a patient in need of a stem cell transplant. NMDP/Be The Match is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. Responsibility for financial and contractual management at NMDP/Be The Match resides with the Chief Financial Officer.
The NMDP/Be The Match Government Accounting (Finance) Department prepares and reconciles budgets, tracks actual costs incurred, and prepares invoices.
The NMDP/Be The Match Contracts and Procurement Department submits and negotiates proposals, negotiates budgets, establishes terms and conditions of contracts to ensure compliance with government and CIBMTR requirements, working within the NMDP/Be The Match Office of General Counsel to ensure compliance, and also works with NMDP/Be The Match Finance to maximize budgets and revenue.
18.1.3 Financial Relationship between MCW and NMDP/Be The Match
In 2004, a formal affiliation agreement was established between MCW and NMDP/Be The Match to create the CIBMTR (Chapter 1). The organizations collaborate on a variety of awards and service agreements to provide and share resources such as staff support, patient care costs, travel funds, and other expenses.
The CIBMTR Business Office and NMDP/Be The Match Finance Department together manage the organization’s finances and prepare various reports for CIBMTR leadership at each
respective institution, as well as research partners and federal agencies, to aid in strategic planning.
The Joint Affiliation Board has final approval on all budget items. Voting members of the Board include the NMDP/Be The Match Chief Executive Officer, NMDP/Be The Match Chief Financial Officer, MCW Senior Associate Dean for Research, and a Controller from the MCW Office of Finance and Administration.
18.2 PROJECT BUDGETS
Contract, grant, and study budgets are prepared by the CIBMTR Business Office or NMDP/Be The Match Finance (as appropriate). Tasks include:
Preparing the Budget: Preliminary and final budgets are prepared in cooperation with the
Project Director and any other relevant personnel.
Determining Labor Costs: Similar past projects are reviewed for applicable actual costs.
Standard or approved Federal labor rates are applied, as applicable.
Assessing Travel and Meeting Expenses: Travel expenses, which can comprise a substantial
part of a project budget, are carefully estimated. Working, Advisory, and Executive Committee Chair travel stipends, as well as operational staff travel expenses, affect these travel costs.
Estimating Other Direct Costs: CIBMTR Business Office staff work with MCW or NMDP/Be
The Match Contracts and Purchasing to obtain cost estimates or bids from external product and service providers.
Determining Government or Institutional-approved Fringe and Indirect Rates: These rates
are used for all project budgets, unless otherwise directed by management or the granting agency.
Proposed budgets must be approved by MCW or NMDP/Be The Match. Proposals are
negotiated by the respective institution, supported by the scientific personnel and NMDP/Be The Match Finance or MCW Business Office. MCW budget proposals are submitted by the CIBMTR Business Office to the Grants and Contracts Office via the online eBridge system. This site allows the MCW faculty and research staff to submit, track, report, and archive applications involving funding proposals, as well as human subject and animal research conducted at MCW. All proposal approvals, budgets, and awards are managed through this system, including sub- awards issued and received. Upon award, the MCW Office of Sponsored Programs or NMDP/Be The Match Finance assigns unique general ledger account numbers to track expenses and billing. Fee schedules for projects such as the SCTOD (Chapter 10) are prepared by NMDP/Be The Match Finance in collaboration with the applicable CIBMTR personnel.
18.3 INVOICING AND CONTRACT MANAGEMENT
NMDP/Be The Match and MCW invoices are prepared based on actual costs incurred and / or projections of costs (if advance invoicing is allowed) and upon the terms of the grant or contract. Invoices are issued to the appropriate agency, and NMDP/Be The Match Finance or MCW Office of Sponsored Programs tracks to ensure prompt payment. NMDP/Be The Match and MCW CIBMTR also internally track payments processed by detailed category to provide
CIBMTR Manual of Operations Chapter 18: Finance Management – Federal Funding
CIBMTR leadership with timely reporting of costs incurred as well as ongoing projections for the entire grant / contract period.
Any revisions or amendments to contracts are approved by CIBMTR leadership and processed with respective institutional approvals. All contracts are closed out in accordance with the terms in the contract and the relevant government regulations.