In Part 2, we created a new contract submission and began to enter data. We also saw how PEER warns us about unsaved changes and how we can navigate around the form.
In Part 3, we're going to finish the basic data entry.
Using the Finder
Log back into PEER and make your way back to the draft submisison we started in Part 2. You should start again on Step 1 of the form.
When entering the PI, Chair/Division Chief, etc, you will notice the buttons labeld "Find" with the little magnifying glass icon. These are called "Finders" in PEER, and there is a finder for people (an address book), departments (called Units), and Sponsors/Other Parties. You are not allow to type directly into the text box. Instead, click the "Find" button, which will bring up a new window on top of PEER. To find a person/unit/sponsor, just start typing into the provided search box, and PEER will automatically find entries that match your input text. Click on the green "+" symbol to add the desired person to the form (this will automatically close the finder). Repeat this for the Chair/Division chief (as appropriate), and the Unit. Contact Person is optional, and if left blank will default to you. This should be whomever OCM should contact if we have questions about this submission.
Please refer back to the tutorial entitled "Using the Finder Feature" for more detailed instructions on how the Finders work.
Dependencies
Note that some fields are dependent on your answers to other questions, so on Step 1, for example, when you are asked if this contract is related to any existing OCM contract, if you answer yes, a "please explain" box pops up. This is also a good time to note that every field in the form requires an answer of some kind, unless otherwise noted as "(optional)" in the field label. Complete Step 1 of the form and click Save & Continue to move to Step 2.
Funding
On Step 2 of the form, first select whether the funds are incoming, outgoing, or if no funds are involved. If incoming, you will be asked to complete two more questions. Project start and end dates are required, but estimates are OK here. Unless you selected "no funds involved" above, Direct cost and Indirect Rate are required. Indirect Costs and Total Costs will calculate automatically once you leave the Indirect Rate field.
Finally, complete the fair market value certification and then save and continue on to Step 3.
Adding Sponsor and Subcontractor Information: Contracts Involving Outgoing Federal Dollars/Outgoing Research Contracts
On page 2 of the form, you will enter the information about the other party. This may be a sponsor in the event of a research project where VUMC is receiving funds, or just the "Other Party" if this is a services contract or if we are contracting/subcontracting research out to another institution.
ENTERING THE "Sponsor/Other Contracting Party"
For contracts containing outgoing federal dollars and/or research contracts, you will be required to select the subcontractor from a pre-defined list. Selecting from our list allows us to identify the proper data to report to the Federal Government per the FFATA reporting regulations. If the entity you need is not on the pre-defined list, you may submit an Action Request to "Add an Organization to Coeus & PEER". New organizations must include a DUNS number for Federal ID purposes.
Please do NOT go back to step 1 and change your answer to the Federal Funds question to "No." Doing so simply to circumvent the system can cause us to miss the contract in our FFATA reporting, which may cause penalties against VUMC, or at the very least will cause OCM some work to clean up the data and will probably cause you some grief too.
Note the address is not required, but the other Sponsor info fields are. Take special care to be sure you get the format right on both the email and phone fields. Improper formats on the phone number, or inserting a web address instead of an email address will result in errors later and prevent you from submitting the form.
For Federal subcontracts, if you have linked this contract submission to a Grant Proposal, the Prime Sponsor information should pre-populate. If not, please select a Prime if applicable (i.e. if the sponsor received the funds from some other source, we need to know what that source is).
Save & Continue on to Step 3, the Questionnaire.
Adding Sponsor and Prime Sponsor Information for Incoming Research/Federal Contracts
In the event your contract represents incoming funds, either Federal funds or a research contract (or both), you will be presented with a "Sponsor" field instead of a Contractor/Other Party field. The difference here is the list of entities that PEER will allow you to select from.
ENTERING THE "Sponsor"
You will be required to select the Sponsor from a pre-defined list. Selecting from our list allows us to keep Sponsor data in sync with Coeus for reporting purposes.
Note the address is not required, but the other Sponsor info fields are. Take special care to be sure you get the format right on both the email and phone fields. Improper formats on the phone number, or inserting a web address instead of an email address will result in errors later and prevent you from submitting the form.
For Federal subawards, if you have linked this contract submission to a Grant Proposal, the Prime Sponsor information should pre-populate. If not, please select a Prime if applicable (i.e. if the sponsor received the funds from some other source, we need to know what that source is). Prime Sponsor should also be populated in the event of a Clinical Trial agreement involving a Contract Research Organization (CRO).
Save & Continue on to Step 3, the Questionnaire.
Adding Sponsor Information: Non-Research/Non-Federal
On step 3 of the form, you will enter the information about the other party. This may be a sponsor in the event of a research project where VUMC is receiving funds, or just the "Other Party" if this is a services contract or if we are contracting/subcontracting research out to another institution.
ENTERING THE "Contractor/Other Party"
For contracts which do NOT involve research and do NOT contain outgoing federal dollars, you will need to simply type in the name of the contractor/other party. PEER offers an assist by trying to match your entry to pre-existing organizations, but if your entity is not in the list you can simply keep typing. You do not have to go through the same efforts as for federal/research contracts described above.
Note the address is not required, but the other Sponsor info fields are. Take special care to be sure you get the format right on both the email and phone fields. Improper formats on the phone number, or inserting a web address instead of an email address will result in errors later and prevent you from submitting the form.
Save & Continue on to Step 4, the Questionnaire.
Questionnaire
This page may look familiar to anyone who has filled out the paper Transmittal Form before. Simply provide an answer to each question, including any dependent fields that pop up.
QUESTION: What if none of these questions has anything to do with the kind of contract I'm submitting? Simply answer each question "no" if it does not apply. We must ask all these questions because PEER cannot predict what kind of contract you are going to submit, and there are too many fuzzy and gray areas to hide certain questions for different kinds of contracts.
Once you are finished, Save & Continue to Step 5.
Linking to a Grants Proposal Log
If your contract includes funding flowing from Vanderbilt to another entity (outgoing funds), or incoming money to Vanderbilt (see #1), you'll also be asked a question (#2) about federal funding. Should you answer yes, it means the Office of Sponsored Programs (grants central office) needs to have notification about this money. You are then presented with two options (#3 &4) to either link to an existing Grants Proposal Log, or to create a new one.
More detail on this process can be found in the tutorial entitled "Submitting a Grant Application, Subaward, or Add-On Subcontract Log."
For the rest of this tutorial, we'll assume you have answered "no" to the federal funding question.
Conclusion
This concludes Part 3 of the tutorial. Part 4 will cover the subcontracts entry process on Step 5 of the form