September 21, 2022
NOT-OD-22-099- Upcoming Changes to the Federal Financial Report (FFR) Beginning April 1, 2022
NOT-OD-21-138- NIH Final Federal Financial Reports (FFRs) will be converted to Interim Annual Reports in the Payment Management System
NOT-OD-21-060- UPDATE Implementation of Requirement to Submit the Federal Financial Report (FFR) in the Payment Management System
NOT-OD-21-046- Reminder: Mandatory Submission of the Federal Financial Report (FFR) in the Payment Management System Beginning January 1, 2021
NOT-OD-20-127- Upcoming Mandatory Submission of the Federal Financial Report (FFR) in the Payment Management System Beginning January 1, 2021
NOT-OD-21-128- Updated Process for Submission of Federal Financial Reports for Closed Payment Management System Subaccounts
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)
The purpose of this Notice is to provide an update to NIH recipients who need to submit an SF-425 Federal Financial Report (FFR). Effective October 1, 2022, NIH Final FFRs will no longer be converted to Interim Annual FFRs. Therefore, this Notice serves to rescind NOT-OD-21-138, "NIH Final Federal Financial Reports (FFRs) will be converted to Interim Annual Reports in the Payment Management System".
Background
As acknowledged in NOT-OD-21-060, recipients had reported a significant increase in errors in submitting reports via a single-entry point in the HHS Payment Management System (PMS). The errors were mainly caused because the system did not allow recipients to submit reports that do not reconcile expenditure versus quarterly cash transaction data. These challenges created delays in reporting and certifying expenditure FFRs as required by the terms and conditions of the awards. NIH and its eRA partners recognize this has impacted recipients ability to submit timely final FFRs in accordance with established deadlines outlined in the terms and conditions of award.
Beginning in March 2021, in order to prevent the errors and facilitate recipient FFR submission, on behalf of NIH, PMS began converting all NIH Final FFRs to Interim Annuals FFRs in order to relax the validation. This action has been systematically taken by PMS on a weekly basis.
Update
Effective October 1, 2022, PMS will no longer be converting NIH Final FFRs to Interim Annual FFRs in accordance with NOT-OD-22-099, which notified the NIH recipient community that recipients are no longer required to submit quarterly cash transaction reports 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter.
Additional Details
For Final FFRs, Line item 10a Cash Receipts, Line item 10b Cash Disbursements, and Line item 10e Federal share of expenditures must reconcile. PMS system validations will prevent submission of an NIH Final FFR if they are not equal. Line items 10a and 10b are populated by data in PMS and are non-editable fields for recipients in Final FFRs. If funds have been drawn incorrectly from the grant, recipients must return the funds to ensure the drawdowns are adjusted for the Grant document or the Subaccount in PMS. Once the adjustment is reflected in PMS, it goes through the nightly batch process and the FFR data will be updated to reconcile with your drawdown.
As a reminder, unliquidated obligations may not be reported on the Final FFRs for the terminal year of the project period; Line item 10f Federal Share of Unliquidated Obligations must be zero. PMS system validations will prevent submission reporting unliquidated obligations on a Final FFR. For NIH institutional research training awards submitting a final FFR for a document segment that need to report unliquidated obligations for appointed trainees in accordance with the NIH Grants Policy Statement (GPS) 11.3.13.5, recipients must first contact the Grants Management Official at the awarding IC. If the training award is continuing (e.g., Type 2 competing continuation is awarded), the Grants Management Official will work with the eRA Service Desk to convert the Final FFR to an Interim Annual FFR since it will not be the Final FFR for the award. If the training award is not continuing, the recipient may request a no-cost extension in accordance with NIH GPS 8.1.1.3 and 8.1.2.1.
For Final FFRs that were previously converted, NIH and eRA will be working with PMS to re-designate them as Final FFRs. Additional information will be made available once finalized.
These changes do not impact the standard reporting requirements and deadlines for financial expenditure data submitted in the SF-425, unless otherwise noted in the Notice of Award. FFR due dates, as outlined in the NIH GPS 8.4.1.5.2 and 8.6.1, remain unchanged.
NIH Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA)
FFR Reconciliation and Financial Closeout Support Center
and Human Services (HHS)
