Due to a restraining order please continue business as usual. At this time you do not need to submit pre-approval requests through GCA.

2/3/2025 Update

GCA is providing this update as a follow-up to the message from President Cook on February 3rd, 2025, RE: “Update on Federal Research Funding Freeze”

At this time, you do not need to submit pre-approval for expenses on Federal awards.  As President Cook mentioned, “NDSU will now, at least temporarily, revert back to business as normal for our federal grants.  Grants and Contract Accounting will not need to review and approve purchases and new hires.”

In light of the TRO indicating that grantees may continue progress on their current awards, GCA is encouraging timely submission of all eligible expenses that align with your awards.

• Submit Payroll Change Forms for all awards that have started. Complete Payroll Retro’s as soon as possible after each pay period.
• Submit all travel and expense reimbursements promptly, including any previously completed travel that you have not yet been reimbursed for.
• Prioritize entry of vouchers and SSI journals related to grant expenses.
• Complete any journal vouchers for corrections you are aware of.

If you receive further communications from a sponsor, program officer, or other agency points of contact, please forward those to ndsu.research@ndsu.edu and ndsu.gca@ndsu.edu immediately, and we will help you with any further next steps.

Original Post

GCA, in collaboration with other campus leaders and offices, is starting a process to try and identify awards that may have potential issues with current White House Executive Orders.  We are expediting this process, but it will still take some time.  During this period, we are continuing the purchasing/hiring limitations established by President Cook in his campus email on Tuesday, January 28^th, 2025.  Specifically, all purchasing and hiring decisions on federally funded grants are going to be limited and need to be reviewed and approved, in advance, by our office.

To submit an expense for pre-review, please complete this form. You will receive an automated response via the email used to submit the form with a status of “APPROVED” or “REJECTED”. This is simply an indication that it is okay for you to proceed with your purchase using NDSU’s normal practices. If an expense or activity is later deemed unallowable or disallowed by a sponsor, cost corrections will need to be processed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What types of expenses should I use this form to obtain pre-approval on?

• Travel, P-Card purchases, software, equipment, contracted services, research incentive payments, and other routine operating costs not addressed separately on this page.

Should I use this form for re-charge center expenses?

• No. We will continue to review those expenses in the normal manner.

Should I use this form for FAMIS expenses?

• No. We will continue to review those expenses in the normal manner.

Should I use this form for inter-department bills?

• If the expenses are reviewed through an SSI journal encompassing multiple funding strings/projects simultaneously, we will continue to review those expenses in the normal manner. 
• Please get pre-approval for all other types of inter-departmental billing (In particular, please get pre-approval on all computing purchases through the NDSU Bookstore). 

Do I need to request approval for payroll for already-employed individuals?

• No. If the personnel paid by the project are already working/previously hired, you do not need pre-approval for continuing pay periods.

Do I need to request approval for new hires?

• Please send inquiries about new-hire grant personnel to ndsu.gca@ndsu.edu.