We are pleased to announce new enhancements to the EPEX system, which will take effect December 16, 2013. These enhancements have been made to streamline routing of proposals originating in RAS units. It also will clarify deadline dates and capture additional information on international activities for all proposals.
- Streamlining Proposal Review / Selective School Review: As part of the Transform Research Administration project and the Research Administration Services (RAS) initiative, RAS, BPI, and School leaders have worked together to implement EPEX changes to streamline proposal routing:
- For proposals originating within RAS units, School offices will only review proposals when their review is necessary.
- EPEX questions will be changed to trigger when routing to School/Unit must occur. School/Unit approval will not be required unless one or more of the following criteria are met:
- Cost shares paid by School/Unit
- F&A waivers required
- New space or renovation funded by School/Unit
- Collaborative splits that cross Schools/Units
- VA involvement
- Course release required
- If necessary, proposal can be routed back to the RAS unit for final review.
- Only proposals originating from a RAS unit will follow these new routing rules. All other proposals will follow the current EPEX routing workflow
2. Change to Deadline Field
The deadline area of EPEX has also been updated. The option to select either a “Receipt Date” or “Postmark Date” has been removed. The deadline to be used is either the Electronic Submission Date or the Paper Postmark date. Therefore, users will only enter the deadline date in this section. It is important to remember that the date indicated in this field should be the date the proposal must leave OSP. Please remember that the deadline day listed in NIH RFAs is a receipt date. Therefore, if you are responding to an NIH RFA that is being prepared and submitted using a paper application kit, you must put the postmark date in EPEX rather than the agency receipt date. This will be the day before the deadline listed in the RFA. It is important for OSP staff to know exactly when a proposal must be signed and leave our office.
3. International and Export Controls Questions:
EPEX will now include an additional question designed to capture information in more detail on Emory’s international activities. A proposal’s preparer will be asked the following question: “Does this proposal/award involve any of the following international collaborations: a subaward to a foreign organization; international travel by Emory personnel for the conduct of project activities (excluding travel solely for conference attendance); the lease of property by Emory in a foreign country; or the employment of personnel by Emory in a foreign country?” If the answer is yes, the preparer will be required to select from a pre-existing list the country or countries involved in the application. If there is more than one country involved, the preparer should use the “+” functionality and select all countries involved.
We hope these enhancements are helpful to the Emory community.