Recipients will be required to submit the SF-425 Federal Financial Report, a statement of expenditures associated with their award, to the Payment Management System (PMS) instead of eRA Commons, effective January 1, 2021 (see NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-20-127).
The change in submission requirement is part of an HHS initiative to consolidate FFR reporting from all the HHS Operating Divisions into PMS.
To make it seamless for recipients, clicking on the new Manage FFR button next to a particular grant on the Search for Federal Financial Report (FFR) screen in eRA Commons will take the recipient directly to PMS, where the recipient will log in and be taken straight to the Federal Financial Report — Details screen for that grant in PMS. While the interface will appear new to the recipients, the questions remain the same. Once the form is completed in PMS, the recipient will submit it to the agency. Recipients will still be able to see the status of their submission in the eRA Commons/FFR module.
Note that recipients should register with PMS and obtain log in credentials prior to submitting an FFR. Recipient organizations should be familiar with PMS as they use the tool to draw down grant funds. Also note that recipients who have FFRs in the eRA Commons/FFR module that are a work-in-progress as of Jan. 1, 2021, will need to start over in PMS.
The change to FFR submission requirements does not affect the timeline. Therefore, FFR due dates, as outlined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, 8.4.1.5.2 and 8.6.1, remain unchanged. FFRs that are submitted prior to January 1, 2021 will use the FFR module in eRA Commons.
A second guide notice will be issued soon. Training sessions offered by PMS for recipients will be posted at this link as they become available: https://pms.psc.gov/training/gr-ffr-training.html
0 Comments