There are three elements to project close-out:
- physical completion
- final acceptance
- final payment
Final Acceptance - Projects are considered completed or "termed” after the sponsor receives and approves all reports as required by the terms and conditions of the award, and notifies the institution of its acceptance and closure of the project.
Final Payment – All billing issues have been resolved and all payments have been received, or it has been determined that no further payments will be received.
Reports required at the close of a project are generally due within no more than 90 days of the project end date. These may include:
- a final technical report - submitted by the PI
- final inventions report - submitted by the Post Award Office upon certification by the PI
- final financial report - submitted by the Post Award Office upon the certification of expenditures by the PI/Department authorized designee.
- final property report – compiled and submitted by the Post Award Office after reconciling with the on-line Property Inventory System.
If it is required for reports from the sub-recipient to be included with reports that we send to our sponsor, make sure that you make your sub-recipient’s deadline for submission of their report to you early enough so that it can be included with your timely submission to the sponsor.
Project records, both scientific and administrative, need to be retained for specified periods after close-out. At many institutions the record retention period is six years after term date. Records are subject to audit at any time during this period.
Now that you have finished the RCR Training, please test your knowledge by taking the RCR Quiz!