Published: Sept. 29, 2016

Based on feedback received during the first year of its use, OCG is modifying the requirements and form for the Department Closeout Property Report (DCPR). Effective in October 2016, the DCPR will only be required when a sponsor requires the university to provide a final property report on an award with purchases of standalone permanent equipment, fabrications and/or deliverables.

The changes to the DCPR process will be reviewed and discussed at the CU@Lunch on 10/6/2017 in UMC 247.

DCPR Process History

The OCG Compliance team has been requesting that the Department Closeout Property Report (DCPR) be submitted for all awards ending in October 2015 or later and on which there were fixed asset purchases, fabrications, or deliverables. The DCPR was intended to document continued use of sponsored projects property on other federally funded research projects and streamline property reporting when the University is required to submit a final accounting of fixed assets to the sponsor.

During the past 12 months, the OCG Compliance team has been identifying awards on which the DCPR would be required by reviewing both the award budget and actual expenditures on the award SpeedTypes. The DCPR requirement and due date has been indicated on the Closeout Checklist for each applicable award record in InfoEd.

On a monthly basis, the OCG Compliance team has been providing a notification to the award fiscal manager, department property manager (if known), and SPA Grant Accountant when the DCPR was required for an award. These notifications were sent at the beginning of each month for all of the awards for which the DCPR was due later that month. When the reports were received, they were uploaded to the InfoEd award record and the requirement was indicated as “Complete” on the Closeout Checklist in InfoEd.

Opportunities for Process Improvement

During the last eleven months of collecting the DCPR, a number of opportunities for improving the process have been identified by department administrators and the OCG Compliance team. Below is a summary of these improvements.

  • DCPR notifications may not always be sent to the departmental person most knowledgeable about property, requiring additional follow-up by either the department or OCG.
  • Award extensions may be received after the initial notification of an upcoming due DCPR, requiring both the department and OCG to continually monitor receipt of the extension in order to revise the due of the DCPR.
  • Extensions or continuations may be issued under a new award number by the sponsor, causing confusion as to whether the DCPR needed to be completed for the “old” award number. 
  • Errors or incomplete information reported on the DCPR can delay the submission of the final property report to the sponsor.

Major Changes to Process in September 2016

In order to address the shortcomings of the DCPR reporting process, the following changes will be made in September 2016.

  • The DCPR will only be required for awards on which a final property report from the University is required by the sponsor.
  • When an extension or continuation is received under a new award number and the sponsor does not require a final property report for the “old” award, OCG will transfer the DCPR closeout requirement to the new award record in InfoEd.
  • A revised DCPR form will be made available to departments for use; the revised form more clearly indicates the information that is needed for each fixed asset acquired on the award.
  • The revised DCPR form will be distributed to departments through DocuSign.