Department GCCR Policy and Procedure

Updated 5/5/2021

Download the PDF

Grant and Contract Certification (GCCR)

Employees on GCCR Reports

The Grant and Contract Certification Report (GCCR) provides certified documentation that salaries charged to sponsored projects represent a reasonable reflection of the effort provided by non-faculty employees:

• Who do not have a faculty job code;
• Who are paid on a grant or contract;
• Examples: professional staff, research associates, students, visiting scientists, etc.

Employees Not on GCC Reports

• Faculty
  • Report effort on the Faculty Effort Certification (FEC) report

• Postdoctoral Scholar Fellows (object codes 0150)
• Predoctoral trainees (object codes 0190)
  • They are not considered employees of the University.
  • Funding is in the form of stipends and does not reflect compensation for services rendered and therefore does not need to be reported as work on grants.
  • They are receiving a living allowance (stipend) typically to pursue an educational or research objective.

Purpose of GCCR

Because the majority of UW external funding comes from federal sources, the UW applies federal guidelines to all sponsored research.  Federally sponsored research support comes with compliance requirements, a critical component of which is effort reporting.

Federal law requires that the salary charges distributed on the sponsored project must be

• Allowable
• Allocable
• Reasonable

The distribution of salary on the sponsored project must equal actual costs, i.e. the actual effort performed.

Compliance During COVID-19

Site visits are on hold as not all departments have access to files in office.

GCCR Report Department Generators

Biology GCCR Report Generators

• Human Resources Fiscal Specialist 2 (HR FS2)
• Human Resources Manager (HR Manager)
• Director of Finance and Administration (as a back-up in the event that neither the HR FS2 or the HR Manager are able to generate the reports)

UW Review Periods

Departments have 60 days to make any required changes and present the GCCRs to the PI for their review and certification. Email notifications from eFECS happen:

• Two weeks before end of 60-day review; and
• Three days before the certification is due.

Department Review Process

The PI receives the GCCR(s) from the department HR team within 1 week of release for review.

The PI is expected to identify any errors in the GCCRs. By approving the GCCR the PI confirms:

–       Employees are showing correctly;

–       No employee is missing;

–       There are no overpayments or underpayments;

–     The level of effort and compensation for each employee are correct, allowable, allocable, and reasonable.  

If there are errors on the GCCR, the PI should alert the Budget Manager and the HR FS2 so that appropriate salary transfers or other corrections can be processed. The PI should note the corrections on the GCCR, sign, date, and return it to the HR- FS2 prior to the due date. The corrected information should appear on the following quarter’s GCCRs.

Who Can Certify?

It is the responsibility of the PI to certify the GCCR. This responsibility cannot be delegated.

In rare instances, when the PI is not available to certify in a timely manner, the Department Chair or Dean, Division Head or Director (of a department level program) may certify on the PI’s behalf.

Department Finance or HR Directors who function in an administrative capacity may not certify the GCCRs. The person certifying for the PI must have suitable means of verification that the work was performed. This confirmation is normally in the form of an email from the PI and is retained with the GCCR.

Department Escalation Process and Timeline

1. The PI will be given four weeks to review and return the signed and/or edited GCCRs.
2. At two, four, six, and eight weeks the HR Fiscal Specialist 2 or HR Manager will reaches out to PIs with a reminder that GCCRs are due.
3. At 10 weeks, the PI receives a reminder from the HR team, cc’d to the Director of Finance and Administration.
4. At 11 weeks, the PI receives from the Director of Finance and Administration a reminder that failure to return the GCCR timely is a serious audit and compliance issue, can lead to impacts on future awards, and can lead to suspension of access to the PIs budgets. 
5. If still no response at 12 weeks the issue is escalated to the Chair of the Department to address with the PI. Effective immediately, if the PI does not respond to the Chair by submitting the GCCR to the HR FS2, the Chair will sign the GCCR and note that the PI has failed to certify the GCCR. If the PI subsequently returns a signed GCCR both copies will be retained.

Retention Period

Original Certified GCCRS and kept in the department in a central location available for audit. Copies may be kept in other locations. Pandemic-era electronic GCCRs are kept in the shared drive under HR-Payroll > GCCRs, and organized by period.

Biology files and retains GCCRs and any supporting documentation for the time period specified in the UW retention policy, currently 12 years after the end of the fiscal year.

Disposition Method: Shred