Grants Management FAQ

Pre-Award FAQs
Post-Award FAQs

Pre-Award FAQs

Pre-Award FAQs

Roles, Organizations, and Eligibility

Please see CIRM’s Common Requirements and Definitions document for this definition.

Please see CIRM’s Common Requirements and Definitions document for this definition. More information on Allowable Project Costs for California and non-California Organizations can be found in CIRM’s Allowable Costs and Co-Funding FAQs.

Please see CIRM’s Guide for AOOs and Guide for FAOOs for information on fulfilling these important roles at your institution.

Applications are prepared by the Principal Investigator (PI) or their delegate, and the Authorized Organizational Official (AOO) does not have access to the Application until the PI has performed the initial submission. After the initial PI submission, the AOO will receive an automated Grants Management System email asking the AOO to review the Application and provide a secondary submission. For access to an incomplete proposal, the PI must designate the AOO as a delegate. For more information, review the delegation process video and CIRM’s Guide for AOOs.

The Applicant must be a California Organization (per definition in CIRM’s Common Requirements and Definitions document) at the time of Application. The PI, and any team-track Co-Investigators, must meet the following criteria to be eligible:

  • Must be an employee of a California Organization or be accountable for the conduct of the proposed project to their California Organization through a formal contract;
  • Must commit at least a minimum percent effort (either 10% or 15%) to working on the project.

The Principal Investigator (PI) of a California Organization must be physically located in California while overseeing all project activities and be an employee of the Awardee or accountable for the conduct of the proposed project to the Awardee through a formal contract.

Please review the relevant CIRM Grants Administration Policy linked in the Program Announcement or Request for Applications for more information about CIRM’s requirements for PIs.

California or non-California For-Profit or Non-Profit Organizations may apply to the CLIN2: Funding Opportunity for Clinical Trials Program. Specific allowable costs apply, please see the Program Announcement for further information. For all other CIRM funding opportunities, only Non-Profit or For-Profit Organizations that meet CIRM’s definition of a California Organization are eligible to apply. Please see CIRM’s Common Requirements and Definitions document for more information regarding California Organization requirements.

A project manager is a professional who organizes and executes a CIRM project under the direction of the Principal Investigator or lead program manager. Project managers are expected to shepherd the project through to its completion by developing and executing project plans, communicating with cross-functional stakeholders and mitigating project risks to achieve project goals within the defined budgets and timelines. They operate within the parameters of a given Award’s requirements, as specified in the relevant Program Announcement and Notice of Award. All project managers proposed by Awardees will be subject to approval by CIRM on an Award-specific basis.

To ensure effective and collaborative sharing and management of data, a Data Project Manager must be part of the team when specified in the Program Announcement or Request for Applications. This individual must have demonstrated experience in data handling and is responsible for interfacing with any data management team(s), interfacing with CIRM’s planned data infrastructure, reporting progress on data management and sharing as well as maintaining the integrity of data during ingestion. The Data Project Manager role can be distributed among multiple people and may be fulfilled by Key Personnel with other Critical Roles.

Budgeting and Financial Planning

Internal full-time equivalent (FTE) should be included in the Activity-Based Budget (ABB) as a Key Personnel Primary Activity in Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) /Analytical, Clinical, or Non-Clinical sections. All Key Personnel must first be entered in People and Organizations section of the Application. It is important for conflict of interest checking that names of individuals or organizations do not appear anywhere in the Application if not listed in the People and Organizations section. Unnamed non-key FTE can be included as part of the total cost of each primary activity.

If you are an Applicant at an institution with a CIRM Major Facility, you should always include Facilities B in the Application budget and CIRM will determine if Facilities B are eligible to be funded if the project is approved. Awardees cannot reallocate funds from the cut that CIRM will make based on the Facilities B rates calculated in the Application budget. Facilities B cuts represent a savings to the State of California offsetting the initial investment made in the CIRM Major Facility. Facilities B cuts cannot be re-budgeted into direct project costs, either by a post-ICOC rebudgeting action or by excluding them from an Application to a total cost capped Award. In a direct cost capped Award, the savings to California can be calculated without reducing the direct costs. When the Award mechanism is total cost capped, however, the Facilities B savings to the State must be realized within the total Award cap, so always including Facilities B in your proposal budget avoids any unexpected reductions to the project’s direct costs should the proposal be funded. If your proposal has required Co-Funding and you suspect that it will not be eligible for Facilities B funding, please contact CIRM’s Grants Management Office at grantsmanagement@cirm.ca.gov.

Co-Funding requirements are listed in the Program Announcement or Request for Applications and can vary depending on program, clinical phase, and status as a California Organization. CIRM will require Co-Funding from the Applicant as a percentage of the total “Allowable Project Costs.” Allowable Project Costs are those costs permitted under CIRM policies and regulations and include direct, Facilities, and Indirect Costs. The sum of CIRM funds requested plus the Co-Funding contribution by the Applicant make up the total Allowable Project Costs. The required Co-Funding and total project costs can be calculated with the formula “=CIRMFUNDING*(COFUNDING%/(1-COFUNDING%))”. For non-CA Applicants, Co-Funding includes both the required Co-Funding on Allowable Project Costs and the unallowable non-CA costs portion. Please note the Activity-Based Budget portion of a CIRM CLIN2 or PDEV Application calculates the required Co-Funding automatically based on Applicant eligibility. More information on Allowable Project Costs can be found in CIRM’s Grants Management Policies and Allowable Project Costs and Co-Funding FAQs.

The Common Stock Warrant is intended to provide CIRM with a limited opportunity to participate in the future success of companies that receive the benefit of CIRM’s waiver of the applicable Co-Funding requirement. In exchange for waiving a portion of the required matching funds, CIRM receives a Warrant that allows it to share in a portion of the company’s future value if the technology is ultimately successful. The Warrant is a standardized component of CIRM’s Co-Funding Program and is intended to balance CIRM’s stewardship of public funds with the need to preserve companies’ ability to raise private capital and continue developing promising therapies.

For more information on Warrants, please reference pages 10-13 of CIRM’s Allowable Project Costs and Co-funding FAQs.

Allowable Costs and Cost Classification

CIRM establishes a cap on all annual base salaries (including bonuses, but exclusive of other fringe benefits) charged to CIRM Awards in proportion to the percent of salary or effort charged to the project as follows:

No additional CIRM funds will be provided to support salary cap increases. Biennial adjustments to the caps will be posted here.

CIRM also establishes annual stipend levels for CIRM Scholars on our Training Awards depending on their educational level. These ranges can also be used as a guide for trainees on CIRM research Awards. For Bridges (EDUC2), SPARK (EDUC3), and COMPASS (EDUC5) programs, please refer to the limits in the respective Request for Applications.

Trainees supported through the EDUC4 “CIRM Scholars” program:

Effective from 9/28/23

For trainees whose most recent appointment began in Grant Year 1 or Grant Year 2 (second Year of Cohort 1, or First Year of Cohort 2)

For trainees whose appointments/re-appointments begin in Award Years 3, 4, or 5

Awardees may use the most recent stipend levels for any appointments made after the effective date, but no additional CIRM funds will be provided for existing Awards.

“Tuition and Fees,” as defined in CIRM’s Grants Administration Policies, refer to charges imposed by the Awardee for a student’s enrollment and educational services, which may also encompass the cost of health insurance. These expenses are eligible for reimbursement solely for individuals enrolled in accredited certificate, undergraduate, or graduate programs. Unless otherwise specified in the Program Announcement or Request for Applications, trainees can request reimbursement for up to 100% of the initial $4,500 in Tuition and Fees, and 60% of subsequent expenses, capped at a maximum of $16,000. CIRM does not cover Tuition and Fees already subsidized by the Awardee. Postdoctoral or clinical trainee Tuition and Fees are ineligible for reimbursement.

When not otherwise specified by CIRM regulations, CIRM applies the Office of Management and Budget cost allocation principles including the determination of whether costs are 1) reasonable, 2) allocable, 3) consistently treated, and 4) adhering to any other limitations set forth by the Program Announcement, Request for Applications, and/or Notice of Award. For more information, see the NIH Cost Principles. CIRM encourages Awardees to use these cost principles to make their own determinations on cost allowability given CIRM cannot make a judgment on every cost scenario.

Allowable project expenses encompass, yet are not restricted to: personnel salaries, fringe benefits, specified supplies, tuition and fees, research animal expenditures, consulting fees, itemized clinical study outlays (encompassing research patient care costs), travel-related disbursements, project-related equipment, publication expenses, service agreements, subcontracts, and delineated administrative costs necessary for executing the endorsed project, whether CIRM-funded or required Co-Funding.

Please see the relevant Grants Management Policy, Program Announcement or Request for Applications, and the Allowable Costs and Co-funding FAQs for additional information about allowable costs.

Computers and other small equipment purchases can be an allowable direct cost when specifically allocable to the project. CIRM funds used to purchase such equipment must be in direct proportion to the allocability to the funded project activities. General-purpose equipment (for example a general use personal computer) is not allowable as a direct cost.  Such purchases may be identified as Indirect Costs which are incurred for common or joint objectives and cannot be readily identified with a particular Award, contract, or other activity of the organization.

Computers purchased with CIRM funds are the property of the Awardee and should be treated consistently according to the Awardee’s policies on equipment and supplies purchased with CIRM Award funds, including procedures to dispose of, sell, or transfer equipment purchased with CIRM.

CIRM will allow Awardees to charge patent prosecution costs as direct project costs only if the organization has determined them to not be a part of their Facilities and Administrative Costs and documents this accordingly. Cost allocations need to be allowable, allocable, and consistent.

Specifically unallowable are attorneys’ fees related to litigation and patent defense, including any administrative action either prior or after the grant of a patent, such as oppositions, interferences, re-examinations and other similar administrative actions, that are outside of the scope of normal patent prosecution for that jurisdiction.

No, equity compensation is an unallowable cost. Please refer to CIRM’s Grants Administration Policy for more information. 

No. Proposition 14 prohibits compensation to research donors or participants, while permitting reimbursement for expenses, including, but not limited to, medical expenses and lodging, meals, and travel expenses, for research participants and caregivers to ensure functional access to clinical trials.

Membership dues are on our list of unallowable costs, but we have an exception for cases where the membership represents a cost-saving for something like a conference registration (i.e., the conference registration cost (plus membership fee) is cheaper than a non-member conference fee alone. In other words, if there is direct benefit to the project that is adequately articulated in the business purpose of the expense. For example, a grad student is presenting a paper to disseminate the results of a project at a conference that requires presenters to be members or similar.

Consistently applied direct charges that are assessed to each campus activity unit, regardless of funding source, including units identified as individual Grant and contract Awards are allowable costs on CIRM Awards. These costs are not recovered as Indirect Costs.

These vary across different institutions, and may include:

  • General and Employment Liability (GAEL)
  • The Technology Infrastructure Fee (TIF)
  • IT Field Services Support (ITFS)
  • UCSF Data Network Recharge (Data Network)

Payments, Disbursements, and Refunds

CIRM’s approach to calculating Operational Milestone disbursements considers several factors. In the Budget Allocation section of the online Activity-Based Budget (ABB), we ask the Applicant to project the cash needs over time (in relation to the timing of proposed activities) with the project start date as the date the CIRM Award becomes active. For example, project activities occurring in project quarters one through five require funding in that period, while later activities might not require funding until the applicable quarter. The Applicant’s proposal also includes a Gantt-like chart of the proposed activities timeline, closely corresponding with that budget. Prior to generating the Notice of Award, CIRM establishes key points in the timeline that serve as gating Operational Milestones.

Using those agreed upon points in time, CIRM calculates using the Applicant’s own forecast of their cash-needs budget between Operational Milestones to serve as a basis for each disbursement to reach the next Milestone in turn. Key points:

  • The ABB budget Q1 = the start date of the CIRM Award to end of Month 3.
  • The total cost of each primary activity is summed over the life of the project by quarter, broken down by months within a quarter if applicable.
  • The disbursement from one Operational Milestone to the next represents funding for all activities occurring between those two dates, with proportional facilities and Indirect Costs as applicable added by Grants Management from the Application. Once the Grants Management team receives time-based Operational Milestones, a grid is placed on top of the ABB and the disbursements are derived from the resulting output of the applicable quarters or months contained within each Milestone period.
  • Milestone dates proposed in an Application may be considered during pre-Award planning, but CIRM may diverge based on our discretion.
  • Disbursements are intended to *round to the nearest $5K/10K, exceptions provided for capturing the possible maximum funding amount.

Other considerations:

  • Although there may be valid reasons for heavy front-loading of project costs, such as the execution of manufacturing or other contracts, CIRM generally limits our launch payment (to reach Operational Milestone #1) to a maximum of 25% of the total Award amount. This may be accomplished by establishing a measurable and significant milestone that will occur earlier in the project, but broadly speaking CIRM has an interest in minimizing risk to our investment in a project by ensuring periodic markers of success, particularly at earlier less defined stages of a project.
  • CIRM retains 5% of the total project costs to be released only upon completion of the Final Operational Milestone and all scheduled reporting requirements, to incentivize their completion. We refer to this amount as the “Holdback Payment.”

CIRM pays for activities in advance rather than via reimbursement except for certain Capital Equipment purchases in our Infrastructure programs.

  • DISC Awards: Payment criteria is CIRM approval of most recent Progress Report.
  • EDUC Awards: Program administration funds are disbursed on the start of each budget year, and trainee funds are disbursed on receipt of trainee appointment forms. For programs with accessibility funds, payments follow approval of a prior approval request.
  • CLIN2 and PDEV Awards: An initial payment to reach the first Operational Milestone will be disbursed once the contract is executed. Payment to reach the second Operational Milestone will be disbursed once reporting is submitted showing the first Operational Milestone has been completed, etc.

While routine risk surveillance and mitigation costs should be included in the project budget, major non-routine risks that could delay achievement of project milestones and jeopardize completion of the project within the proposed budget and timeline require the identification of non-CIRM sources of Contingency Funds.

Financial Contingency Funds must be distinct from, and in addition to, any Co-Funding. We suggest the Applicant first describe the project risks, mitigation plans and potential costs of such risks in the Proposal upload and include in the Application. Include a signed letter from the source of Contingency Funds in your Letters of Support PDF upload. The letter of support should clearly indicate the contingency costs that will be covered, including the dollar amount.

Indirect Costs, Overhead, and Accounting

Non-Profit Applicants may request Facilities costs for research Awards consistent with their current, federally negotiated rates, when available. When research is conducted off-site, an Awardee may request a portion of their Facilities cost based on their actual, out-of-pocket lease costs. Indirect costs are currently capped at 20% for most Awards (exceptions include our Training and Conference Programs). These rates are applied to the Adjusted Project Costs which exclude Equipment, Tuition and Fees, Research Patient Care Costs, and the total cost of each service contract, Subcontract and Consultant agreement in excess of $25,000. For-Profit Applicants may request facilities costs up to 35% of Adjusted Project Costs and are not eligible for Indirect Costs. For organizations that do not have a federal rate agreement, internal documentation supporting both the allowable facilities cost rate and the methodology used to arrive at the amounts requested are required at time of contracting. See our Overhead Primer for more information.

Your Subcontractor would include the full amount of overhead they are eligible for under CIRM regulation as part of their Subcontract budget. The full cost of the Subcontract budget (direct + Indirect) is considered and entered in the prime budget as a direct cost. The CIRM Funds Calculator will automatically exclude the amount of any Subcontract over $25,000 from generating F&A to the prime Applicant. To determine how much overhead your Subcontractor can request, please use this worksheet. Note that the prime Awardee’s overhead is not related to the overhead contained in a Subcontractor’s budget.

CIRM does not require that Awardees use a particular accounting method, as long as accounting systems are in place that can track CIRM funds. More information about incurred costs is in our Allowable Costs and Co-Funding FAQs

Intellectual Property, Publications, Access, and Royalties

Question: We understand that the collaborators cannot retain the Intellectual Property (IP) or publication rights of the IP that arises from the CIRM-funded project, but does CIRM have any mechanisms to allow for existing IP from out-of-state? Or would our collaborators have to relinquish all IP rights on their technology to proceed with the proposal?

Answer: The out of state collaborator does not have to relinquish existing IP. However, if the product gets commercialized with CIRM funding there may be the possibility of a royalty attaching to the collaborator and, if the out of state entity does not fall under the definition of a collaborator, CIRM also has requirements that the Awardee license CIRM funded technology (data).

Please refer to the Patient Access Planning Requirements for details.

Question: “In regards to the royalty (0.1% per million $ grant funds per year), would this be indication agnostic? For example, if our CIRM Award is for our sickle cell disease program, but our leukemia program is also approved – would the royalty be taken from all drug revenue or just the revenue from the CIRM-funded indication?”

The answer would really depend on the usage of the clinical trial data from the CIRM-Funded Project. For a platform technology, the probability is high. Please note that CIRM has drafted two mechanisms to address the impact of a downstream royalty: (a) loan conversion which will eliminate the royalty obligation (note that a CLIN4 amount cannot be loan converted) and (b), if not loan-converted, the royalty from all indications will contribute to the 9x royalty limit versus each indication contributing to separate 9x limits for each indication.

Here are the relevant definitions from the CIRM Intellectual Property regulations. CIRM hypothesizes that for a CIRM-funded trial for an initial indication using a platform technology that data/technology from the CIRM trial will be utilized in regulatory filings for subsequent indication(s) which would trigger an obligation for the subsequent indication(s).

  • Commercializing Entity. Any (1) entity that sells, offers for sale or transfers a Drug: (a) resulting in whole or in part from Regulatory Use; or (b) that is covered by, in whole or in part, a CIRM-Funded Invention; or (2) Awardee, Collaborator, or Exclusive Licensee who commercializes a non-Drug product or service resulting in whole or in part from an Award.
  • DD. Regulatory Use. The use of any CIRM-Funded Technology in a Food and Drug Administration (or equivalent foreign regulatory body) submission or filing. Regulatory Use does not include a reference or citation to a publicly available publication that describes or references CIRM-Funded Technology.

All CIRM Awards are Grants. Awardees may elect, upon completion of their Award, to treat their Award as a loan pursuant to CIRM’s Award conversion policy. Awardees that elect this option are required to comply with CIRM’s pricing, access, and march-in right requirements but are not bound by the revenue sharing provisions of CIRM’s IP regulations. See the CIRM Award Management Policy for more information. The Loan Conversion Chart is on page 29 of CIRM’s Grants Administration Policy.

Various

CIRM conducts a background check on the Principal Investigator, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Financial Officer of all CIRM-funded For-Profit and Non-Profit Organizations in existence less than 5 years via our 3rd party provider, CastleBranch. A new background check is required at Award launch unless already completed in the preceding two years. The costs for background check services will be billed to your organization.

Awardees must establish safeguards to prevent employees, Consultants, contractors, collaborators, and members of governing bodies who may be involved in the CIRM-Funded Project or Activities from participating in or in any way attempting to use their position to influence those activities in which they know or have reason to know they have a financial interest. See CIRM’s Grants Administration Policy for more information.

Post-Award FAQs

Post-Award FAQs

Policies, Forms, and General Administration

Most reporting templates are available in the Grants Management System under your Award’s information. You may also contact your Grants Management Officer if you have questions about CIRM’s forms or templates.

Please refer to the Notice of Award for the relevant Grants Administration Policy. CIRM Awards approved by the ICOC on or after 5/21/16 (CLIN, TRAN, DISC, EDUC, INFR, and converted Awards) are governed by the CIRM Grants Administration Policy for Clinical Stage Projects or the CIRM Grants Administration Policy for Discovery, Translation, and Education Projects. Please note that the CIRM Grants Administration Policy for Clinical Stage Projects references PA 15-01, 15-02, and 15-03. These Program Announcements have been renamed to CLIN 1, CLIN 2, and CLIN 3 respectively.

The Principal Investigator (PI), Authorized Organizational Official (AOO), Financial Authorized Organizational Official (FAOO) and Technology Transfer Officer (TTO) can delegate their authority in the Grants Management System (GMS) (all privileges) to another user who has an account setup in the GMS.

Delegation is a feature that provides access to another user to act on your behalf in CIRM’s online GMS. This is an easier, much more secure way of providing access to your account to another trusted individual, rather than sharing your password. We highly encourage you utilize this feature to avoid password sharing. Delegates have the same access and permissions that you do, and so depending on your access can prepare and submit Applications, Progress Reports, Financial Reports, publications and invention disclosures. Once you designate an individual as a delegate, they will retain this access until you delete that delegate from your list.

To begin, the delegate must first be registered as a user in CIRM’s GMS with a complete contact record. This user can be internal or external to your organization. Their username must be an active email address that can receive communications. Users can register for an account by clicking on the “New User?” link at: https://grants.cirm.ca.gov/login.

  • Log into your own profile and click the “Edit Profile” link on the far right. Click the link: “Specify A New Delegate.”
  • Enter the email address of the delegate, check the box to agree to provide this individual with full CIRM GMS access to act on your behalf, then hit “Add.” You can add as many potential delegates to your list as you require. You can share the below instructions with your delegate so they also understand how this process works.

To access the GMS as a delegate, the individual must have been specified as a delegate above and must tell the GMS they would like to act as a delegate each time they log in. To act as a delegate, go through the following steps:

  • Log into GMS as yourself.
  • Click on the name at the right end of the dark-blue menu bar and select “Become Delegate” from the drop-down menu.
  • On the resulting page you will see a list of all people for whom you may act as a delegate.
  • Click on the right arrow (glyph) to the left of the login name of the user you would like to become.

Once the arrow is clicked, the delegate will now be acting as that PI, AOO, FAOO, TTO, or whatever role you were delegated. The delegate will be seeing exactly what the primary user sees, with all the privileges in GMS of the primary user. Any actions taken as your delegate will be treated by the system as if you had performed that action yourself, excepting only that CIRM’s internal audit logs will record that they performed the action as your delegate. Most importantly, the primary user (PI, AOO, TTO, FAOO) will remain formally responsible for the correctness of all information submitted by any delegate on your behalf. CIRM does not impose any special requirements on delegates aside from having individual login and contact info, so it is up to the PI, AOO, TTO, or FAOO to properly assign delegation to the appropriate individual(s).

California Government Code (GC) Section 8310.5 requires state agencies to collect data for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, including, but not limited to, Asian Indian, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Guamanian, Hawaiian, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Samoan, Tahitian, and Vietnamese.

To submit a Serious Adverse Event (SAE) report, the PI or their delegate logs into CIRM’s Grants Management System, navigates to “Your Awards”, and then starts the SAE report under the unscheduled reports section of the appropriate Award listing. After completing the report according to the instructions and submitting, the Authorized Organizational Official will be asked to provide a secondary submission for institutional concurrence.

To request reimbursement for previously approved capital equipment purchases, the PI or their delegate logs into CIRM’s Grants Management System, navigates to “Your Awards”, and then starts the Equipment Reimbursement Request under the unscheduled reports section of the appropriate Award listing. After completing the request according to the instructions and submitting, the Authorized Organizational Official will be asked to provide a secondary submission for institutional concurrence.

Reporting Requirements and Report Submission

The type and number of reporting requirements for your Award depend on the program type and are listed in your Notice of Award. Minimally, Awardees must submit an Annual Programmatic Report and an Annual Financial Report. Annual Progress Reports are due the day after the end of each Budget Period, and Annual Financial Reports are due within 60 days of the end of each Budget Period. Clinical and Preclinical Awards will typically have quarterly Progress and Financial Reports along with Operational Milestone Reports, which are due when the Milestone has been achieved and may trigger the next disbursement. Please check CIRM’s Grants Management System for your reporting due dates and contact your Grants Management Officer for help accessing the system or questions about due dates. When the listed due date falls on a weekend or holiday, the report is due the next business day.

In addition to Progress and Financial Reports, Awardees may be required to submit publication and invention disclosures, suspension event and suspension event resolution reports, and Serious Adverse Event reports as needed.

After Award Close-Out, CIRM Awardees are still required to submit publication and invention disclosures that are a result of CIRM funding. Awardee Technology Transfer offices, or similar group, are responsible for submitting Annual Invention Utilization reports that include activity funded by closed CIRM Awards. CIRM also has a record retention policy requiring applicable scientific and administrative records be held for a minimum of 5 years.

Per the Notice of Award, CIRM requires a Final Financial Report 60 days after the Award end date. This report provides CIRM with the total expenditures towards the CIRM-Funded Project. Awards that report an unobligated balance at the end of an Award have up to 120 days to return the funds to CIRM. CIRM will not consider revisions to any Financial Report 6 months from the Award end date. After this time CIRM will accept revisions to the Final Financial Report but will not issue payments for any additional expenditures reported after the 6-month timeframe. The Awardee remains obligated to return funds due as a result of later refunds, corrections, or other transactions, and CIRM may recover amounts based on the results of an audit covering any part of the period of Award support.

There are two reasons why you may get an error when trying to report achievement of an Operational Milestone.

For Operational Milestone (OM)-based Awards, the initial achievement of an Operational Milestone must be reported via an Operational Milestone report (available from the reporting requirements section of your Award record in our Grants Management System (GMS)). If an OM is marked as complete in a quarterly or full Progress Report, and an OM report has not been already submitted and approved, an error will be displayed instructing you to complete the OM report first. In this case, please contact your Grants Management Officer if this will delay the filing of your quarterly or full Progress Report beyond the due date. An OM report should be filed as promptly as possible after achievement of the OM, delayed reporting may result in a delay in further disbursements.

For “Operational Milestone may not be before “Date” errors, the date of achievement you are reporting falls within the reporting period of a previously submitted quarterly report in which the status of the OM was reported as “in progress”. GMS will not allow the OM to be both “in progress” and “completed” simultaneously.

To resolve this, CIRM will change the reporting period end date of the previously submitted quarterly report to the day before the anticipated date of achievement of the OM that is being reported. Once the OM report is submitted, change the reporting period end date of the quarterly report back to the original date.

Budgeting, Rebudgeting, and Financial Planning

For most Awards, carry forward is allowable without Prior Approval. For training Awards (EDUC2, EDUC3, EDUC4, and EDUC5), obligated trainee funds, program administration and associated IDC carry forward automatically, see guidance above. For Operational Milestone-based Awards, carry-forward of funds between OM periods is allowable, but deficit spending is not. Any deficit incurred to reach an Operational Milestone beyond the CIRM funds disbursed and required Co-Funding will be the sole responsibility of the recipient to be covered by non-CIRM Contingency Funds.

CIRM funds can be re-budgeted between budget categories as long as you adhere to any budget caps established by the Grants Administration Policy or individual Request for Applications or Program Announcement. CIRM Training Awards (EDUC2, EDUC3, EDUC4, and EDUC5), have special rebudgeting rules, see guidance above. Rebudgeting between overhead-included and overhead-excluded budget categories (i.e., from Supplies to Equipment) may create a change to Facilities and Indirect budget categories. A rebudgeting action cannot raise the overall Award amount.

Transfer of the performance of substantive funded activities to a third part not previously identified in the approved Application” that “constitutes a significant deviation from the aims, objectives, experimental design, or purposes of the approved Application may require a Change of Research Plan Prior Approval Request. Please contact a CIRM Grants Management Officer for help if needed.

Award Changes, Extensions, and Prior Approvals

Awardees may request a one-time no-cost extension (NCE) up to 12 months on most CIRM Awards unless otherwise indicated in the Program Announcement. A Prior Approval Request with a proper justification must first be submitted at least 30 days before the Project Period’s expiration. Prior Approval Requests are initiated by the PI or their delegate in the Awards area of our Grants Management System.

For Operational Milestone-based Awards (CLIN, PDEV) the final Award end date is determined by achievement of the final Operational Milestone, which defines the period in which Awardee can conduct CIRM-funded activities and incur CIRM-funded expenditures. Therefore, no-cost extensions are not needed for these Award types.

A change in scope must be approved by CIRM prior to initiating such a change. Proper justification must be provided. Any change in scope must still be within the scope of the Program Announcement or Request for Applications. Prior Approval Requests are initiated by the Principal Investigator in the Awards area of our Grants Management System.

A transfer of Award to a new institution must be approved by CIRM via a Prior Approval Request. The steps include an official relinquishment notice and final Financial Report as well as a new budget, scope of work, and other information from the proposed new Awardee. Please contact your Grants Management Officer for more information.

Payments, Disbursements, and Refunds

CIRM manages this EFT enrollments via DocuSign form. Please email the CIRM Grants Management Office at grantsmanagement@cirm.ca.gov for instructions. For your institution’s own security, do not send banking details directly to CIRM via email body or email attachment.

The form of refund CIRM will accept varies based on the size of the funds owed. Please email the CIRM Grants Management Office at grantsmanagement@cirm.ca.gov for detailed instructions.

Training, Tuition, and Program-Specific Items

Please see our Guide for Bridges Program Directors, Guide for SPARK Program Directors, Guide for Research Training Program Directors, and Guide for COMPASS Program Directors for information on administering a CIRM Bridges (EDUC2), CIRM SPARK (EDUC3), CIRM Scholar research training (EDUC4) Award, or CIRM COMPASS (EDUC5) Award. Also, see the Update to CIRM Trainee Appointment Forms 2022 and Update to CIRM Trainee Appointment Forms 2023, and the Clarifications for CIRM Training Award Financial Reports of May 2023.

Procurement, Equipment, and Meeting Expenses

It is a goal of Propositions 71 and 14 that more than 50% of the goods and services used in your CIRM-supported research is purchased from California suppliers. CIRM Awardees should make good faith efforts to obtain 50% or more of their goods and services from California suppliers. Awardees will be asked to report this in an Annual Programmatic Report, so it is important to keep internal documentation on your expenditures. Please see the regulation for CIRM’s definition of California supplier.

For travel-related policies on CIRM Awards, including limits on travel-related Meals & Incidental Expenses, please see our Awardee Travel Quick Reference Guide.