Pre-Award Spending

In certain circumstances, a Morgan State University Principal Investigator or Project Director may need to begin spending on a sponsored project prior to receipt of the official award document. When appropriate and permitted by the sponsor, the Office of Research Administration in concomitance with the Division of Finance & Administration may authorize Pre-Award Spending and create an Advance Account to support timely project start-up, personnel hiring, procurement, and other essential project activities.

Advance Account Creation with permitted Pre-Award Spending on sponsored projects is limited to specific circumstances, including funding agency allowance, and requires formal review and approval by ORA and Finance & Administration. Applications for Advance Account Creation and Pre-Award Spending may be submitted below.

Requests may be considered when:

• An award has been granted but the project period has not yet begun,
• There is a high probability that the University will receive the award, or
• Continuation funding for a multi-year award is pending.

Approved spending is subject to sponsor and University requirements and is generally limited to 20% of total project costs or $100,000, whichever is less.

For more complete information, please review the Pre-Award Spending chapters in the PI Handbook 3: Grant-Related Processes and PI Handbook 5: Policies & Guidelines, available on the Principal Investigator Handbook website here.

See the sample image of the Application for Advance Account below to help gather all the information you need to complete it. To view an enlarged version, right-click on the image below and choose "View in New Tab." A new tab with an enlarged version of the sample below will open up in your browser.